Monday, September 12, 2005

Zara's vocabulary

After speaking her first comprehensible word on our way to Penang 2 weeks back, Zara added a few more words to her vocabulary. Aao is for Cat Bo Bo is for Ball Boo is for Book Ka is for Kakak Tuyam Ta is for Aunty Litha (my bro's maid) Up is for Up She says Papa, Ata, Tati quite often but I can't figure out what they mean. Tried to get her to call me Mama, but she just won't say Mama. Maybe she's confused why I am asking her to call me Mama when that's what we ask her to call my mum-in-law (intonation is different, and it stands for paternal grandma in Cantonese) as well. Sometimes, she looks intently at our face when we speak to her, and she moves her mouth, as though trying to mimic us, however, no words came out. She doesn't like us to correct her pronunciation. When she says Aao, and daddy replies, "no not Aao, CAT", she will look away and not say a word any more. I told Daddy we shouldn't correct her pronunciation now, but just encourage her by showing we understand what she says. Our reply should be "yes, Cat, Rusty the Cat" (Rusty is the name of our cat) when she says "Aao". This makes her happier, and more willing to try to speak (even if it's not comprehensible yet).

1 comment:

blurblur said...

So cute leh.."Aao" for cat..hee:)

I do agree that we should not correct their pronounciation now, or it may stop them from trying altogether..kids have big ego too:) :)