Sacha Baron Cohen and the lost accent.

Sacha Baron Cohen, as most of you probably know, is an Englishman, who bills himself as a writer, comedian and actor. Now, I have reason to question one of those billings, as anyone with an attentive ear, would have.

Last night, I saw Sacha Baron Cohen on the Conan O'Brien show. Amazingly, we actually get this show in Singapore, on one of the many cable channels available. It is quite fun to watch since Conan O'Brien manages to entice a wide variety of interesting people on to his show. Not all of them are A listers, but many of them are, perhaps, more interesting because they are not. Sometimes, it is good to watch people who are less famous and less familiar, since they may bring something new.

Sacha Baron Cohen appeared, last night, as Bruno. He was introduced as Bruno and interviewed as Bruno. He arrived wearing silver trousers and a dark sleeveless top. He was, as expected, rather camp. Sacha Baron Cohen, as Bruno, proceeded to "act" in character, throughout. He made jokes and observations as Bruno. He interacted as Bruno. He pretended to an attraction to Conan O'Brien, as Bruno. This was all very well, if not very convincing. At no time, for instance, could anyone watching Sacha Baron Cohen, as Bruno, conceive the understanding that this was a "real" person. He didn't come across as a real person, at all. He came across as a rather overdone caricature of a gay man, given to an excess of flamboyance. This, in itself, was rather disappointing, since I had understood that the whole point of Sacha Baron Cohen's work was to fool people into believing that his creations were real, so as to secure, from them, reactions to this supposed reality. That, however, was not what was happening on the Conan O'Brien show. What was happening was that an Englishman of rather limited acting ability was attempting to portray what he thought to be an over the top gay Austrian.

Now, why do I say "rather limited acting ability"...well, quite simply because at no time was he able to create a coherent reality for this character, Bruno. The actions of the character were not done convincingly, in any way. In fact, they came across as a painting of a gay man "by numbers"...meaning he was going through a routine: "now I do this, then I say this, then I do that..."...it just felt lifeless, like a man going through empty motions, that had no meaning for him. The actions did not seem motivated by any genuine inner drive, at all. This was not a gay man expressing himself, rather loudly, on a tv chat show. It was an Englishman giving a very slipshod caricature of his idea of a gay man, in such a way that none of the individual actions were convincing and the whole just did not hold together, in the least.

I was very disappointed, since, after all the hype surrounding this man (Sacha Baron Cohen)...I rather expected a higher degree of acting skill.

Now, I must come to the real failing of Sacha Baron Cohen's portrayal of Bruno: the accent. Bruno is supposed to be a young gay AUSTRIAN man...and so, presumably, he is supposed to speak with an Austrian accent. Yet, that is not what I heard, last night, on the Conan O'Brien show. The accent was only very occasionally remotely akin to an Austrian's. Most of the time, Bruno - an "Austrian" - spoke with an upper crust ENGLISH accent. His accent kept slipping in and out of a well spoken English accent. Presumably, given his Cambridge University background, that well spoken English accent is, in fact, Sacha Baron Cohen's own. When his accent wasn't clearly an English one, it was most often not an Austrian one, either: it was a confused mix of many influences that just didn't convince one that it was from anywhere in particular.

A talent for accents is not universal among actors. However, almost all actors are able to be consistent with the voice that they use, for a role. Sacha Baron Cohen's biggest failing was not that he can't do an Austrian accent (he can't...he really can't), but that he can't keep his accent consistent. Every few words, he would slip into a different accent. His voice was just all over the place.

The fact is, that if Sacha Baron Cohen's performance on Conan O'Brien had been an audition for any acting job, there has ever been, in the history of acting, he would NOT have got the job. His performance was simply too poor, too amateurish, too hammy and just plain unfunny to persuade any casting director, or director, at any level, to give him a job. The funny thing is, of course, that Sacha Baron Cohen has a job...Bruno. He is just not doing it very well. In fact, he is doing it very badly.

The most embarrassing thing about the Conan O'Brien show, for Sacha Baron Cohen, was that he was followed, on the show, by a real actor. By this I mean that the actor could actually act. The difference between them was stark. He was an English actor from True Blood, a show presently popular in the US. He did something that made Bruno look excruciatingly bad: he used accents, perfectly. He slipped from a standard English accent, to a Cockney, to a Somerset accent, to a Deep Southern accent from the US...all in moments. Each accent was absolutely convincing, stable, didn't drift, was perfectly accurate in its rendition and seemed to be accompanied by a character, too. The voices were different, interesting and truthful. There was just one thing he could have done to make Bruno look even worse: an Austrian accent. Thankfully, for Sacha Baron Cohen, he didn't do that...though, if he had been mischievous, he could and should have done.

