Emily Amano van Baaren
“What languages do you speak at home?”
家庭でしゃべる言語は何ですか？
Please share your answer to Emily’s question in the comment area below.
About Emily:
| Father | Dutch |
| Mother | Japanese |
| Born in | the Netherlands |
| Lived in | the Netherlands |
| Age | 9 |
| Visited Japan | 15 - 20 x |
| Lived in Japan | 6 months |
| Speaks Japanese | ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫ |
| Reading and Writing | ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚪ |
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My okder sister and I only spoke Japanese until we were 4/5. We lived in Southern America and some teachers had a problem with kids who did not speak English. We also got bullied for not speaking English as well. My father did not know english that well at the time so Japanese was our common languauge. As my dad needed to practice english more, we spoke more english too. My younger brother and sister did not learn to speak Japanese as a result of this. As of now, I’m the only child of 4 who can still speak pretty well. My parents both speak it to each other but I’m the only kid who speaks back in Japanese. My dad cannot switch back and fourth between languages well (it confuses him) so we mostly speak english if everyone else is around.
Me and my mom usually speak a language that we made up called hafugo!
Only English now. I only spoke Japanese as a very young kid when I was in Japan. I was born in Osaka, my dad was US Army, so we moved out after a few years, and he and my mother stopped speaking Japanese around me. I was immersed into English, then into German, having moved to Germany when I was 5 years old.
Mostly English, then Japanese, then Dutch.
English, Japanese and language that’s a mix between the two that only my mother and I understand.
I speak Japanese with my mother, but English with my father. I speak 60% English to my siblings because we live in the U.S.
I only spoke Japanese until we moved to Ft. Ord when I was 5, where I learned English in kindergarten. Now I struggle to maintain my Japanese language because my mother and Japanese relatives are all deceased.
Danish, English, and we’re trying to learn more Japanese.
English only. It is said that one learns language from one’s mother and my father was Japanese. He also wanted us to fit into American society so didn’t really want us to speak Japanese regularly. This was in the 1960’s and attitudes towards Japanese were different back then.
Father Englush, Mother Japanese. But very similar experience (child of the 70s). Only English, Had to fit in…aaargh!
Until I was 4-5 years old, I only spoke Japanese, then my American serviceman father got stationed in Germany, where I had to learn English and my parents stopped speaking Japanese around the house. Had to learn German and French, too. Oddly enough, I probably speak, understand and read German better than Nihongo.
Spanish, Japanese and English
I m a Greek Japanese hafui was raised in Japan from 0-3 so my first speaking language was Japanese.when we came ti Greece I d speak Greek with everyone but always tried to speak in Japanese with my mom (well luckily she insisted)…we have some greeknese created that only our family understands now I m married to a Greek and we speak in Greek but he is learning Japanese (basic communication) so that we can keep the language alive (it helps that he is a karate instructor and the fact that we are pretty active in the Japanese Community)..i ve taught him the important words like “dame”, “takai”, “kaerimashou”, iranai, dekinai etc so that we can quickly communucate at shops or restaurants
Dutch actively and Japanese unfortunately only passively. I understand practically everything my mom says to me but for Some reason the words don’t come out the right way in Japanese..
English and Japanese growing up. Whole family is bilingual. Now that my brother and I are adults we probably speak 70/30 Japanese to mum and 70/30 English to Dad, and mix it up between us.
English, Japanese and French, in that order. Parents communicate in English, local language is Japanese, father also speaks French. English is our primary language.