One of the most common pieces of advice in bilingual child-raising is don't push your children. You don't want them to associate acquiring their second language with hard work, or worse, with punishment. Using both languages should be as positive of an experience as you can make it. However, as my husband has said many times, children are like water: they follow the path of least resistance. Since … [Read more...]
How to Foster Children’s Pride in Their Minority Culture and Language
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One of the best ways to help your children become bilingual is to create incentives. If they associate a second language with good things, they're much more likely to acquire it. Bilingualism has a number of unique advantages you can point out to your children. Many are practical: being able to travel with greater ease, for example, or conversing with monolingual relatives who use the child's … [Read more...]
Three Languages Too Much For a Baby?
This is the question that came from our reader! I made a video to answer it. Question: Hi Olena! We have a 6 month old boy. I'm Portuguese and father Belgium from the dutch part. So we speak Portuguese at home ( me with baby, me with papa) and dutch (papa with baby). In October baby will start the creche {daycare} in french. Isn't it to much in a row? Should we be afraid he will lose one of the … [Read more...]
How Much Does Raising a Bilingual Child Cost?
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Raising your child to be bilingual takes a lot of extra effort. Most parents know that -- or they find out very quickly! But there is also additional expense to keep in mind, as well as additional effort. Does that mean it's a bad idea? Of course not. Helping your child to become proficient at any skill costs a little extra money, whether it's a second language, an athletic skill, a musical talent, … [Read more...]
Code-Switching vs. Borrowing in Bilingual Children
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One thing that often alarms the parents of bilingual children is when their children start switching back and forth between languages mid-sentence. This has been misunderstood and mischaracterized as a sign of "confusion" on the part of the child. Both popular culture and older academic literature will tell you that mixing languages is a bad habit. You may encounter teachers who still believe this, and … [Read more...]
Setting the Goals for Your Child’s Bilingualism
Let me ask you a question. Do you know where are you going? Yes, you did a good job on deciding that your child is going to be raised bilingual. But, what is you bilingual destination? Of course, bilingualism is more like a journey, but you still need to set up couple destinations so if you reach them - you will be happy with your journey. Basically, you have to know the level of skill you are trying … [Read more...]
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