Question Hi! My question might be a bit complicated. I have a 17-month-old daughter. I speak Hungarian to her, my husband speaks Spanish and we speak in English with each other. We currently live in Hungary and the main language of the community is Hungarian....
cultural identity
Q&A: How to choose the languages for a baby in a multilingual family?
Question Dear Family Language Coaches, I have a question about raising our first born (due in two months) multi-lingual which I was hoping you could kindly help us with. My wife is Ukrainian and speaks Russian (native) and English (not fully fluent, but quite...
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...
Bilingual! Bicultural? Do you know where I am coming from?
“Where are you from?” that was one of the questions from last week’s post – a question to be mindful of when speaking to a bilingual or bicultural child. Many adult bilinguals have however said to me that they don’t mind being asked where they come from – and I do...
Losing or never learning a family language – how does it feel?
When I tell people what I do and what my book “Bringing up a Bilingual Child” is about, I regularly get to hear comments such as “That’s great!” followed by “Oh, I wish I could speak my parent’s language.” It would be so beneficial for parents who are...
A-B-C for parents bringing up bilingual children: G-L
This is the second part in my A-B-C for parents passing on their languages to their little ones. G is for Grandparents Grandparents and other family members can be of great help when raising a bilingual child. This is especially important to remember if you are the...
Interview with my daughter
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...
Things that can go wrong when raising a bilingual child. Part 3 of 3
Being aware of potential pitfalls is vital to ensure that the family’s languages are passed on to the next generation. This is the last post in a three-part series on things that could go wrong. Here are the links to part one and part two. Being afraid that you will...