Question Hi, I was wondering if you could give me some feedback on how to encourage my passive bilingual kids to "produce" or speak the minority language in our home. I have 4 children ages 10, 9, 6 and 4. Both my husband and I are bilingual English/Arabic speakers. I...
Question Hello and thank you for the blog! I am a second generation Swedish speaker (Swedish mother) that has only been to Sweden for holidays and I live in Canada. Now I am trying to teach my 3.5-year-old son and 3-month-old daughter Swedish. I've been speaking...
Getting an answer in the "wrong" language is something which especially minority language parents dread, and which gives rise to question such as: – Is it the start of a slippery slope which may end in the majority language taking over as the language of communication...
Question My daughter is 2.5 yrs. I have only spoken to her in Spanish her whole life (we live in the US) her mother, a stay-at-home mom, only speaks English. If I press her, she will speak in Spanish, but she always responds in English unless I refuse to listen unless...
How to prepare your little bilingual for school? What to do if you get a response in the wrong language? Should you follow the teacher's advice to drop your home language? These are some of the questions that Marianna Du Bosq from Bilingual Avenue and I answered...
Question Hello, I have an 18-month-old. I speak only English to him. My husband spoke English and Spanish to him for the first 15 months and then decided to speak solely Spanish to him. He has been speaking to him only in Spanish since then. He started saying his...
Question Our son is 3 years old and we live in England. Since he was born, my partner and I have spoken to him in English and our first language Portuguese. I speak English to him because English and Portuguese are my first languages and his dad speaks mostly...
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...
… do you worry about what will happen with the minority language? Whether it will still be the means of communication between you and your child, or whether the majority language will take over? If you are a bit concerned, you are not alone, but there are steps you...
Kids tend to come with surprises – raising a child in more than one language can only add to the bewilderment. Bilingual children can certainly surprise their parents (and others), because they … … sometimes refuse to speak one of their languages There are several...