Question Hi there, First of all, thanks for all the answers to similar questions and your effort to help parents deal with this delicate issue. I have read through several but still have some questions which hopefully you can help me with. First some context:...
Siblings
Q&A: How will having different school languages affect the sibling relationship?
Question Hello, We are a trilingual family and our situation is quite complicated. My husband is Japanese, I am Taiwanese/Australian. We have two children a 4-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl. I speak native Mandarin and English and conversational Japanese,...
Q&A: How can a small bilingual child learn two additional languages?
Question Dear Coaches, I would greatly appreciate your advice regarding raising a multilingual son in the following language environment: I would like my son to speak English, Hungarian, German and Spanish. We live in the US, my husband is American and only...
Raising two very different multilingual Third Culture Kids [guest post]
Today's captivating guest post is by multilingual mother Rita Golstein-Galperin, a Career Makeover Strategist® for international women and the founder of Reinvent Yourself Club. She is a multicultural mother of two TCKs (Third Culture Kids) in Paris and a passionate...
Q&A: Big sister’s concerns about the language choices for her little sister
Question Hey there! I am not a parent, just an older sister whose parents are struggling with handling this whole bi-/tri-/quadri-lingual situation. All they ever say is "don't forget Chinese", and it seems like they're dismissing some other important concerns...
Q&A: How to reintroduce a minority language to a speech-delayed child and a younger sibling?
Question Hello, I am German and, my now, ex-husband is English/Australian. The kids spend half of the week with him and the other half with me. I used to talk German to my son from birth onward, but when he was diagnosed with a speech delay which was luckily...
Q&A: How to get the minority languages of the family back on track?
Question Hi Rita and team, Could you help me with advice on an upcoming dilemma? We're a family with three languages in the house but every family member's ability and willingness to speak them vary greatly. Dad is Spanish, is fluent in English and understands...
Q&A: How to motivate a reluctant 3-year-old to speak the minority language?
Question Dear Family Language Coaches. We live in South Africa, I grew up in Germany and my husband grew up Afrikaans. Our daughter is three years old and I speak German with her, while my husband (and the rest of the family) speak Afrikaans. At kindergarten she is...
Q&A: Bilingual twins – can parents influence what language they speak between them?
Question Dear Rita, It is with great pleasure that I read every one of your blog entries. I wasn't brought up bilingual, but throughout education I have become fluent in four languages (and have passive knowledge of two more as well as two "dead" languages); as it...
Q&A: Are bilingual siblings similar in their language development?
Question Hello! We moved as an English speaking family to Spain when my daughter was one, at the time none of us could speak Spanish and it was pretty hard. We naturally spoke English in the house and we still do. My daughter did not speak in sentences until...