My children are blessed as they are being brought up with 3 languages. I’m Polish, my husband is German and we are living in Ireland. Our kids have the advantage of learning 3 languages naturally. Plus when they go to school they may learn 2 more.
Due to today’s economy and easy access to living abroad many children have the benefits to be raised in a bilingual environment. Some (just like my kids) have the opportunity to be multilingual and speak at least 3 languages.
For us decision was easy. We are going to speak to our children in our native languages and speak to each other in English. I’ve done my research on the best methods/approach and found a great book by Xiao-lei Wang who was in the same position as us. She is a Chinese Professor married to a Swiss man living with 2 boys in USA. She understood the importance of passing on own language and culture onto your kids, but have seen many parents struggling.
Mrs. Wang realized that many parents are struggling because of lack of support for them, they choose language for their children and such decision is important yet difficult and mostly because teachers are lacking the knowledge in dealing with multilingual children (p.3-4 ‘Growing up with Three Languages. Birth to Eleven’)
Before I go into more details, bare in mind that Mrs. Wang wrote the book after ‘an 11-year observation of two children who were simultaneously exposed to three languages from birth’. (p.5 ‘Growing up with Three Languages. Birth to Eleven’)
OK, let’s take one issue at a time.
Lack of support for parents. ‘There has been no real political, economic, or educational commitment on the part of governments in most developed countries to support families (particularly immigrant families) in the maintenance of heritage languages’ (p.4 ‘Growing up with Three Languages. Birth to Eleven’). Sadly it is true as an immigrant I have no support in teaching my children my heritage language. Many parents find easy to teach their own heritage language if they are both from the same country as they would speak it naturally between themselves and children will pick it up. Raising multilingual children takes a lot of effort as you really need to pay attention to how you say things, eg: difference between High German taught at school and slang/regional German spoken in every day life. My husband speaks a combination of those two so our children will be able to communicate effectively in his native region of Germany.
Many immigrant parents would rely on teachers and childcare professionals for guidance and support. Unfortunately, a lot of parents are poorly or ill advised about the options parents have in their language choices. ‘Many parents frequently walk away with the impression that they must speak and read the language of their country of residence to their children to ensure their children’s academic success’. (p.4 ‘Growing up with Three Languages. Birth to Eleven’). It happened to me during a developmental check (Chloe was around 20 months) when a Public Health Nurse advised me that I should be ‘favour’ English over Polish and German as she may not be able to catch up when she goes to pre-school and hence she may fall back at school in future. Politely I declined that option, stating that science and research are pro multilingual as the bilingual brain can have better attention and task-switching capacities than the monolingual brain, thanks to its developed ability to inhibit one language while using another. My daughter is almost 26 months she speaks beautifully for her age group, she can understand and answer in all 3 languages as well distinguish the difference between all 3 of the, She knows which grandma speaks which language and what words she should use. She is mixing her languages still, for example: Mommy daj hand (give hand), Dada daj decke (Daddy give blanket), Chloe tu bed (Chloe sleeps in this bed), Hi Schatz (Hi Honey/Darling). Thanks to her myself and my husband learn our heritage language quite naturally.
Here is another interesting read about the advantage of being bilingual. ALERT: Please be aware that link contains a video by Eddie Izzard with an usage of an F-word.
Times are changing and parents who are raising their children in bilingual or multilingual environment should be aware that their children won’t fall behind in school, they most likely thrive in languages as they already have base of other languages in them.
For any parents who are thinking about it or struggling, or simply look for an online support, you may visit Multilingual Children’s Association.
Benefits of raising multilingual or bilingual children are vast and amazing however what no one tells is that it is s hard work which requires a discipline and consistency. Please remember that you make this decision and no friend, teacher, doctor can change your mind. Your friends may find it rude when they come over and you speak your native language to your children. As you are aware that the consistency is a key. You can prompt your guests in advance that in order to maintain consistency with the languages spoken in your own household, you are speaking your native language to your children. Once their language skills are established we can advise our children that it is considered rude to speak a language to each other when no one else understands. Your guests, friends do not have impact on how you are raising your children. You know the reasons as of why you decided to raise your children multilingual and you know the benefits in doing so.
What is your opinion on the subject?
Aga Schnier is a founder of ParentingClub2014, Mother and Law of Attraction Master Practitioner which she currently uses to promote positive parenting techniques.
Parenting Club 