I think the problem with Sacha Baron Cohen is that he is too successful. No-one is telling him: "Hang on Sacha, but you know that accent you have got, is just not working...in fact, I am not sure what accent it is that you have got. You should get a voice coach or failing that, don't bother with the accent."

No-one, basically, is telling him the truth. The truth is, he is able to think up characters that have some comic potential. However, those characters are sometimes beyond the range of his abilities as an actor to portray effectively. Bruno, for instance, appears, from the evidence of that interview on Conan O'Brien, to be way out of Sacha Baron Cohen's range. From my point of view, he failed in every respect with that character (except possibly the costume design, which was probably someone else's work). Thinking up an interesting character is not enough, if you are going to be the performer of it: it has to be within the range and ability of the performer. An Austrian accent is not within Sacha Baron Cohen's ability range. In fact, the stability and conviction of any accent he gives, is doubtful, given the performance last night. Thus, Sacha Baron Cohen should steer clear of doing accents. He shouldn't even try. Then he should consider the range of actions required of him, by the character: he should ask whether he can actually perform those actions convincingly. Bruno was not a convincing gay man, in many ways. Thus, if he was ever intended to be convincing, he failed to do so.

I note, from articles written about him, that Sacha Baron Cohen is often praised for "keeping in character"...well, maintaining an accent is part of keeping in character, and this Cohen was unable to do for more than two or three seconds, in last night's interview. So, it would seem that there is a difference between the PR surrounding Cohen and the actual abilities of the man.

It will be interesting to see what Sacha Baron Cohen does next. If it involves accents, I hazard to think just how unconvincing it will be. We will see.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The effect of arrogance in the media.

When I first came to Singapore, I noticed something very clearly: almost no-one spoke well in broadcast media. At first, I made allowances for it, assuming it to be a local language. Then, as the months and years passed I came to understand something else: the mistakes they made in pronunciation were neither English, nor Singlish, they were just pure ignorance.

At one time, I took to calling up Mediacorp to complain about the pronunciation of Channel News Asia anchors, pointing out, in detail, the errors they had made. I got no more than: "You have a very detailed mind." out of them. They said they would call back, but they didn't. I tried several more times to alert them to the deficiencies of the speech of their public figures - but no-one ever got back to me. In the end, I stopped complaining.

One day, however, I made a special visit to Mediacorp where I met a senior executive to make a proposal. I offered to help them with voiceovers, since there were innumerable errors that went beyond the easily correctable. He virtually laughed at me. He seemed most arrogant: he looked down his short nose at me, as from a great, unbridgeable height. He said they didn't need people to do voiceovers since they already had them. I thought he was an idiot, because he clearly could not perceive what was so abundantly clear to me - yet he was a senior man in the institution.

Yesterday, I was watching Arts Central, when I heard the voiceover (a typical deep voiced but poorly informed man), say "scarce" in which the first four letters were rhymed with CAR. It was most disconcerting. It was the first time in my life that I had heard anyone, anywhere ever say it that way. I knew it wasn't Singlish - and I knew it wasn't English - it was just pure ignorance, again.

I didn't call the station to complain. I gave up doing that long ago. Yet, it set me to wondering again about the effect of such verbal ignorance among broadcasters. TV and radio stations set an example to the nation. If that example is filled with errors of pronunciation or grammar, the quality of language of the entire population of the country will be lowered. That is precisely what is happening in Singapore. The reason this situation persists is that the powers-that-be do not know English well enough themselves - or care to know, it seems, from that senior executives' arrogant, narrow-minded attitude - to notice the deficiencies of their staff. It is true to say that virtually none of the staff employed in Singaporean broadcasting speaks English well enough to work in the UK broadcasting industry - and this is not a matter of accent, but of grammar and pronunciation.

There is no real concern for quality in language usage here. I find that worrisome - if a nation doesn't care about the quality of one thing, they tend not to care about the quality of many things. That attitude leads to poor quality in many areas, across the board.

Singapore would benefit from hearing good examples of language usage in public figures in broadcasting. There is a simple solution: fire them and hire better spoken ones. It would be a great help to the linguistic landscape of Singapore, in time to come.

