Q&A Archive

Should a bilingual family swap from OPOL to mL@H when moving to a new country? by Rita Rosenback on August 17, 2017
How to motivate a school-aged child to speak the family’s minority language? by Mary-Pat O'Malley-Keighran on August 13, 2017
How to choose the family language strategy for passing on three languages? by Ute Limacher-Riebold on August 10, 2017
When to teach literacy in the minority language and how to support a bilingual child with a new language? by Rita Rosenback on August 3, 2017
How far behind can parents expect a bilingual child’s second language to be? by Rita Rosenback on July 27, 2017
How to maximise the family minority language exposure? by Ute Limacher-Riebold on July 20, 2017
About language exposure, family language strategy, speaking a non-native language and confusion by Rita Rosenback on July 13, 2017
Family language or a third language for a bilingual child’s education? by Rita Rosenback on July 6, 2017
Should an OPOL parent switch the language spoken with a child depending on who is present? by Rita Rosenback on June 29, 2017
Is a dual-language school a good choice for a bilingual child to become trilingual? by Ute Limacher-Riebold on June 25, 2017
How to choose a child’s school and parents’ common language in a family on the move? by Rita Rosenback on June 22, 2017
Three languages and sign language – too much for a two-year old? by Rita Rosenback on June 18, 2017
How many languages can/should parents introduce to a baby? by Rita Rosenback on June 15, 2017
How to maintain a family language once a bilingual child gets immersed in the majority language? by Rita Rosenback on June 11, 2017
How to support a bilingual child’s community language and maintain the family language? by Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett on June 8, 2017
How to choose the main school language for a trilingual child? by Rita Rosenback on June 4, 2017
How is a baby’s language development impacted by a nanny’s language and accent? by Mary-Pat O'Malley-Keighran on June 1, 2017
Should parents expose a trilingual-to-be baby to all languages from the start? by Rita Rosenback on May 28, 2017
How to pass on and maintain three languages in a family facing a possible move? by Rita Rosenback on May 25, 2017
Changing the language parents speak with a 1-year-old – is it too late and how to do it? by Rita Rosenback on May 21, 2017
Big sister’s concerns about the language choices for her little sister by Rita Rosenback on May 18, 2017
Questions about raising a trilingual child and balancing the exposure to three languages by Rita Rosenback on May 14, 2017
How to pass on two minority languages in a multilingual environment? by Rita Rosenback on May 11, 2017
What to do when a multilingual child struggles when starting an immersion program? by Rita Rosenback on May 7, 2017
When and how to introduce the concept of different languages to a small bilingual child? by Rita Rosenback on May 4, 2017
How to introduce a family language to older trilingual children? by Rita Rosenback on April 30, 2017
What to do when parents-to-be do not agree about raising bilingual children? by Rita Rosenback on April 27, 2017
When and how to introduce a third language to a bilingual child? by Rita Rosenback on April 23, 2017
How to choose the school language for a bilingual child in a multilingual society? by Rita Rosenback on April 20, 2017
Does a parent “mess up” a 2-year-old’s language development by speaking a non-native language? by Rita on April 16, 2017
Is it too late for a parent to start speaking a family language with a 2-year-old? by Rita on April 13, 2017
How to make a reluctant 7-year-old interested in a family language? by Rita Rosenback on April 9, 2017
How to pick the right language combination for a baby in a multilingual family? by Rita Rosenback on April 6, 2017
How to pass on two minority languages, one of them being a rare language? by Rita Rosenback on April 2, 2017
How to pass on a family language which the parent is not literate in? by Rita Rosenback on March 30, 2017
How to introduce an additional family language to a 4-year-old? by Rita Rosenback on March 26, 2017
Is it okay to have a third language as OPOL parents’ common language? by Rita Rosenback on March 23, 2017
How to support a bilingual 3-year-old learning a third language? by Rita Rosenback on March 19, 2017
What are the implications of switching the language you speak with your baby? by Rita Rosenback on March 16, 2017
Should a parent change the language spoken with a child in anticipation of an international move? by Rita Rosenback on March 12, 2017
How to introduce a second minority language to a child? by Rita Rosenback on March 9, 2017
Speaking different languages on different days – a good way to raise a trilingual child? by Rita on March 5, 2017
