Tips for Writing More Genuine Children (Part 2/3 - Language)
Now, just before we start. I’m talking about English speaking kids, I have very limited experience with bi-lingual kids or kids not having English as their first language.
Let’s talk about how kids talk.
Quick, general statements.
~Kids are either dead silent or nonstop talking. It flips so quickly.
~SO MANY QUESTIONS.
~Some kids are shy some arent. Depends on the situation/who’s around/what the kids like.
~As stated in Part 1, kids aren’t inherently dumb but they also don’t understand because of lack of context. Their language reflects that.
Also, development is different for some kids. Developing doesn’t reflect how smart they are, it’s just how it goes (like physical growth). In my experience, firstborns will talk more and earlier than siblings later.
Top Tip: Watch some YouTube videos (if you can stand them) aimed at the age of the children. This kind of language on those should be used in your fics. If they’re young (under 5) find some videos teaching them how to talk on YouTube to see where they should be.
They’re not going to be talking. Okay. Even if they’re hella smart, it’s just not going to happen. Noises are much more likely, tears and whines when sad. Grumbling when angry. Just like adults.
But, they will respond to people. If someone’s angry and shouting they’re going to understand that and react accordingly (upset and scared). Loud noises will make it cry or it’ll look for the source of it’s name being called.
From here on out, kids are really literal and see patterns where an adult wouldn’t. An example is “daddy bye” to mean ‘dad’s leaving’. The baby isn’t saying ‘bye’ because it knows this is what we say to people leaving because it means something. There’s no reasoning behind it. But it’s said whenever someone leaves so that means that the word has something to do with leaving. This kind of thing carries on till about 8.
Words! Yay!! Baby’s saying it’s first words, very often mommy/daddy or the name of their favorite toy. (Mine was Turtle). They’re not going to be using any advanced words or anything hard to pronounce.
Around 1 and a half is when they start using sentences. Usually, this means combining two/three words to mean something else. “Daddy bye” would mean ‘dad’s leaving’.
Also, they’re starting to understand words. In New Zealand, one of the first words kids learn is ‘Ta’ which basically means ‘give me that’. If you said to a 1-year-old ‘ta’ when they’re holding a toy they’re going to give it. (They might not want to but not the point)
Now they’re talking! They’re going to be asking questions and responding to others. They know about 400 words at this point and can string together stories. (If they want to). This is also the stage where shyness becomes a trait in how they talk.
It’s not called the terrible twos for nothing. This age group knows how to ask for things and what they want. While we’re on the subject, tantrums. Kids don’t have tantrums for nothing. They’re upset and they don’t know how to deal with it or express their emotions. Screaming and crying generally gets this across and the best way to deal with them is staying calm and talking to them.
Questions as well. Just, constant questions. “Why? Why? Why? Why?”
Basically just talking like an alien now. They can get their point across but sometimes their words are made up. An example of the ‘made up word’ would be run. A kid might say I ‘runned’ instead of ‘ran’ because that makes sense. It’s what we do to other words (-ed) but sometimes we don’t. The English language is full of little trips that kids get caught on.
Their sentences are 5-10 words at 3 and then continue growing as they get older. Especially if they’re in a school environment.
As they get older they’re going to be able to comprehend them, eg, answering where the dog went and who he saw. It’s basic fact, not a lot of emotion. But, they’re going to forget within a few hours. Also, they’re going to be telling stories like their dream or what happened at school.
NO MORE BABY TALK FROM HERE PEOPLE. I BEG YOU.
Unless there’s an actual physical problem (tied tongue, stuff like that), there should no longer be a lisp. The child should be able to talk freely and easily.
Stories are more detailed, sometimes more than needed (like colours of clothes or weather. Doesn’t impact the story) and they’re going to remember more stories.
They’re still may get caught up on some tense changes like before but much less. Also, they will now input their own emotions onto stories and answer the why questions when doing reading compression. Here’s where they should be able to read and write at a very basic level.
This stage of life is boarding on adult level speaking. But they’re still going to be using general words and speak more like a layman than a specialist.
They’re basically speaking like little adults.
They can control their pitch and volume well, they can change tenses and they’re using specific terms - especially about stuff they learned at school (so, science or English conventions “that’s a metaphor”). Complex sentences are now used with ease. Stories are told well and they’re going to remember what they said a lot better.