OPOL Archives – Multilingual Parenting

Q&A: Switching from OPOL to mL@H to maximise the exposure to the minority language?

by Rita Rosenback | Oct 22, 2017 | Coaches, Non-native language, Q&A Choosing the right family language strategy, Rita R

Question Hi, I am wondering whether it would be helpful to change our approach. My daughter is 23 months old and I've been speaking German with her, while my husband has been speaking English. I am a stay-at-home mom and we are living in Germany, so German is...

Q&A: About choosing the language for day care, stuttering and mixing languages

by Rita Rosenback | Oct 8, 2017 | Babies, Challenges, Coaches, Language development, Q&A When a bilingual / multilingual child goes to school, Rita R

Question Hello, I am Macedonian living in Finland and my spouse is Finnish. I speak quite good English but at home we speak Finnish almost all the time. We have 2,5 months old baby for whose future I'd like her to speak Macedonian and Finnish and to...

Q&A: How to ensure that a trilingual (-to-be) child also picks up parents’ common language?

by Rita Rosenback | Oct 5, 2017 | Babies, Coaches, Language development, Q&A Choosing the right family language strategy, Q&A The trilingual+ child, Rita R

Question Hi, I have been doing a bit of reading on raising trilingual children, as my husband and I are expecting our first child in January. It seems that in most cases the parents have two individual native languages, and the third being that of the country they...

Q&A: When to introduce a family language to a child who will attend a trilingual school?

by Rita Rosenback | Oct 1, 2017 | Babies, Coaches, Language development, Q&A The trilingual+ child, Q&A When a bilingual / multilingual child goes to school, Rita R, School-aged children

Question Hi I live in Hong Kong where almost everyone is trilingual speaking Cantonese, Mandarin and English. The school I will send my baby, who is five months now, is a trilingual school that will begin at the age of two (Cantonese, Mandarin and English). My...

Q&A: How can a single parent raise a bilingual child?

by Mary-Pat O'Malley-Keighran | Aug 31, 2017 | Babies, Coaches, Language development, Mary-Pat O'Malley-Keighran, Q&A Being the parent in a multilingual family, Single parent

Question Hey, I decided long time ago that I would want to make my possible future children multilingual. I have lived years abroad (English was and still is my study and work language), but recently moved back to Finland. I'm a native Finnish-speaker, but...

Q&A: Should parents ditch English as the family language to support their child’s minority languages?

by Rita Rosenback | Aug 24, 2017 | Coaches, Q&A Choosing the right family language strategy, Q&A The trilingual+ child, Rita R

Question Hi there! First of all, thank you so much for good work on the subject. I have been looking for such a blog for ages and now my wife found it 🙂 We also have a question regarding raising our son to be trilingual. I have read thru all the other cases,...

Q&A: Who should speak what language when in a family with three languages to raise a trilingual child?

by Rita Rosenback | Aug 20, 2017 | Babies, Coaches, Q&A Choosing the right family language strategy, Q&A The trilingual+ child, Rita R

Question Hello, We're a multilingual family living in France. My name is Teresa and I'm Spanish, my husband is French and our common language is English (we started our relationship in California). Now we can communicate in French and Spanish also but we...

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

by Rita Rosenback | Aug 17, 2017 | Coaches, Q&A Choosing the right family language strategy, Q&A Moving to another country with a bilingual / multilingual child, Rita R

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: Should an OPOL parent switch the language spoken with a child depending on who is present?

by Rita Rosenback | Jun 29, 2017 | Coaches, Q&A Being the parent in a multilingual family, Rita R

Question Hi Family Language Coaches! I wanted to ask if, in an OPOL household, it would be detrimental if a parent spoke "the other parent's language" to the child in certain public environments. I live in Germany and speak German natively (and English...

Q&A: Three languages and sign language – too much for a two-year old?

by Rita Rosenback | Jun 18, 2017 | Coaches, Non-native language, Q&A The trilingual+ child, Rita R, Toddlers

Question Hello Looking for a suggestion for introducing my second languages to my toddler. My husband and I are native English speakers. I was a Spanish teacher for five years, so I speak it well, but I'm definitely missing lots of cultural background and...

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