Question Hello! We are Americans living in Kuopio, Finland (for over 10 years). We have a daughter who is almost 19 months and goes to Finnish päiväkoti (=kindergarten). I was told by the neuvola doctor (paediatrician) to not mix languages and only speak...
Majority language parent
Q&A: How can a majority language parent help her child with two additional family languages?
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: The majority language parent also speaking a non-native minority language – recommendations?
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: Should a parent not fluent in the minority language switch to the majority one?
Question Hi Rita! My husband and I are scouring the Internet in hopes of finding some guidance and we'd love your thoughts! Our son is 13 months old. My husband is Iranian and I'm not. He speaks both Farsi and English fluently and I'm fluent in English and...
Bilingual families: the role of the majority language parent
The majority language parent plays an extremely vital part when raising bilingual children. Most post on the topic of bringing up kids to speak more than one language are written with the minority language mum or dad in mind – including the ones on my site. This is of...