Should minority language parents always be consistent about using their mother tongue? by Rita Rosenback on March 2, 2017
How not to exclude others when you speak a minority language with your child? by Rita Rosenback on February 26, 2017
Is it normal for a bilingual toddler to go silent? by Mary-Pat O'Malley-Keighran on February 23, 2017
Is it worth passing on a family language for which there is only limited use? by Rita Rosenback on February 19, 2017
How to do OPOL as parents if you are used to mixing languages? by Rita Rosenback on February 16, 2017
How to engage a 10-year-old to speak the minority language and expand his vocabulary? by Rita Rosenback on February 12, 2017
“Am I a poor parent for not speaking the minority language with our child?” by Rita Rosenback on February 9, 2017
How to reintroduce a minority language to a speech-delayed child and a younger sibling? by Mary-Pat O'Malley-Keighran on February 5, 2017
Should a parent stop speaking a non-native language so that a child does not get an accent? by Rita Rosenback on February 2, 2017
Should parents always speak their native language with their children? by Rita Rosenback on January 29, 2017
Is a dual-language school which introduces a third language the right choice for a bilingual child? by Rita Rosenback on January 26, 2017
Will introducing a third language set back the second for a bilingual toddler? by Rita Rosenback on January 22, 2017
Is it necessary to arrange additional tuition for a child’s minority language? by Rita on January 19, 2017
Choosing the school language for a bilingual child – one of the home languages or a third one? by Rita Rosenback on January 15, 2017
How to maintain and support minority languages in a multilingual family? by Rita Rosenback on January 12, 2017
How to support a small bilingual child with the school languages? by Rita Rosenback on January 8, 2017
How to implement a combined OPOL + Time and Place family language strategy? by Maria Babin on January 5, 2017
How to introduce two minority languages to your kids? by Rita Rosenback on December 29, 2016
What to do when a bilingual school-aged child’s minority language is the stronger one? by Rita Rosenback on December 22, 2016
How to pass on both Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese as minority languages? by Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett on December 18, 2016
Deciding whether to speak a native dialect or an almost native language with a child by Rita Rosenback on December 15, 2016
How can a majority language parent help her child with two additional family languages? by Rita Rosenback on December 11, 2016
Should a couple switch from English to the majority language as their common language? by Rita Rosenback on December 8, 2016
Bilingual parents – how to choose the home language and what to speak with your child? by Rita Rosenback on December 4, 2016
What if a parent does not understand the language a bilingual child learns first? by Rita Rosenback on December 1, 2016
Should a parent stick to the minority language when others are around? by Rita Rosenback on November 27, 2016
How to help a bilingual child with the majority language when using mL@H? by Rita Rosenback on November 24, 2016
How many languages can a small child learn at the same time? by Nick Jaworski on November 20, 2016
How can a teenager who understands the family’s minority language also learn to speak it? by Rita Rosenback on November 17, 2016
The majority language parent also speaking a non-native minority language – recommendations? by Rita Rosenback on November 13, 2016
How to get the minority languages of the family back on track? by Rita Rosenback on November 10, 2016
How to choose the common language in a multilingual family? by Rita Rosenback on November 6, 2016
How to combine OPOL and the needs of an extended multilingual family? by Rita Rosenback on November 3, 2016
Can a child become fluent in a language after the age of six or seven? by Rita Rosenback on October 30, 2016
How to support a trilingual child when the minority languages are similar? by Rita Rosenback on October 27, 2016
How to motivate a reluctant 3-year-old to speak the minority language? by Rita Rosenback on October 23, 2016
Which language to speak when in a multilingual family? by Rita Rosenback on October 20, 2016
What is the best way for one parent to pass on two languages? by Rita Rosenback on October 16, 2016
In which language should children watch films in an OPOL-family? by Rita Rosenback on October 13, 2016
How to get a toddler to use the minority language? by Rita Rosenback on October 9, 2016
How to maximise the exposure to two minority languages? by Rita Rosenback on October 6, 2016
How to deal with several family languages for a child with speech delay? by Marianna Du Bosq on October 2, 2016
Should a parent not fluent in the minority language switch to the majority one? by Rita Rosenback on September 29, 2016
