英語リスニング - No.604 Learning Language
Joel and Tom talk about learning languages in a bilingual family.
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英語リスニング - 本文
Tom: Joel, you speak Thai.
Joel: Yeah, a little bit.
Tom: Your wife speaks English.
Joel: Yep, yep.
Tom: So, at home, what language do you use?
Joel: We usually speak English when we want to have real communication because her English is much better than my Thai, but I like to practice Thai a lot so when I'm being a little more playful, when the topic isn't serious and we really don't need to communicate, then we'll speak in Thai and I get a chance to practice and it's also fun for her to listen to me speak in Thai and to teach me. What's interesting is that, it depends also on who we're around, so for example if we're with my family and we want to say something in private, then we'll speak in Thai but if we're with her family and we want to say something privately then we'll speak in English so her family can't understand us.
Tom: Don't your family think that's quite rude?
Joel: Oh, they don't really, they don't really know what we're talking about so they can't be sure. It gets more complicated, though because she also speaks Japanese and I speak Japanese, so sometimes when we are with her brother who speaks English, we'll speak Japanese if we want to speak privately.
Tom: And then again, there's your little kid. What language does he speak?
Joel: I try to speak English most of the time when I'm with him because I want to have him hear me as a model because he lives in Thailand so he's always hearing Thai and I want him to have a chance to hear some English but I find that since I'm around Thai people all the time, they're speaking Thai to him, I start to get used to how they talk to him, and I start to kind of copy their examples, so sometimes it feels natural to me to speak Thai with him, but I try to speak English with him as much as I can.
Tom: And what do you eat in your family?
Joel: Oh, we eat Thai food all the time, yeah. I like it much better than American food.
Tom: Is it because you like it or because your wife is good at cooking it?
Joel: I guess both. I mean, you can't really find much American food in Thailand so it's much easier to get and if you were going to go to a restaurant, like ***** or something, even though it's not so good, it's very expensive, so, both. I like Thai food better and it's just easier to get when you're there.
Tom: With the different languages you can't really settle down together in front of the TV.
Joel: She usually likes to watch English programs, though, so but it's hard for me to watch Thai programs. I usually, I get bored very quickly because I can't understand much.