20 reasons why I am thankful for my bilingual life and family

by | Nov 13, 2013 | Bilingual benefits, Bilingualism, Only happens to a bilingual | 3 comments

20 reasons I am thankful for my bilingual life and family

When you have always been bilingual, like I have, you quite often take it for granted and forget how important an aspect it is in your life. So today I want to shout from the rooftops (or tweet from the top of a tree) the first 20 reasons for being thankful for all the languages I know. These are not in order of importance, just in the order they came into my mind.

I am thankful that…

1 – my parents raised me to be bilingual – it gave me a good start in life and a solid foundation for further language learning.

2 – my daughters have also become bilingual and they can communicate with their relatives who live in many different parts of the world.

3 – I learnt and still can speak the Finland-Swedish dialect of my home village Dagsmark, Finland.

4 – my language skills have often been the deciding factor when I have been offered a new job.

5 – according to research, my brain’s executive control centre has grown thanks to the use of more than one language.

6 – travelling in different countries has been so much easier and more enjoyable.

7 – I have had the opportunity to read great literature in the language it was originally written in.

8 – I was able to choose in which language I wanted to study, and also attend a university abroad for a while.

9 – when I was young I had pen pals (with pen and paper via snail mail!) in several countries all over the world.

10 – my languages have enabled me to have closer relationships with people from other countries and cultures.

11 – I have apparently postponed a possible dementia by about 4.5 years by being bilingual.

12 – knowing many languages has made it easier to move between countries.

13 – being bilingual has made me more open-minded.

14 – I have been able to help others when they have struggled with languages.

15 – my bilingualism has, according to research, enhanced my creativity.

16 – knowing the language of a culture gives me a better understanding of it.

17 – speaking more than one language is thought to have positively impacted my school results.

18 – it has been much more easier to learn additional languages.

19 – I can now help other families bring up their children to become bilingual.

20 – my languages have hugely contributed to who I am and what I do – they are a big part of my identity.

… and Thank You for reading!

Never miss a post! Sign up to the Multilingual Parenting newsletter and I will send you a recap of the week’s posts every Sunday. Every second week you will receive a more extensive issue with links to research articles and interesting posts from other writers, as well as handy tips and ideas! Want to read more like this? My book Bringing up a Bilingual Child is available on Amazon and in well-stocked bookshops. Do you have a specific question? You can send it to our team of Family Language Coaches and we will reply in a Q&A (questions are answered in order of arrival). If you are interested in tailor-made family language coaching, please, contact me and I will send you a proposal.

3 Comments

  1. Sarah @ Bringing up Baby Bilingual

    Hi Rita! Your 20 reasons really resonate with me–I like how you reference everything from personal experience to research to literature. Hooray for multilingualism! Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
    • Rita Rosenback

      Thank YOU, Sarah! I have actually come up with many more reasons since I posted it 🙂
      The topic is particularly appropriate today – we’re celebrating the European Day of Multilingual Blogging – so I will be writing short posts in German, Finnish, Swedish and my Finland-Swedish dialect later on

      Reply
  2. Zak Davis

    Hi Rita! this is informative and well-detailed 🙂 thank you for sharing this.

    Reply

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. “Und warum gibt es keine halben Löcher – ?“ « multilingual parenting - […] Diese Woche ist das Thema für mein Blog „Warum ich für meine Mehrsprachigkeit dankbar bin“ – den englischen Eintrag…
  2. Suomi – äitini kieli, isänmaani ensimmäinen kieli, toinen äidinkieleni « multilingual parenting - […] Kirjoitan yleensä blogini englanniksi – Englannissa kun olen asunut jo 15 vuotta ja koska kirjoitan parhaillaan kirjaa täkäläisellä kielellä…
  3. Finlandssvenska – mitt första främmande, men också mitt modersmål « multilingual parenting - […] Det här är första gången jag bloggar på svenska – den ”Europeiska flerspråkiga bloggningsdagen” till ära. Mitt tema för…
  4. Multilingual Parenting 2013 Highlights « multilingual parenting – bilingual children - […] come in contact with truly inspiring people. I have so far taken part in two blogging carnivals: ’20 reasons…
  5. I wish I wasn’t bilingual! – nah, not really « multilingual parenting – bilingual children - […] Those were the situations I could come up with – so nothing too much to complain about really. Certainly…

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.