Twin Talk: Do Twins Have a Secret Language?
Friday October 19, 2007
When my twins were toddlers, I'd observing them passing toys back and forth. As they'd accept the toy from the other, they'd respond "Aachee." Eventually, my husband and I adopted the term, and it became a family way of saying, "Thank you." Was it an example of twin talk? Or just baby babble? Twin talk, or idioglossia, is a fascinating concept. But is it really a true phenonmenon, or just another myth about multiples? Get the facts about Twin Talk.
• Do your twins share a secret language? Share your story.
• Do your twins share a secret language? Share your story.
Comments
I think my children (oldest singleton included) must be pretty right brained… Language was always the first to come- They could speak in sentences before they were two.. (but didn’t do to good with puzzles and stuff) We did notice how they did help each other along with language. They would practice theier new words with each other and practice responding.. etc..
My twin boys share a secret language since they were 2 yrs old. They are now 3 1/2 and they still talk thier secret language to each other. They will talk normally to adults but sometimes they will talk their special language to other children, which these children look at my twins kind of funny. Idon’t know if they will ever outgrown this.
My twin girls had their own language, and the 3rd (Irish triplet) born 15 months after learned it too; the twins didn’t bother learning our speech until the youngest did it on her own. It became a problem in school, they didn’t know how to communicate to others what had or was happening (and less astute teachers believed the 3 year olds stories-resulting in CPS issues-don’t get me started). The school suggested speech therapy which has helped. They have repeated kindergarten this year, we want them to have a good foundation. I’ve tried to explain it to the school that in addition to learning the languages of numbers and letters, the twins had to learn English too. It was a tough year for them. So now, we have 3 girls, all in kindergarten (everyone has a different teacher). The twins continue speech therapy, one struggles with proper pronoun usages, but we’re getting there. While the twin talk is cute and unique, there are issues to overcome later when school comes into the picture.
I have twin boy and girl. Yes, they share a language.They have a laughing problem.When the 2 of them starts laughing they won’t stop.Noone can make them stop.The funny part is that noone knows what they are laughing about.So it makes everyone else laugh.
I have identical twin boys, now 7. When they were infants they communicated with what we referred to as “twin speak”.I guess you could describe it as a grunting noise, but it was the “ping” and “pong” type respose that caught our attention. They were definitely communicating on some level. It seemed to comfort them to know that the other was close by.
The film ‘Nell’ is about the survivor of a pair of twins who kept their twin talk into adulthood, mixed with Biblical archaisms and the mother’s aphasic speech.
Also look up June and Jennifer Gibbons, and “Poto and Cabengo” (Grace and Virginia Kennedy).
my twins don’t really talk to eachother in this language but one of them in particular has his own words for things even though he is quite capable and understands language, however, recently I’ve noticed that the other one is using Ashie’s language for things even though Ozzie is quite capable of saying words and phrases also. And we have started to use Ashie’s language aswell. These are his words for things.
Doombah = Daddy
Wah Wah = Mummy
Owah = shoes/slippers/socks
Oddot (silent ‘t’) = Ozzie (real name Ocean) his twin
Mm Mm = Birdy (real name Phoenix) his 3 year old brother
Mat man = Kal his 19year old brother
whoo whoo = train
He used to have a name for dog but he doesn’t use that any more.
I have twin boys who are 6yrs old and they still speak in twin. We have tried very hard to help them and so as the school they are in but i think they dont even relise they are doing it. They started to talk fine at around 18mth and then started to talk in this way we didn,t get. They have got much better over the last 12mths but i wonder if they will ever talk properly. My problem is how hard it is to get any help for it. From the age of 2 i got told they would grow out of it. At the age of 3 and a half they have started having speech therepy but they only get 45mins once a week for 10 sessions and the sessions can be 10 over 16wks. I think this is awful. After 10 sessions they go back on a waiting list for 5mth. I have tried everything to get more help for the boys i even went to the papers but that didnt really help it just make them look like freaks. All i get is its just their speech. Kids with this problem need so much more help than they get and it leaves me wondering how old they have to get before they will get any real help.