Articles
Here you can find hundreds of helpful Q&As to help you successfully raise your child to speak more than one language.
Click through the topic which interests you.
- How to motivate a bilingual / multilingual child to speak a family language
- The trilingual+ child
- Choosing the right family language strategy
- When a bilingual / multilingual child goes to school
- Being the parent in a multilingual family
- Moving to another country with a bilingual / multilingual child
How to motivate a bilingual/multilingual child to speak a family language
One of the biggest challenges parents of bilingual children encounter is finding ways to motivate their children to speak the family’s minority language. Children are pragmatic, so they use the language they feel most comfortable with. When they realize that they can choose their language and still be understood, they often pick their strongest language if they know that the other person understands it. This is when parents should find ways to motivate children to use the family language, to make sure that the child maintains and develops his or her multilingual skills. For a child to choose to speak a language, the child must WANT and NEED to use it. The motivators differ depending on the age, personality, and fluency of the child. These motivators can and do occur naturally, but parents have the possibility to create or enhance these motivators for their children to encourage them to speak a family language
10 ways to motivate your bilingual baby and toddler to speak
Starting early, getting into the habit and staying positive are some of the vital components for getting your...
How to use “monolingual toys” to motivate bilingual children
“How do I introduce another language for my toddler?” “How can I motivate my little one to speak my language?” “How to have fun when practicing the kids’ minority language?” These are questions I often get in the queries sent to our team of Family Language...
![8 tips to boost your family’s multilingual journey [guest post]](https://multilingualparenting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/8-tips-to-boost-your-familys-multilingual-journey.jpg)
8 tips to boost your family’s multilingual journey [guest post]
Today I am delighted to introduce you to our new Family Language Coach, Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett, a.k.a, Miss Panda Chinese. Amanda is a successful language instructor with over 15 years’ teaching experience in Taiwan, the U.S., Morocco, Canada, and Ecuador. She now...
The trilingual+ child
When a child grows up with three or more languages the challenges can be more pronounced than when only two languages are involved. For example, how to adapt the family language strategy when circumstances change and a third or fourth language is added? The solutions that work well for bilingual families, such as using the one person, one language family language strategy, are not straight-forward to apply if a child grows up in a multilingual environment. Nevertheless, children do grow up to successfully speak three, four, or even more languages. It can be done.
15 books for parents and educators of bilingual children
Holidays are a great time for catching up on reading books! You probably have a long list that you would like to enjoy, but in case you are looking for something on bilingual children, I have prepared a list of books from my own library, which I can all warmly...
Top tips for motivating bilingual children to speak their languages
Choosing the topic for this month’s Raising Multilingual Children blogging carnival was actually very easy. “What do parents ask me most about?” I pondered and instantly I thought “How to motivate my child to speak the minority language?” My fellow bloggers – who all...
Today’s offer: two for free and a third for a lot less effort!
By now you have probably noticed that I am rather passionate about families passing on their languages to their children. It’s a chance of a life time, far too valuable to miss. So it upsets me greatly when parents say that they don't speak their language to their...
Choosing the right family language strategy
Why do parents need a strategy to make sure the children grow up speaking the family languages? After all, kids grow up learning more than one language all over the world all the time. This is of course true. If the circumstances are right, children will naturally grow up learning the languages they hear around them. The trick is knowing what the right circumstances are and being able to intervene if it looks like there is not enough input in a language or a majority language is about to take over. A child should want and need to speak a language, and there should be plenty of opportunities to use it. Parents should feel confident in their ability to pass on their language and believe that it is possible to successfully raise children to speak more than one language.
![3 lessons blogging taught me about bilingualism [guest post]](https://multilingualparenting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Dec2017-400x250.jpg)
3 lessons blogging taught me about bilingualism [guest post]
Today’s guest writer is Marieke Romano-van den Hoek, a 33-year-old mother-of-two, who blogs at Speaking More Languages, where she shares her family’s experiences of bilingual upbringing. Marieke lives in Holland with her Italian husband and they raise their children...
5 thoughts about consistency when using OPOL (one parent, one language)
“We are doing OPOL and I find it impossible to stay consistent in my language use – is my child’s bilingualism doomed?” – this question (or perhaps a less dramatic version of it) often pops up in forums for parents raising bilingual kids. Among the replies you will...
Bilingualism – choice or necessity?
Growing up bilingual is another aspect of my early childhood which was a given for me (last week I wrote about how I took for granted my right to speak my mother tongue at school). I really had no choice, as my mother spoke Finnish with me and my father Swedish. They...
When a bilingual/multilingual child goes to school
A crucial point in a bilingual child’s life is when they start attending nursery or school in the majority language. At this stage, there is a tendency for the school language to take over and become the child’s dominant language. The child may start to use less of the family language and may even stop responding to it. Because this is such an important phase, it is important that parents know how to prepare for it and how to tackle the potential challenges. However, the nursery or school choice can also be a supporting factor for a child’s multilingual language development.
10 reasons why your bilingual child has an advantage at school
10 reasons why your bilingual child has an advantage at school “Should we drop a language to help our bilingual child do better at school?” is a question parents occasionally ask me when they are concerned about their kids’ educational progress. The answer is a...
I had the right to use my mother tongue at school
A bit of an obvious statement, you may think. Unfortunately, it is not. Instead, it is a problem many children in the developing world still face: not being able to attend school in their mother tongue. United Nation’s International Mother Language Day is celebrated...
On bilingual children at school and how to keep your kids speaking your language (Google Hangout)
How to prepare your little bilingual for school? What to do if you get a response in the wrong language? Should you follow the teacher's advice to drop your home language? These are some of the questions that Marianna Du Bosq from Bilingual Avenue and I answered...
Being the parent in a multilingual family
Some things parents of bilingual children experience seem to be universal. As a parent of a bilingual or multilingual child, you become more aware of your native language and you may also consciously try to improve your own skills. In today’s world, there is an infinite number of things parents can potentially worry about or feel pressure for. Adding another language to that brings a new dimension to parenthood. You have to ensure that your child gets enough exposure to all languages and be on a constant look-out for language resources. To make up for the lack of materials, you probably end up being more creative than you thought you would ever be.
How to be successful at raising bilingual kids
This is the time of year when we are all encouraged to make resolutions to improve different aspects of our lives. As parents of bilingual kids we are no exception to the expectation of making promises to change our behaviour to ensure that our children grow up to be...
12 discouraging comments about raising a bilingual child – and how to reply
As parents of bilingual children, many of us have been there: finding ourselves in a situation where others give us advise on what is best for our children when it comes to their languages, and how we should behave as a family. Sometimes we get brilliant ideas on how...
7 challenges and solutions for raising a bilingual child
Parents who want to bring up their kids to speak the family languages can learn a lot from those families who have been successful at bringing up bilingual children. However, I also think that a great deal can be learnt from parents whose children grew up not becoming...
Moving to another country with a bilingual/multilingual child
A crucial point in a bilingual child’s life is when they start attending nursery or school in the majority language. At this stage, there is a tendency for the school language to take over and become the child’s dominant language. The child may start to use less of the family language and may even stop responding to it. Because this is such an important phase, it is important that parents know how to prepare for it and how to tackle the potential challenges. However, the nursery or school choice can also be a supporting factor for a child’s multilingual language development.
Bilingual children – global citizens of the future
Bringing up your children to speak more than one language has many benefits – this has been proven both through research and personal experiences of bilinguals themselves. If you have read my posts before, you know that I often emphasize the benefits to the extended...