Question I have a dilemma - we are a bilingual couple, my native language is English and my husband is German. I have studied German so I am more or less fluent in it having spent a few years in Germany. We live in the US and none of my husband's relatives live here,...
Hindsight is a wonderful thing they say … well, it really is – if you share your experiences with others who are at the start of the journey of bringing up a bilingual children! I have asked parents whose children have grown up to become bilingual if there was...
Question I live in New Zealand where I am attempting to pass on French to my two children as a non-native speaker. The children are 3.5 and 1.5 years. At this stage there is some passive understanding of the language only. I would like to hire a live-in language...
Yes, I am stating the obvious – of course, all parents need patience! As a mother or father of a bilingual child, there will however be times when you need an extra helping of this specific virtue. By applying lots of patience, you will succeed in keeping the family...
Question My sister has a friend whose daughter speaks German (from her father), Afrikaans (her mother) and English (kindergarten). So I know it is possible. However, I am going to be a bit of a devil’s advocate and pose some alternative viewpoints: 1) My wife was a...
Question We live in Israel, and I am from Mexico, my husband speaks only Hebrew with our 3-year-old boy, and I speak only Spanish, from my side he does not hear a Hebrew word. We were just in Mexico and his Spanish is now till the moon - I am so glad that he developed...
Whether or not parents of bilingual children need to be consistent with their language use all the time is one of the topics that divide the opinions of mothers and fathers bringing up their children in a multilingual family. My choice of wording in the title probably...
Question My children are learning three languages, because my husband is English, he, of course, speaks English to them; I am Mexican and speak Spanish, and we live in Italy. I only speak Spanish to them, but only speak English to my husband. They go to childcare, and...
Parents who want to bring up their kids to speak more than one language can learn a lot from families who have been successful at bringing up bilingual children. However, I also think that a great deal can be learnt from those parents whose children grew up to be...
As parents, we often wonder whether we are doing the right thing for our kids. When I read the questions from fathers and mothers of children who grow up with more than one language, it is obvious that the addition of one or more languages to the family’s life...