It would also be pleasant not to hear jarring errors in pronunciation or grammar on national TV virtually every day (for someone who watches little TV...) However, given the way that senior executive responded to my suggestion, by scoffing, I don't think anything will ever change.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

The true nature of Singapore's bilingualism.

To truly see what a country is, you have to ask outsiders how they see it. Those who have been brought up in a country cannot truly see what it is they live in. So, how do overseas people see Singapore's self-professed bilingualism?

Well, not perhaps in the way you might expect. Today, I had a conversation with an expat teacher about this. He was telling me how his student, a native of Mainland China, had complained to him about the language use of Singaporeans. This student was very puzzled. He said: "Before I came to Singapore, I thought my English was good - but when I tried to speak to Singaporeans in English, I couldn't understand their replies. Then I thought I should speak to them in Chinese, so I did so. But then, I couldn't understand their replies in "Chinese", either."

I was not surprised to hear this. Yet, it does speak of the true nature of the linguistic situation in Singapore. The Singaporean system has failed to produce citizens able to converse, to an international standard, in ANY language. A Chinese boy who had learnt Standard English in China, was unable to understand Singlish, at all. He had also, obviously, acquired Standard Mandarin - but couldn't understand Singaporean efforts at that, either. In fact, he described the Singaporean Chinese as "really bad".

To me, it seems strange that Singapore tells itself that it is a bilingual nation - and has an education system that ostensibly instils bilingualism - when people from overseas don't even see it as being capable in any language, at all. There is something wrong, therefore. Would it not be better to aim to be competent in ONE language, than incompetent in TWO? I think competent monolingualism is far superior to incompetent bilingualism. If, for instance, Singaporeans were masters of English, or masters of Chinese, they would, at least, be on a par with the British/Americans/Canadians etc. or the Mainland Chinese, on their own territory. As it is, the language that most - and I say most, because there will be exceptions - Singaporeans speak is unrecognizable by native speakers of the languages that Singaporeans are told that they are able to speak.

A clear policy on language learning is necessary. One policy that would improve matters greatly would be if ONLY NATIVE TEACHERS of languages were allowed to teach in Singaporean schools. This means that ONLY British (or other native speaker) teachers should be allowed to teach English - and ONLY Mainland Chinese teachers should be allowed to teach Chinese - and only Indian natives should be allowed to teach Tamil - and so on. In this manner, the students would be assured of the opportunity to learn a language to a high standard instead of being cheated of the opportunity, by teachers who are essentially ignorant of what correct language usage is.

I don't imagine that this policy will ever be enacted (perhaps because Singapore is already "No. 1" in everything and does not need to improve etc. etc...), but I can at least suggest that it is done, to the betterment of the future of Singapore.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Lee Kuan Yew's view on Singaporean Education.

Recently, the front page of the Today newspaper carried a story about Lee Kuan Yew's latest public utterances. They quoted him as saying words to the effect (since I don't have the article anymore to hand): "We have educated Singaporeans in English to the highest of world class standards."

My first thought on reading this was that the Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew hasn't actually worked, as a teacher, in the Singaporean system and so doesn't have first hand knowledge of that which he speaks. I have taught in Singaporean schools and seen them from the inside over many years. What I have seen differs from how Lee Kuan Yew views matters.

There are two possible meanings to the statement he made: one is that the English of Singaporeans is "of the highest world class standard". The other is that the medium of instruction is English but that the content of instruction is of the "highest world class standard". From wide experience, I don't believe that either of these views is true. Singaporean education is not at the pinnacle of global education, as Minster Mentor Lee Kuan Yew seems to be stating - neither in the English imparted, nor in the content taught.

Singaporean education is typified by a regimented, rigid, inflexible, unaccommodating approach to students, in which they are, largely speaking, encouraged to be passive recipients in the educative process. Actual thinking is strongly discouraged by this approach. Interestingly, I have taught in Singaporean schools in which the students - local, native-born Singaporeans - show little evidence of the ability to think independently or to originate material. Apparently, this means that they have received a "highest world class standard" education.

As for the quality of English in Singapore - an honest Singaporean, who has had exposure to the English of native Englishmen, Americans, Australians or Canadians, would question Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's view that the English education they have received is of the highest standard. In some cases, the English education received is of an abysmal standard. For instance, when my son Ainan was in his first year in school, I noted that his correct standard English use of tenses was being "corrected" TO SINGLISH, by his teacher. A teacher whose first language is Singlish cannot ever impart "highest world class standard" English to her students - she can only perpetuate her own level of ignorance as to what standard English is supposed to be.

