"baby talk"

[Mairead]

I am studying Japanese so that my husband and I can speak some Japanese to our son to give him a sense of his heritage, etc.

I know that the kid will be in college before I could ever be fluent at the rate I'm going. So...

Does anyone know any little phrases that parents would say to their children or kids would say routinely to their parents?

For example one of the few words my husband's folks used when he was little was baba whensomething was icky or dirty, but i've never found this in a language book. If someone knows the correct form for "come here" and "don't touch" that would be a great start.

Thanks!

[Mike Cash]

For "come here" use "oide".

You do realize that this is going to largely be a fruitless exercise in frustration, don't you?

[Adriano]

for native speakers, what "fruitless" means?
直訳すれば、果物の無いってしか頭に浮かんでこないけど・・

[Yudan Taiteki]

ある行動や計画から結果（果物）が出てこないと言う意味です。

To the OP: From what I know about bilingual people, it should be enough if your husband speaks Japanese to the child all the time; you don't have to. But don't trust my word on this; there are books about raising a bilingual child that you can buy. As Mike indicates, saying a few words to him now and then is not going to have any effect.

[two_heads_talking]

Adriano wrote:
for native speakers, what "fruitless" means?
直訳すれば、果物の無いってしか頭に浮かんでこないけど・・

In simple terms, fruitless means useless. Like a fruit tree that bears no fruit would be considered a useless or barren tree to the cultivator.

fruitless(frūt'lĭs)
adj.
Producing no fruit.
Unproductive of success: a fruitless search. See synonyms at futile.
fruitlessly fruit'less·ly adv.
fruitlessness fruit'less·ness n.

futile (adj)
Synonyms: useless, pointless, fruitless, unsuccessful, vain, ineffective, wasted, ineffectual

fruitless(frūt'lĭs)
Synonyms: barren,empty, futile, gainless, idle, in vain, ineffective, ineffectual, infertile, pointless, profitless, sterile, unavailable, unavailing, unfruitful, unproductive, unprofitable, unprolific, unsuccessful, useless, vain

[Wakannai]

When I was little they would sing frera jeaquea. I can still sing it word for word. But I don't understand a word I'm saying.

[richvh]

They didn't have you sing the English version as well? We did.

Are you sleeping?
Are you sleeping?
Brother John?
Brother John?
Morning bells are ringing.
Morning bells are ringing.
Ding dang dong.
Ding dang dong.

That's a pretty fair translation. A couple of lines were swapped to fit the meter, but the meaning is preserved.

[NocturnalOcean]

In norwegian it is like this: (if I recall correctly)

Fader Jakob, Fader Jakob,
Sover du? Sover du?
Hører du ei klokken? Hører du ei klokken?
Ding, dang, dong, Ding, dang, dong

[poppop]

hmm.. in swedish it is:
Broder jakob, broder jakob,
Sover du? sover du?
Hör du inte klockan? hör du inte klockan?
ding ding dong, ding ding dong

nocturnalOcean< are you sure it's not "brother" instead of "father"?

[leergierig]

Apologies to the OP for following the thread's drift, but in Afrikaans we sing:

Vader Jakob, Vader Jakob,
Slaap jy nog? Slaap jy nog?
Hoor hoe lui die klokke. Hoor hoe lui die klokke.
ding dang dong, ding dang dong

Another "father", not "brother"

[katafei]

In Dutch:

Vader Jacob, vader Jacob,
Slaapt gij nog, slaapt gij nog?
Alle klokken luiden, alle klokken luiden.
Bim bam bom, bim bam bom.

[Tspoonami]

As they say in Swahili:

Eh Yakobo, Eh Yakobo,
Walala? Walala?
Amka twende shule, Amka twende shule,
Haya njoo, Haya njoo.

Click Me!

[katafei]

unasema kiswahili?? ^_^


a bit rusty, so I hope I got it right......

[Wakannai]

They didn't have you sing the English version as well? We did.

it's not that I didn't eventually learn the English version when I grew old enough to go to school and realize they were the same song. But I only recognize the song as a whole. When I listen to people speak French, I do not recognize words from the song as they speak.

[Tspoonami]

katafei wrote:
unasema kiswahili?? ^_^


a bit rusty, so I hope I got it right......

I couldn't find a English-Swahili translator online, so... Assuming that means 'do you speak/know Swahili,' the answer would be no. I just got the translation off of Wikipedia.