Are three languages too many for a small child? by Rita Rosenback on September 25, 2016
When should parents in a mL@H family switch to the majority language? by Rita Rosenback on September 22, 2016
Can a bilingual mother speak both languages with her child? by Rita Rosenback on September 18, 2016
Choosing the family language strategy after a move: when the minority language becomes the majority one. by Rita Rosenback on September 15, 2016
What to do when the other parent is against speaking the minority language? by Rita Rosenback on September 11, 2016
Does OPOL cause a “language division” in the family? by Rita Rosenback on September 8, 2016
How can one parent support the majority language while maintaining the minority one? by Rita Rosenback on September 4, 2016
How to choose between OPOL and mL@H? by Rita Rosenback on September 1, 2016
Bilingual 3-year-old does not speak – what to do? by Mary-Pat O'Malley-Keighran on August 25, 2016
How to choose the languages to speak, read and for media in a trilingual family? by Maria Babin on August 18, 2016
Should a minority language parent also help a toddler with the majority language? by Rita Rosenback on August 11, 2016
How to maintain two minority languages, one of which the parents do not speak? by Rita Rosenback on August 4, 2016
How to plan ahead for raising a baby to be trilingual? by Rita Rosenback on July 28, 2016
In which language should a bilingual child attend a summer course in math(s)? by Rita Rosenback on July 21, 2016
Bilingual school – a good way to add a third language for a bilingual child? by Rita Rosenback on July 17, 2016
How to pass on a minority language when both parents work? by Rita Rosenback on July 14, 2016
Does introducing a new language impact on learning to read and write in another? by Rita Rosenback on July 10, 2016
Will a small child lose a language if the exposure time is drastically reduced? by Rita Rosenback on July 7, 2016
Before a move, should children learn some of the language used at their new nursery? by Rita Rosenback on July 3, 2016
How to choose the common language in a multilingual family? by Rita Rosenback on June 30, 2016
Bilingual twins – can parents influence what language they speak between them? by Rita Rosenback on June 22, 2016
To support the minority language after a move, should you change the language you speak with your child? by Rita Rosenback on June 22, 2016
What to do when it does not feel right to speak one’s mother tongue with a baby? by Marianna Du Bosq on June 19, 2016
Are bilingual siblings similar in their language development? by Rita Rosenback on June 16, 2016
Bilingual homeschooling – how to successfully integrate more than one language? by Rita Rosenback on June 12, 2016
How to maintain a minority language when the parent speaking it has passed away? by Rita Rosenback on June 9, 2016
Our child’s teacher told us to stop speaking a family language – what to do? by Rita Rosenback on June 5, 2016
What are the milestones of normal language development for a bilingual 2-year-old? by Mary-Pat O'Malley-Keighran on June 2, 2016
Questions about teaching a toddler two non-native languages by Nick Jaworski on May 29, 2016
How to choose the languages for a trilingual baby in a multilingual family? by Rita Rosenback on May 26, 2016
Can learning difficulties be due to bilingualism and how to assess this? by Mary-Pat O'Malley-Keighran on May 22, 2016
How to encourage a reluctant child to use the minority language? by Marianna Du Bosq on May 19, 2016
How many languages can a small child cope with? by Rita Rosenback on May 15, 2016
Does reading to a child in a third language work with OPOL? by Rita Rosenback on May 12, 2016
When and how to introduce a third language to a small child who will attend a bilingual school? by Rita Rosenback on May 8, 2016
How to support a toddler’s minority language which a parent has not spoken with the child in the past? by Rita Rosenback on May 5, 2016
Should a parent switch to a non-native language to support a bilingual child’s minority language? by Rita Rosenback on May 1, 2016
How to define a bilingual child’s mother tongue and choose the right school language? by Rita Rosenback on April 28, 2016
How to maintain the minority language for a child in shared custody? by Rita Rosenback on April 24, 2016
Literacy for a bilingual child: How to teach reading in similar languages? by Nick Jaworski on April 21, 2016
Speaking a non-native language with your child – how to plan it and what to speak when family is around? by Rita Rosenback on April 17, 2016
Bilingual or trilingual baby – how many languages from the start? by Maria Babin on April 14, 2016
How to introduce another language to a small child with speech delay? by Rita Rosenback on April 7, 2016
How can one parent pass on two languages? by Rita Rosenback on March 31, 2016