My experience of young Singaporeans is that few have a high level command of English. The average Singaporean today, studying in local government schools, has, by international standards, a very poor grasp of English - probably just as poor as the teachers who teach them.

With effort, throughout the education system - and the employment of English teachers whose English is actually good, rather than terrible - Singaporeans could, in a generation's time, have "highest world class standard" English. However, they do not have this at present. In only the most fevered of imaginations, could the typical English standard of a typical Singaporean be termed "highest world class standard".

The first step towards solving a problem is recognizing that it exists. A few years ago, there seemed to be the recognition of the problem - with an anti-Singlish programme, nationwide. That initiative appears to have been halted. Now we have a "we are great, wonderful, excellent, the most brilliant in the world" programme that calls for no change at all. I rather think that the first initiative should have been continued until it succeeded - it would have done a lot of good for the ability of Singaporeans to do business on the international stage. As I have remarked in other posts, I have sometimes been completely unable to understand the English of Singaporean business people's "highest world class standard" English. By this I mean, there was NO shared understanding at all. I utterly failed to comprehend them. Yet, they were, supposedly, speaking English.

Singapore has come far, in many areas - but there is one area in which it has declined, terribly, since the British left: the standard of English now spoken is insufficient to optimize Singapore's chances on the global stage. That is the truth of the matter. Saying something is of the "highest world class standard" doesn't make it so. Taking initiatives to instil higher standards of spoken and written English across the nation, would, however, do so. Yet, that would mean admitting that the nation was not already "No.1"...there would be the pain of effort and change involved. In the end, however, the prize would be worthwhile, for the ease of international communication would have been enhanced greatly, to the benefit of the Singaporean people.

As for the other possible interpretation of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's statement that Singaporeans have been educated in English to the highest of world class standards - that the educational content is of the highest standard, that, too is easily disproven. It is a simple matter: if the local education was, in fact, the "highest world class standard", it would be the best in the world. If it was the best in the world, why do the brightest students, every year, go overseas to the USA or Europe to study? Clearly, these students are going far and wide to receive an education of a lesser standard, if the statement made was actually true.

The true standard of education is shown by how the people respond to it. Those who are able, respond to it by sending their children overseas to study. They wouldn't do this, at all, EVER, if the local standard was of the "highest world class standard".

I would like to see a Singapore in which both interpretations of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's statement were, in fact, true. I would like Singaporeans to have the "highest world class standard" of written and spoken English - for then they would be best prepared for the international stage. I would also like them to have received the "highest world class standard", education, in terms of content and skills obtained, for then they would be best able to operate in their various fields in that world. I look forward to such a future - however, that future is not yet here and will not be unless the deficiencies of the present system are recognized and put right either by the present generation of leaders, or those who shall come after them.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

Does Singlish - Singaporean English - communicate?

The question is a general one. However, I am going to look at it through one particular, though in its way, not uncommon incident.

Singapore has, as anyone who has visited it will know, its own version of English, known as Singlish. This is a form of English that uses words that are derived from the other languages present in Singapore (ie. Mandarin and Malay) - and variations on basic grammatical structures that are far from standard English. In consequence, it can be difficult for a native speaker of English, who is not familiar with this variant, to understand a speaker of Singlish. I certainly had difficulty understanding speakers of Singlish, when I first came to Singapore (and still do from time to time, in the more extreme cases).

There is another problem, of course, but a lesser one. If a Singaporean speaks Singlish, but does not watch enough TV (which is mainly British and American English tv shows), they might not understand a native English speaker, when speaking to them. (Though they should understand standard written English, for all words should actually be familiar to them).

In recent years, Singapore mounted a "speak standard English" campaign - but it was rather a failure and, it seems, the government gave up on it, since I don't see any prolonged efforts to educate the population in English, as it should be.

What effect does this have on communication between Singaporeans and natives of other countries (who are native English speakers)?

Well, recently, I went into a supermarket. When I got to the checkout, I recognized the person who was serving. He looked exhausted, so I decided to enquire how he was.

“Are you tired this evening?” I said, gently, looking at his baggy eyes.

“No, I am just sleepy.”

