After meeting a family where the children no longer actively speak their parents’ native language as the parents had decided early on to switch to the majority language, I reflected on how much joy our language skills have given my daughters and myself. Today I will...
My brain is still a bit in holiday mood, reflecting on the relaxing time my family and I had in Finland, so in this post you’ll just find random observations about how languages affect our lives. The area where we have our house in Finland is bilingual – Swedish and...
We’re enjoying a relaxing holiday in Finland at the moment and I took the chance to speak to my younger daughter Daniela about her languages. Which languages do you know? - I know English, Swedish, Punjabi, German and a bit of Finnish. How did you learn all your...
Today I want to tell you about the best book I have ever read about us bilinguals. In his book “Bilingual: life and reality” professor Grosjean describes in a very accessible and sympathetic way what it means to be bilingual. Everyone who speaks more than one language...
Today I will tell you the story about Pricken, the Swedish speaking kitten, that came to play an important role in my eldest daughter Minna’s language learning. It shows how a little bit of creative thinking can come to rescue when you are bringing up a bilingual...
Great insights into how a bilingual person's brain functions!
I believe that knowing where you come from is extremely important for your confidence and self-esteem. For someone growing up in a multilingual family being able to speak the family’s languages makes it easier to understand your background and becoming familiar with...
Being able to speak more than one language is definitely beneficial to your career, I know this from my own experience. Sometimes this manifests itself in ways that you could not have imagined. Finding a job in today’s competitive world is a challenge and will...
This is something you should never say to a bilingual, ever. Doesn’t matter how interested you would be to hear something in a particular language. All bilinguals I know absolutely detest speaking “on demand”, just for the sake of it. Language is not about...
[ted id=1075] Today I want to share with you a talk by Patricia Kuhl, Professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Washington. It is a fascinating insight into how small babies pick up distinct features of a language. The talk only lasts about ten...