In this section, you can find Q&As about moving to another country as a family.

Moving to another country or a different language environment is a big change in any family. For a child, a move means a new environment, new school, new friends and often a new language. Depending on the age of the child, the challenges vary, and it is important that parents can support their children as well as possible. What should parents take into consideration for their children before and after their move? How to manage the family languages when the amount of exposure to them decreases or increases? Which school language to choose?

Q&A: How does moving to another country affect a child’s identity and languages?

Q&A: How does moving to another country affect a child’s identity and languages?

  Question Dear Rita and the Multilingual Parenting Team, Thank you so much for this invaluable resource! I came across it today after a long discussion with my wife about our one-year-old son and our future plans, and wondered if it would be possible to help us...

Q&A: How to juggle several languages in the home – what if you move?

Q&A: How to juggle several languages in the home – what if you move?

  Question Hello, congratulations for the excellent website! It's great to hear about the experiences of other multilingual families and be able to get advice from a Family Language Coach, as it is often difficult to decide how to handle this subject. I would...

Q&A: Should a bilingual family swap from OPOL to mL@H when moving to a new country?

Q&A: Should a bilingual family swap from OPOL to mL@H when moving to a new country?

  Question Hello, thank you so much for this website, it has been such a great resource and source of positive reassurance on our journey to raise bilingual children. I have a question regarding switching the language method in the family. My husband is American,...

Q&A: How to pass on and maintain three languages in a family facing a possible move?

Q&A: How to pass on and maintain three languages in a family facing a possible move?

  Question Hello! I have a question about raising a trilingual child and I need some guidance on that! My name is Daniela. My first language is Brazilian Portuguese. My Indian husband is a Hindi-speaker. We live in the United States where I am a PhD student. We...

Q&A: Should a parent change the language spoken with a child in anticipation of an international move?

Q&A: Should a parent change the language spoken with a child in anticipation of an international move?

  Question Hello! We are a Spanish\Catalan family who has lived in China for nearly four years and our child speaks the three languages without no problem as we do OPOL and she goes to a Chinese school. We are planning to move to England in November or so, so we...

Q&A: Choosing the family language strategy after a move: when the minority language becomes the majority one.

Q&A: Choosing the family language strategy after a move: when the minority language becomes the majority one.

Question Dear Rita, Thank you for your wealth of knowledge and great posts! So far bilingual has been easy, since both my husband and I are German and we live in Texas. We both speak our native German with our almost 2-year-old daughter and with each other. She learnt...