Can monolingualism make you ill? “Is monolingualism making us ill?” was the somewhat provocative title of an excellent talk by Dr Thomas Bak, neuroscientist and dementia researcher at the University of Edinburgh, which I was fortunate to listen to last week....
https://youtu.be/Ky4nzxpeNAU Fantastic interview with Professor François Grosjean, my all-time favourite specialist on bilingualism, conducted by Fabrice Jaumont, Education Attaché at the Cultural Services in New York. The video is brimming with useful information,...
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...
This Saturday, 21st of February, is UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day. Those of you who follow me in social media know that I have been actively campaigning to raise awareness for this day, to make it celebrated more widely across the world. It warms my heart...
Should you be able to speak a language without an accent to call yourself bilingual? Can you acquire a native-like accent in a language you learn later in life? Do others guess where your accent is from? Does it really matter? Do you care? I have recently discussed...
In a recent radio program on multilingualism the bilingual poet and Professor Gustavo Perez Firmat stated that he feels very differently about his two languages, with English being a happier language than Spanish. He also answered ‘Yes’ to the question whether he felt...
Throughout history bilingual people have been (and still are) asked some fairly silly questions. What if the shoe was on the other foot – what questions could we as bilinguals ask? 1 - What have you done to cure your monolingualism? Bilingual people have been classed...
When I tell people what I do and what my book “Bringing up a Bilingual Child” is about, I regularly get to hear comments such as “That’s great!” followed by “Oh, I wish I could speak my parent’s language.” It would be so beneficial for parents who are...
Happy International Mother Language Day! There could not be a more appropriate day than today to reflect on the term ‘mother tongue’ – but what does it really mean, especially if you speak more than one language? How should the term be defined in general and what...
What to do when your young son questions why he should keep speaking your language? How to respond when he says he is never going to need it? These are questions that are not only hard to answer, but difficult to hear. Take a deep breath and don't get upset. Your...