Question Hi I am after some advice. We as a family are bilingual. I am British, my husband is Brazilian and we live in Finland. My 4-year-old daughter has never had a speech delay, if not amazingly speaking earlier than the normal. It’s like she was born to be good...
Q&A: Should we also speak the third family language to our baby?
Question Hi! I am Spanish and my husband Thai, we have a 10-month-old baby girl, and we live in Thailand. My husband and I speak to each other in English (not a very good one). I would like to know what would be your advice because we would love her to learn Spanish,...
Bilingual families: the role of the majority language parent
The majority language parent plays an extremely vital part when raising bilingual children. Most post on the topic of bringing up kids to speak more than one language are written with the minority language mum or dad in mind – including the ones on my site. This is of...
Q&A: How to motivate a bilingual toddler who understands a minority language to also speak it?
Question Hi coaches, I read a lot of your Q&A's and hope you have some comments for my family's current situation: I am a native Danish speaker (speak English fluently after living in the UK for 10 years, but currently living in Denmark). My partner is a native...
Q&A: Daycare in a third language – how to handle and maintain all languages?
Question We are a French-German couple living in Germany, and expecting our first child for January. Our family language will be French (we met in this language) and my husband is fluent. We are quite clear on using the OPOL system, so I will speak French to the...
“I can’t stay consistent!” – the challenge of parenting a bilingual child
I hear you, you are not alone – come closer so I can give you a virtual hug! Not being able to stay consistent in the language use is the most common reply I get when I ask parents what their biggest challenge is when raising bilingual children. So how important is...
Q&A: Is saying something in two languages a good way to teach an additional language?
Question Dear Rita and all other Family Languages Coaches, I am Shoko, Japanese, and a mother of a son who is 26 months old. My husband is also Japanese and we reside in Japan. I have lived in the States when I was 6-10 years old, and also again when I was 22-25 years...
Q&A: Is it too late to teach my children my native language?
Question Hello, I am so glad I found this website, I just realized I did a big disservice to my kids. I am Italian, live in the States, my husband is American, both of our kids were born and raised here, I have lived here for 12 years now. In the beginning I was...
Q&A: Can a father teach a child three languages?
Question Hello! Thanks for the website! I am starting to check it out to make our daughter, multilingual like us! My wife and I are native Spanish speakers, we are living in Brazil right now, so we also know how to speak Portuguese and our third languages differ from...
Q&A: What is the best way to teach our child English as a minority language?
Question Hello, I have been reading through your website and I would like to ask what you recommend for our situation. We are a Slovak couple (fluent in English, but not native speakers) living and expecting to live in Greece for a few more years, but then return home...






