Q&A Archives – Page 27 of 55 – Multilingual Parenting

Q&A: What to do about bilingual teenagers mixing languages?

by Rita Rosenback | Nov 20, 2014 | Challenges, Coaches, Q&A Being the parent in a multilingual family, Rita R, Teenagers

Question: Our children have grown up learning both family languages and they are now teenagers. We are happy they can speak both languages, but are horrified by how much they mix the languages when they speak to each other. When they speak to people who only speak one...

Q&A: Can a passive language speaker help a child become bilingual?

by Maria Babin | Nov 13, 2014 | Coaches, Maria Babin, Q&A Being the parent in a multilingual family

Question I would like to hear what your thoughts are about this: Languages: minority language (ml) - Spanish, majority language (ML) English Strategy: One parent, one language (OPOL) Country: USA Child: 1 year old Let’s say we found someone who could babysit our kid 4...

Q&A: How can grandparents help a grandchild become bilingual

by Ute Limacher-Riebold | Nov 6, 2014 | Coaches, Grandparents, Q&A Being the parent in a multilingual family, Ute Limacher-Riebold

Question Hello, I will soon become a proud grandmother to my son's first child and I wonder how I could help in teaching him Finnish. My son knows conversational Finnish but his strongest language is English and his wife speaks English. They would very much like their...

Q&A: Our son only answers in English

by Rita Rosenback | Oct 30, 2014 | Coaches, Q&A How to motivate a bilingual / multilingual child to speak a family language, Rita R

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...

Q&A: Grandparents disagree about our language choice

by Rita Rosenback | Oct 23, 2014 | Coaches, Grandparents, Q&A Being the parent in a multilingual family, Rita R

Question I have a dilemma - we are a bilingual couple, my native language is English and my husband is German. I have studied German so I am more or less fluent in it having spent a few years in Germany. We live in the US and none of my husband's relatives live here,...

Q&A: Setting up language arrangements with an au pair

by Ute Limacher-Riebold | Oct 16, 2014 | Coaches, Non-native language, Q&A When a bilingual / multilingual child goes to school, Ute Limacher-Riebold

Question I live in New Zealand where I am attempting to pass on French to my two children as a non-native speaker. The children are 3.5 and 1.5 years. At this stage there is some passive understanding of the language only. I would like to hire a live-in language...

Q&A: Is bilingualism always the right choice?

by Rita Rosenback | Oct 2, 2014 | Bilingualism, Coaches, Q&A Being the parent in a multilingual family, Rita R

Question My sister has a friend whose daughter speaks German (from her father), Afrikaans (her mother) and English (kindergarten). So I know it is possible. However, I am going to be a bit of a devil’s advocate and pose some alternative viewpoints: 1) My wife was a...

Q&A: Choice of language with a bilingual child when others are around

by Maria Babin | Sep 25, 2014 | Coaches, Maria Babin, Q&A Choosing the right family language strategy

Question We live in Israel, and I am from Mexico, my husband speaks only Hebrew with our 3-year-old boy, and I speak only Spanish, from my side he does not hear a Hebrew word. We were just in Mexico and his Spanish is now till the moon - I am so glad that he developed...

Q&A: The trilingual family

by Ute Limacher-Riebold | Sep 18, 2014 | Coaches, Q&A The trilingual+ child, Ute Limacher-Riebold

Question My children are learning three languages, because my husband is English, he, of course, speaks English to them; I am Mexican and speak Spanish, and we live in Italy. I only speak Spanish to them, but only speak English to my husband. They go to childcare, and...

Q&A: Moving to another country with bilingual children

by Rita Rosenback | Sep 4, 2014 | Challenges, Coaches, Family life, Practical advice, Q&A Moving to another country with a bilingual / multilingual child, Rita R

Question I have found your articles of real interest and embrace the messages you are trying to deliver upon raising a bilingual child. I just wanted to pick you brains on something. My wife is from Sweden, we live in England and have two children aged five and three....

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