Bilingual Kids

While my husband and I were living in Japan and expecting our first child, we ordered a copy of ‘The Bilingual Family: A Handbook for Parents’ and found it to be one of the best investments we ever made. The timing was just perfect as one should read it while there’s still time before the baby is born!! Another scenario would be to read it while wondering why your seven-year-old still refuses to answer in his father’s native language. By then, in most cases, it would be rather late to undo lost time.

The book stresses two factors, with the most important one being consistency in speaking your mother tongue to the child. Your little one is likely to answer back in his chosen language (the other parent-language, environment-language, etc.) at any given time, but continue speaking in your native language. Don’t let him/her distract you.
There might come a time as well when the child refuses to speak your language – for whatever reasons – but again, don’t give in. These early years are crucial for listening comprehension and training the child’s hearing for acquiring proper pronunciation and its nuances.

With our first-born we could apply this concept right away as he lived with Japanese as his environmental language. I spoke German to him and my husband in English. He managed it all very well and spoke each language in accordance to the other speaker. The only time his previous environmental language came through was when he strolled through our neighborhood in Germany, yelling ‘hana’ (Japanese for flower) everytime he spotted one in bloom.

With our second child born in Germany, the experience was a bit different. For the first three years of her life, she plainly refused to answer her father in English, but used German instead. But his consistency paid off.

The other point being emphasized in the book, and one which we followed as well, was choosing a ‘house-language’. A house-language is the language spoken between parents in front of the children.

At that point we had to choose English, because my English is better than my husband’s German. You would like to use the more competent level of language in front of your kids as they learn from acquisition. Also in this aspect you should adhere to only one language being spoken in front of the children.

Consistency is the key word to insure success in raising bilingual kids.

There are still some old-fashioned sceptics out there who believe a child should not be confused by growing up in two languages. My former Italian neighbor, who had come to Germany in the late 60s, raised his children in German, (including his Italian accent!). After having studied Italian for two years myself at the adult education center, I approached his kids once with a simple Italian greeting to which they could not respond. When I questioned him he told me he believed a child could only be good in one native language. When I asked about his children’s accomplishments in German class, he had to admit his theory had been wrong. (I know enough monolingual students with low grades in their respective native language.) Then he also pointed out how bored his children would get during a month-long holiday in Italy as they could not communicate with his side of the family, whereas he got exasparated from having to interpret all the time. How could they even get to know their grandparents or cousins if there is no language to share? What about sharing good times and laughter instead of sullen moments, frustration and boredom?

These sceptics of bilingualism are soon becoming extinct.

In today’s world our children will need more than one profession and language to succeed.

The first edition of ‘The Bilingual Family: A Handbook for Parents’ was published in 1986, and since then this book has provided many parents with the information and advice needed to make informed decisions about what language policy to adopt with their children. This second edition contains updated references and new entries to the alphabetical reference guide.

This book is for parents who desire to raise their children in a multilingual environment. The approach is scientific, but linguistic knowledge is not necessary to understand its competent and practical advice.

Old ideas about bilingualism are also discussed and how to confront misconceptions as we encounter them.

If you’re concerned or wondering about raising your kids with more than one language, now or in the future, you should read this book.

We did, and our bilingual kids are proof that the concept works.

For more information or to order, click on the image below.