"Murgi" <srindler@da2.so-net.ne.jp> wrote in message
news:1623a4e3fd9c609e0e9561cbb25c3c29@news.secureusenet.com...
> > Be careful with the word "fluent". It's often overused and misused. And
it
> > does a disservice to those who *are* fluent.
>
> Well, this is 'fluent' at a low level since they are 3 and 6. I have seen
> young kids whose Japanese was at the same conversational level as that of
> their native counterparts after a year.
> What about the overused expression of "bilingual" or "trilingual"? In most
> cases foreign kids will be fluent in conversional Japanese, but reading
and
> writing is another issue.
>
> Sigi
>
>

That's part of being fluent.

It's funny how some parents will say, "yeah, my kid is fluent in 4
languages!"  Turns out they can count to ten, say hello and ask where the
toilet is.

That's not fluent.

It's overused.

And one year submersion only will fluent, not make them make.


Here's what you do. You drop your kid off at a train station in Japan with
no clothes, no money, no nothing... come back in a year or two. The kid's
Japanese will be very good, but not fluent. Definitely not fluent by going
to some "Japanese school" in a foreign country.