Language and bilingualism Archives – Page 7 of 29

Q&A: What to do when a bilingual school-aged child’s minority language is the stronger one?

by Rita Rosenback | Dec 22, 2016 | Coaches, Language development, Q&A How to motivate a bilingual / multilingual child to speak a family language, Rita R, School-aged children

Question Hello, I wonder if you have any recommendations. My daughter is seven and has lived in Italy since she was 8 months old, however she didn’t start going to school till she was 5. At home I (mom) speak to her in English only and everyone else (including...

Q&A: How to pass on both Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese as minority languages?

by Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett | Dec 18, 2016 | Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett, Coaches, Literacy, Toddlers

Question Hi, Both my husband and myself are native in speaking Cantonese. We live in the US but we communicate in Cantonese with my 2-year-old as well. My husband is also a native Mandarin speaker while I speak Mandarin with some accent and sometimes just speak...

Q&A: How can a majority language parent help her child with two additional family languages?

by Rita Rosenback | Dec 11, 2016 | Coaches, Majority language parent, Non-native language, Q&A Being the parent in a multilingual family, Q&A The trilingual+ child, Rita R

Question Hello Rita and other coaches! I'm Italian, my husband is Egyptian and we're currently living in Italy. We have a 6-month-old baby girl to whom we're speaking our respective mother languages. I have a few concerns which I'd like to have your suggestion...

Q&A: Should a couple switch from English to the majority language as their common language?

by Rita Rosenback | Dec 8, 2016 | Coaches, Language development, Q&A Being the parent in a multilingual family, Rita R

Question Hello, I just ran into your website and I loved it. I have a son who is 1.5 years old. I am Albanian, my husband is Spanish. We want to raise our son bilingual, so our plan is that I speak with him in Albanian only (minority language), and my husband...

Q&A: What if a parent does not understand the language a bilingual child learns first?

by Rita Rosenback | Dec 1, 2016 | Challenges, Coaches, Language development, Q&A Being the parent in a multilingual family, Q&A The trilingual+ child, Rita R

Question Hello, I'm pregnant with our first baby and start to be worried about the future language development of my son. I'm Polish, my fiancé is French and we communicate in English (I can't speak French and my fiancé can't speak Polish). Nevertheless, we live in...

Classic Arabic vs your local dialect – which one should your children learn? [guest post]

by Rita | Nov 23, 2016 | Guest post, Language and bilingualism

This article has been contributed by Tarek Rabie, founder of Hekayatona, a digital platform committed to encouraging children to read and learn Arabic. For more help and advice on how you can best support your child’s Arabic learning journey you can visit their...

Q&A: How many languages can a small child learn at the same time?

by Nick Jaworski | Nov 20, 2016 | Coaches, Non-native language, Q&A The trilingual+ child

Question Hello, I am a native Hindi-speaker and so is my husband. We live in USA and are fluent in English, too. Our nanny is Romanian but speaks (non-native) Spanish. Our 7-month-old daughter spends majority of time with the nanny and my parents, who speak...

Q&A: The majority language parent also speaking a non-native minority language – recommendations?

by Rita Rosenback | Nov 13, 2016 | Coaches, Majority language parent, Non-native language, Q&A Choosing the right family language strategy, Rita R

Question Thank you so much for your website and for the opportunity to ask a question. My French husband and I have a 4-month-old daughter who we would like to raise bilingual in Australia. English is my first language, and my French is average. My husband and I...

Q&A: Which language to speak when in a multilingual family?

by Rita Rosenback | Oct 20, 2016 | Coaches, Family life, Non-native language, Q&A Choosing the right family language strategy, Rita R

Question Dear Rita and Multilingual Parenting Team, First of all, I would like to thank you and the rest of the team for a great website, it has been very useful since I started investigating about multilingual education. I am sending you our questions because I could...

12 discouraging comments about raising a bilingual child – and how to reply

by Rita | Oct 19, 2016 | Being the parent in a multilingual family, Challenges, Grandparents, Language development

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...

Language and bilingualism