The girls are frighteningly good at their American accents, although they don’t really use them. They just mock the accent, and they are good. But sometimes, there are misunderstandings, as the words sound so very different. We were talking about different words used for British words, such as ‘bathroom’ or ‘restroom’ for ‘loo’ or ‘toilet’ (you simply can’t use those words here!). F told us that the kids in pre-school go to a party when they need the toilet. “A party?!” F: “Yes, they say, teacher I need to go party!” Until I realised she meant ‘potty’. The kids (even up to 6 or 7) say ‘go potty’, and obviously F got confused by the accent. But I actually quite like the idea of having a loo party. I think I might use that expression from now on. At home, anyway.
E got really upset today, because F kept saying she sounded very American. She actually started crying and said she didn’t want to lose her British accent… I just told her to be proud of being able to speak both! It’s like speaking a foreign language, really, isn’t it? I do the same when I’m in Bavaria and talking to people with Bavarian accents. But I still usually speak “Hochdeutsch”, and I don’t think twice about it.
Oh, another funny thing: F had a playdate today with a friend from pre-school, and when I came to pick her up, her Dad grinned and told me that he’d offered them chocolate pie as a snack and asked F whether she was allergic to chocolate or any other things. Apparently F reply was “I’m from England, I’m not allergic to anything!” I suppose she’s got a point. Every single child here has an allergy of some sort (they probably do in England too, but people just ignore them!).
Transcontinental Overload 