How can a nanny support and understand a trilingual baby? by Rita Rosenback on March 24, 2016
Does a toddler need prepping for immersion daycare? by Nick Jaworski on March 17, 2016
Does it matter which language the nanny of an infant speaks? by Marianna Du Bosq on March 10, 2016
Bilingual siblings and their language preferences by Rita Rosenback on March 3, 2016
Choosing the language of childcare for a bilingual toddler by Nick Jaworski on February 25, 2016
How to choose between four or more family languages? by Nick Jaworski on February 18, 2016
What to do when the exposure time to one minority language decreases and is lost for another? by Rita Rosenback on February 15, 2016
How to choose the family language strategy? by Maria Babin on February 11, 2016
How to increase the minority language exposure for a toddler? by Marianna Du Bosq on February 4, 2016
How to adjust the family language strategy when a trilingual child’s majority language changes? by Rita Rosenback on January 28, 2016
Bilingual teenager refuses to study minority language as a subject – what to do? by Rita Rosenback on January 21, 2016
Should we also speak the third family language to our baby? by Rita on January 14, 2016
When to start teaching a trilingual child to read in the 2nd and 3rd languages? by Rita Rosenback on January 7, 2016
Should we move our bilingual 8-year-old out of the immersion class? by Rita Rosenback on December 31, 2015
Should we change our family language strategy from OPOL to mL@H? by Nick Jaworski on December 17, 2015
How not to exclude a monolingual family member? by Rita Rosenback on December 11, 2015
How to convince partner that bilingualism is good for the child? by Marianna Du Bosq on December 3, 2015
How to be consistent speaking the minority language AND include the other parent? by Rita Rosenback on November 26, 2015
My 5-year-old is struggling in all his three languages – what to do? by Rita Rosenback on November 19, 2015
How to reintroduce a minority language to a school-aged child? by Nick Jaworski on November 12, 2015
How strict should you be when your bilingual child answers in the “wrong” language? by Marianna Du Bosq on November 5, 2015
Is it a good idea to introduce two additional languages to a preschooler? by Rita Rosenback on October 29, 2015
How to motivate a bilingual toddler who understands a minority language to also speak it? by Maria Babin on October 22, 2015
Daycare in a third language – how to handle and maintain all languages? by Nick Jaworski on October 15, 2015
How to prepare a bilingual toddler for a move to another country? by Rita Rosenback on October 8, 2015
What to take into consideration when raising a trilingual child? by Nick Jaworski on October 1, 2015
Should we switch our family language strategy to support the minority language? by Ute Limacher-Riebold on September 24, 2015
Minority language at home – what happens when the child starts school in the majority language? by Marianna Du Bosq on September 17, 2015
How to juggle three languages with husband, child and stepchild by Maria Babin on September 10, 2015
Is saying something in two languages a good way to teach an additional language? by Rita Rosenback on September 3, 2015
Is it too late to teach my children my native language? by Marianna Du Bosq on August 27, 2015
Can a father teach a child three languages? by Nick Jaworski on August 20, 2015
How to adapt the family language strategy when the minority language changes? by Marianna Du Bosq on August 13, 2015
What is the best way to teach our child English as a minority language? by Maria Babin on August 6, 2015
How to introduce a third language to a receptively bilingual child? by Marianna Du Bosq on July 30, 2015
Teaching a possibly dyslexic child to read and write in the minority language. by Rita Rosenback on July 23, 2015
For our child, should we maintain a heritage language or go for the easier option? by Maria Babin on July 16, 2015
Should grandparents avoid code-switching when talking to their grandchildren? by Marianna Du Bosq on July 9, 2015
Should we choose the majority language or a third one as our family language? by Rita Rosenback on July 2, 2015
How to introduce my native language to my bilingual school-age children? by Nick Jaworski on June 25, 2015
Should I switch to using my native language with my bilingual children? by Nick Jaworski on June 18, 2015
What questions should we ask the teacher of our bilingual child? by Marianna Du Bosq on June 11, 2015
Two family languages, children want to speak only one by Nick Jaworski on June 4, 2015
How can monolingual parents keep up with their bilingual children? by Rita Rosenback on May 28, 2015
How to cope with multiple languages in a family? by Rita Rosenback on May 21, 2015
How to teach a non-native language (English) to a toddler by Rita Rosenback on May 14, 2015