I left it at that. Clearly, a conversation was not going to be possible: either he didn't understand the word "tired" - or he didn't understand my accent (a standard British accent). I gave up.

This kind of communication problem is not uncommon in Singapore. Usually, however, it is the other way around: it is I who cannot understand the native Singaporean. This occurs even in quite surprising contexts. I have met intelligent businessmen in Singapore, who cannot, who simply CANNOT communicate in English. Their sentences so defy the structures of English that they lose all intelligible meaning. I have to listen very hard and pretend that I understand. Somehow, these businessmen, who are successful in a Singaporean context (through speaking Mandarin, no doubt), cannot communicate their thoughts in English. What is the direct consequence of this? I have to find someone else to do business with. I cannot work with people I cannot understand. So, I move on.

No doubt, this story is repeated millions of times a year, when native speakers of English encounter Singaporeans who speak Singlish. No doubt, those native speakers of English go through the process of meeting and failing to understand the Singaporeans and then having to look around for others to relate to that they can understand. No doubt the business - or other benefit of international communication - goes to the Singaporeans who are able to speak English well enough to deal internationally.

I think the dimension of the problem is not really understood by Singaporeans themselves. They speak to each other in Singlish. To them, it is normal. It is only when they speak to outsiders that they might come to realize that there is a difficulty.

I believe the problem is under-played, here, in Singapore - partly because it is a problem that is quite difficult to fix. The teachers of English, here, speak Singlish. So, Singaporeans are themselves learning from people who speak English poorly. Perhaps, however, there lies a solution. In the days of Empire, I believe that the English teachers were English natives. It is time to return to those days. It is time that ALL English teachers in ALL Singaporean schools were English natives. Then, in one generation, Singaporeans would come to speak Standard English - and never again would natives of the English speaking world, perhaps here to do business, encounter the communication problems that are so common today.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Language School, Singapore: Tiarnan style.

Sometimes, my house is like a language school: the air is filled with the sounds of different languages, all competing for the attention of a baffled ear.

Such was it yesterday, but in a most entertaining way.

Tiarnan and Fintan had developed a different perspective over what should be the right name for various objects.

Fintan, four, pointed at a picture of a horse and said: "Horse."

Tiarnan, eighteen months, took exception to this: "Cuda!", he insisted, most fiercely in Malay.

Fintan didn't give up: "Horse." he repeated, again.

"Cuda!", shouted Tiarnan, with even more vigour, peering up at his towering brother, most indignantly.

Fintan evaluated the situation and said: "Cuda."

Tiarnan was pleased. His little tense body relaxed, letting his ire flow away. He had won, Malay it was to be.

Syahidah, their mother, had watched this scene unfold and, rather mischievously turned to Tiarnan and said: "Sit down."

This got him going. He flared up at once and turned on her: "Dudok!", he snapped, shouting the Malay for "sit down".

I found this interchange as informative as it was entertaining. Tiarnan is growing up bilingual in Malay and English. In this conversation, and in many others, he has shown a tendency to translate from one language to another, indeed, at times he seems an automatic translator. Given a word in one language, he will immediately give you the corresponding word in the other language. He is right everytime in his matching. What is revealing here, is that he has clearly developed a preference for Malay - and insists on defending his favoured language from the incursion of English (which he also speaks and understands anyway).

It might come down to the fact that his mother is Malay Singaporean and spends more time with him, than I am able to. Maybe he is, therefore, standing up for his mother. Sweet boy.

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan, eighteen months, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and eight months, or Tiarnan, eighteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Early bilingual speech: Tiarnan's translations

Two weeks ago, Tiarnan did something I have never heard of a baby doing.

He was then twelve months old. His mother, Syahidah, said to him: "kuching". He immediately said: "cat" - a translation of the Malay word into English. He is making explicit his awareness of the two languages - and stating that they share words with common meaning, though different sound.

He continued this new behaviour later in the day as I was putting him to sleep. I was carrying him up the stairs and I said "tido" to him. He immediately said: "bed". He said it in such a way that he seemed to be correcting me, for he knew that I didn't speak Malay, normally, so why was I using it on him now?

It was notable that the translation came immediately upon the utterance of the word: as if he were playing verbal ping pong - I say a word, he says the translation. It is clear that he is building two good representations of language, with hints at a third - but more of that another time.

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and two months, or Fintan, three, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, intelligence, IQ, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children, in general. Thanks.)