12 Things Parents of Bilingual Children Need to Know

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12 things parents raising bilingual children need to knowFeb

262014

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1 It doesnt happen by magic

Children do not become bilingual by magic. There is a persistent myth claiming that children are like sponges

when it comes to language and that they will learn all languages they hear regularly this is simply not true.

Yes, in the right circumstances children will naturally grow up to acquire the family languages, but this cannot be

aken for granted.

2 You need a plan

To be in with the best chance of succeeding in bringing up bilingual children, you need to plan ahead. How fluent

do you want your children to be? What about reading and writing? Who speaks what and when? Discuss this inhe family and agree on the goals.

3 Consistency is crucial

Once you have your plan, you need to commit to it as a family and stay consistentin your language use. Yes,

children can certainly become bilingual if parents mix their languages with them, but the risk that they will at

some point prefer to stick to the majority language is far greater if they have become used to the minority

language parent easily switching to the majority language.

4 You will have to pay attention to exposure times

Once you have your plan, you need to look into how much exposure your children get to each language. There

is general recommendation that children should be exposed to a language at least thirty percent of their wakingime to naturally become bilingual. This should however only be taken as a guidance depending on the type of

exposure, children might need more or less time to acquire a language.

5 You will have to invest some extra time (and sometimes maybe a bit of money)

You will need to find the time talk a lot, to do the reading and to find resources to help your children learn the

language. You might find that you need to use your holidays to make a trip to boost your childrens motivation to

speak the language.

6 There will be doubters

Not everyone will agree with you that it is a good idea to raise your children to speak all family languages. There

will be those who tell you that there is no point, that it is not going to work. Others will think that you are

expecting too muchof your children, and some will say that you are confusing your childrenwith all these

languages. Ignore these doubters, but also forgive them, as they do not know what they are talking about.

7 Dont listen to bad advice

There might be times when a professional tells you to stop speaking a certain languageto your children. If in

doubt with regards to your childs language development speak to a specialist who is experienced in dealing

with bilingual children.

8 It is not always easy

There will be all sorts of challenges along your familys multilingual journey apart from the doubters and the ill-

informed experts there will be more mundane obstacles: will you be able to stick to your plan when lifehappens and offers its surprises in form of changed family circumstances, moves, career progressions,

influence from others and so on? When it feels difficult, ask for advice and help.

9 Your child might answer you in the wrong language

This one usually hits the minority language parent. You feel that you have done everything right and stayed

consistent, and still your darling comes home from school one day and no longer answers you in your language.

You will feel disappointed and disheartened if it this happens, but it is crucial that you dont give up at this point,

and that you continue to stay consistent and if possible, also increase the exposure time.

10 Your children will gain an array of benefits by becoming bilingual

@RitaRosenbackThank you! Looking

forward to read all the posts and find

tips that will help me raise my daughter

in a bilingual environment

Retweeted by Rita Rosenback

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Posted by Ritaat 2:06 pm Tagged with: bilingual advantage, bilingual children, minority language, multilingual

families, parenting

105 Responses to 12 things parents raising bilingual children need to know

1. chandlerozconsultants says:

February 27, 2014 at 5:18 am

Reblogged this on hungarywolf.

Reply

2. Galina / Trilingualchildrensays:

If you are still in doubt about whether to bring up your children to become bilinguals or not, read about all the

great benefitsyour children will gain if you do decide to do it. We all want what is best for our children, so why

wouldnt you support yours to have the wonderful gift of speaking more than one language?

11 You will never regret it

I can assure you, you will not regret your decision to stick with it and make sure that your children grow up to

speak all the family languages. On the other hand, I have heard several parents who are sad that they gave up

on passing on their languages not to mention the many adults expressing their disappointment that they were

not taught a languagetheir mother or father knew when they were small.

12 You will be proud

You will be immensely proud when your children for the first time speak to their grandparents or other relatives

in their language. I can assure you that the feeling is absolutely wonderful. Not only will you be proud, so will

your children and the rest of your family. You will also be a great role model to other families.

May the peace and power be with you.

Yours,

Rita

Rita Rosenback 2014

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Related

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raising a bilingual child. Part 2 of

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bilingual children: M-S

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It is so true, Rita!

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:


Thank you, Galina! Glad you liked my post

Reply

3. Linda Sebestyensays:

February 27, 2014 at 3:07 pm

Im Hungarian, my husband is Italian and we live in Germany with our kids. The kids are learning German and english in

the School, and they speak hungarian and Italian.It IS a Kind of challenge for everybody!

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

February 27, 2014 at 3:49 pm

Fantastic set of languages! Yes, it is a challenge, but the rewards are great

Reply

4. Elianesays:

March 1, 2014 at 4:17 pm

The words I most often heard coming f rom my father, growing up, were Sorry, I dont understand French. He is a

francophone raised in French and English and decided that he would be talking to us in English, when I (the eldest) was

5, and my mother was speaking French to us (the majority language in Quebec).

It was frustrating at t imes because we very well knew that he understood French, but he made us talk to him only in

English. He would provide the words if we really did not know how to say something, then make us repeat. I took a lot of

energy for him to be so strict and firm, but Im grateful for it because Ive seen so many kids and teens understand a

second language spoken at home, but not speak it, and later regret it as adults. So thank you Papa!