Can I teach my son Spanish during the weekends? by Rita Rosenback on May 7, 2015
Changing the family language strategy by Isabelle Barth-O'Neill on April 30, 2015
Will parents mixing languages confuse a bilingual child? by Ute Limacher-Riebold on April 23, 2015
How to make best use of videos for a bilingual toddler and how to motivate talking? by Nick Jaworski on April 16, 2015
How to reintroduce English for our bilingual children? by Rita Rosenback on April 9, 2015
Helping bilingual children with homework – in which language? by Ute Limacher-Riebold on April 2, 2015
How to support all the languages of a trilingual 4-year-old. by Nick Jaworski on March 26, 2015
Motivating a child to use minority language & using different languages with siblings by Maria Babin on March 19, 2015
Should we speak the minority language to our adopted child? by Isabelle Barth-O'Neill on March 12, 2015
How to motivate a preschooler to talk the minority language by Isabelle Barth-O'Neill on March 5, 2015
Passing on a non-native language to a child by Rita Rosenback on February 26, 2015
Bilingual toddler stops speaking by Ute Limacher-Riebold on February 19, 2015
How can we help our bilingual child become fully fluent in both languages? by Nick Jaworski on February 12, 2015
Bilingual child minders speaking more than one language – good or bad? by Rita Rosenback on February 5, 2015
Choosing a school for a bilingual child – should language decide? by Nick Jaworski on January 29, 2015
When to start teaching bilingual children to read and write by Isabelle Barth-O'Neill on January 22, 2015
How to handle different character sets when raising bilingual children by Maria Babin on January 15, 2015
Choice of languages when raising a trilingual child by Ute Limacher-Riebold on January 8, 2015
Bilingual parent – which language to speak to the child? by Rita Rosenback on December 18, 2014
Watching cartoons in different languages – good or bad for bilingual children? by Rita Rosenback on December 11, 2014
What if a bilingual child’s majority language is not as advanced as the minority one? by Ute Limacher-Riebold on December 4, 2014
Our toddler only answers in English by Isabelle Barth-O'Neill on November 27, 2014
What to do about bilingual teenagers mixing languages? by Rita Rosenback on November 20, 2014
Can a passive language speaker help a child become bilingual? by Maria Babin on November 13, 2014
How can grandparents help a grandchild become bilingual by Ute Limacher-Riebold on November 6, 2014
Our son only answers in English by Rita Rosenback on October 30, 2014
Grandparents disagree about our language choice by Rita Rosenback on October 23, 2014
Setting up language arrangements with an au pair by Ute Limacher-Riebold on October 16, 2014
Setting up a language-rich preschool environment in a minority language by Isabelle Barth-O'Neill on October 9, 2014
Is bilingualism always the right choice? by Rita Rosenback on October 2, 2014
Choice of language with a bilingual child when others are around by Maria Babin on September 25, 2014
The trilingual family by Ute Limacher-Riebold on September 18, 2014
Child starts nursery but does not know the language. by Isabelle Barth-O'Neill on September 11, 2014
Moving to another country with bilingual children by Rita Rosenback on September 4, 2014
Practicing reading in two languages by Ute Limacher-Riebold on August 28, 2014
When using OPOL can parents read books in both languages by Rita Rosenback on August 21, 2014
Choosing the language for day care and dealing with doubts about bilingualism by Maria Babin on August 14, 2014
Can we pass on a third and possibly a fourth language to our daughter? by Rita Rosenback on August 7, 2014
Bilingualism, language delay? and maintaining a minority language by Maria Babin on July 31, 2014
Should I switch to speaking the language my eldest child will learn? by Isabelle Barth-O'Neill on July 24, 2014
How can I make my sons answer me in Catalan? by Rita Rosenback on July 17, 2014
I am not a native speaker, can I teach my daughter French and help her become bilingual? by Rita Rosenback on July 10, 2014
Which language should I speak to our bilingual son? by Maria Babin on July 3, 2014
Should we change our OPOL strategy when moving to another country? by Ute Limacher-Riebold on June 26, 2014
Can a child with Down syndrome become bilingual? by Isabelle Barth-O'Neill on June 19, 2014
Should we drop a language? by Rita Rosenback on June 9, 2014
One parent feels left out by Rita Rosenback on June 9, 2014
Child answers in the wrong language by Rita Rosenback on June 9, 2014
Introducing a language at a later stage by Maria Babin on June 9, 2014
School advises to drop a language. What to do? by Isabelle Barth-O'Neill on June 9, 2014
One parent, one language (OPOL) by Ute Limacher-Riebold on June 9, 2014