Language Learning With a Three-Year-Old

So far Elias hasn't had much exposure to Turkish language and culture. We long for the snow to melt so we can use the nice playgrounds around us and make friends. We intentionally named him Elias as the English derivative of the Turkish "İlyas", which means "Elijah," because we thought we might live in Central Asia one day. But people love it when we tell them his name is "İlyas," and he's slowly starting to get it.

He has also taken a liking to a couple of Turkish children's television shows, and is always asking us "How do you say _____ in Turkish?" This started when I was teaching him some basic words, like body parts. He's picking up some new vocab from the television shows which he often repeats. One Turkish show, Pepee, has some simple songs that teach the meaning of words, which Elias loves to listen to over and over. (Cartoons are great language learning for adults, too.)  Below you can watch one of our favorite songs, teaching the difference between cold "soğuk" and hot "sıcak":

Elias' favorite Turkish word right now is "bacak," which means "leg." So, when he hears someone speaking Turkish at the grocery or in a taxi he will often enthusiastically contribute by yelling "Bacak!!"(This is always funny but usually awkward.)

We brought with us some copies of Highlights High Five Magazine which have some short stories that introduce kids to simple Spanish phrases. When reading it, we'll sometimes replace the Spanish phrases with Turkish. Our pronunciation obviously isn't native, but I don't worry about that. Since he's watching the children's TV shows there are many words that he's hearing pronounced by natives, and he's quickly able to identify them. When he hears a word on TV that he knows, he immediately says "That means ______" in English.

We bought him a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD in Turkish and he seems amused by hearing some phrases he knows well in English translated into Turkish. As we were leaving the mall yesterday, he happily yelled "Çok güzel!" which he picked up from watching Mickey Mouse and means "very beautiful" or in most circumstances simply "great!" That brings a smile to a lot of faces, particularly ours.