Funny "Conversation"

Some of you might know that my mom is here visiting for most of the summer. It's been great for the kids to have their grandma (ngoai - in Vietnamese) around and it's been nice for Ryan and I to be able to go out to dinner on occasion sans kids.

My mom has been living in the U.S. since 1975 and has picked up very little English. It has been something that has always bothered me, but not a subject I could do much about but live with it. I basically grew up having to translate everything to her and instead of HER helping ME, it was the reverse. Although she is an adult, I have found that she has very little independence -- a quality, a necessity, I want instilled in my children. With that being said, my kids are learning a lot from her in other ways.

I haven't really tried too hard to teach the kids Vietnamese. I swore I would when they were born, but being that Ryan doesn't speak it, everything just was easier in English. I do say things to them in Vietnamese and they understand...but a full conversation isn't something that is going to happen anytime soon. Since Ngoai does not speak English well (think-Jackie Chan broken English but even less vocab), conversations between her and the kids has been, VERY ENTERTAINING!

Riley often looks at me and asks me what Ngoai is saying and she'll repeat it in Vietnamese and then in English, as if she is trying to teach my mom how to say it. Ronan, who isn't talking much but the occasional "no" has been using sign language and gestures to get my mom to do things he wants. It's funny how kids can figure it out.

But the best has been listening to Riley try to have "conversations" with my mom. She not only speaks slower, she raises her volume (as if my mother is deaf) and starts cutting out words in sentences and then she adds her own "Asian accent."

It generally starts off like this:

Riley: Hey Ngoai, can you get me an apple?
Ngoai: Oh, I doh-no (I don't know.)
Riley: (slower and louder). Can YOU get me APPLE?
Ngoai: (looking at me for help and translation) Ah, o-k.
Riley: (still slower and much louder) Can you cut apple small and put on plate so I can eat?
Ngoai: (not having any idea what Riley said) o.k.

The entire time she has these conversations, she does motions to show what she is saying... you can tell she is adapting to try and communicate with my mom. It's just hysterical that she somehow gets this broken English accent when she starts a conversation with my mom and eventually, my mom gets what Riley wants and does it.