Now, as a second-language teacher, I have learned that studies say that as long as the circumstances in which a child

hears a language are very clear and there are no blurred lines, there is no problem with exposing a baby to 2 or even 4

languages. The child wont mix up the languages if there is a clear Mommy language, a Daddy language, a Daycare

language, and so on. Its when the context for speaking a specific language (people mixing languages as they speak)

are blurred that its more a challenge for the childs brain to sort out which words belong to which language. But

eventually he will. Though he might mix words of different languages in his speech too, and not understand that not

everybody he speaks to will know these languages.

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 1, 2014 at 4:51 pm

Thank you, Eliane, for telling your story! You are echoing so many other adult bilinguals thoughts when you

say that you are grateful to your parents for sticking with it. It is an important message for all parents currently

raising their children to become bilingual.

A bit of mixing languages is ok (this does happen in most multilingual families), but as long as children also

spend time with people who speak the language without mixing in other languages, they will learn to keep the

languages separate when they speak with monolinguals. Consistency along with enough interactive

exposure are vital, and yes, there can be up to four languages at the same time.

Reply

Francescasays:

March 11, 2014 at 7:49 pm
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I agree with Eliane. I am Italian and my husband American, we live in Germany. We used opol

with the kids (now 15 and 13 years old) and strictly never mixed languages. Now they speak

fluently all three languages (Italian, English and German). On the other hand my daughter had

some problem learning French at school because, her words: they teach you to translate from

German. Once I know the words, how to express a concept, it is a step too much to translate it to

German. She is looking forward when she can be in France and be forced to absorb the

language and just speak it.

Reply

5. Aly Sonoharasays:March 2, 2014 at 2:54 pm

Very interesting! I grew up in Brazil from a family of Japanese background. My parents f irst language was japanese and

while growing up I attended a brazilian regular school in the mornings and a private japanese language school in the

afternoons for 7 years. However, It wasnt enough because at home nobody spoke japanese at all. Everything was

always in portuguese and me and my sisters we never got deeply interested in Japanese culture. My friends who lived

with their grandparents ended up learning both languages very well, though. So my point about sharing my story is that

parents sure have a great role at not just teaching the language, but showing why the language should be learnt and

make their kids get interested in it.

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 2, 2014 at 3:09 pm

Thank you so much for sharing your story, very powerful. The parents behaviour and attitude are of the

greatest importance to a child growing up to be bilingual.

Reply

6. ebgsays:

March 4, 2014 at 5:00 am

#9 is certainly a stage that many children go through, but persistence is the key. I am first generation bilingual (english-

turkish). with our daughter we upped the ante (english-turkish-french) and for about a year she wouldnt speak english

(we had moved from canada to turkey and her father was monolingual in english) but a year later with constant

reinforcement in english everything had smoothed out

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 4, 2014 at 7:06 am

Thank you so much for sharing your familys experience. I admire how committed you are as parents and so

happy to hear it has paid off! It is so important that other families who are struggling get to hear success

stories like yours. Thank you again!

Reply

7. Susysays:

March 4, 2014 at 8:31 pm

Great food for thought! I am Argentine by birth, but am a US citizen by family, my husband is Argentine, but we are now

moving to Brazil as missionaries. Our daughters are 3 and 17 months. I am trying to figure out how to juggle all three!

They will learn Portuguese in school, I am determined they learnEnglish, I would like for them to speak Spanish we

have a long road ahead! Thanks for the tips!

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 4, 2014 at 8:47 pm

Exciting times! We did two minority languages at home when we moved to England sounds like the way to

go for you as well. Good luck!
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Reply

8. Fabio Gregosays:

March 5, 2014 at 3:49 am

All sound advice!!! Everyone should be bilingual!

I would add two other items that I used when teaching my son Italian and were very helpful. I hope they can be helpful to

others also:

1. Avoid always correcting the child, but let the child make mistakes as he/she speaks the language.with time they

figure it out. At t imes I would feign forgetting a word in English and let my son come to my rescue with the proper wordso that the exercise of remembering a correct word in a language was equal for both and not just for the other

language .

2. Find something that is interesting to do, hopefully together in THAT language. For the past 50 years Disney has had a

standing deal with an Italian publisher allowing them to create and publish their own stories with Donald Duck, Mickey

Mouse etc. The fusion of Italy and US that comes out of the comic books is unique and a magnet for kids..to the point

that I would read the stories to my son at bedtime until the day when I told him I was tied of reading all the words and

that he should read Donald Duck. He said he did not read Italian and I told him he could read the letters and knew what

the language sounded like so why could he not? Not only does he now speak Italian but he also reads and writes Italian

fluently. I credit Disney

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 5, 2014 at 4:43 am

Fantastic, thank you very much, Fabio! I know there are different opinions with regards to correcting a childs

mistakes, and I am sure you can succeed even if you do correct, but I am largely with you on this one (I wrote

about it in this post). Love the idea of letting your son help you find a specific word that would have been

so motivating for him!

Yes, comics can be such a helpful tool to get children a) listening attentively and b) learning to read

themselves.

Thank you for sharing your experiences, much appreciated!

Reply

9. Bilingualism for children | Express Yourself English Academysays:

March 5, 2014 at 9:01 am

[] 12 things parents raising bilingual children need to know []

10. Diana Paredessays:

March 6, 2014 at 3:02 pm

I am raising my son bilingual in English and Spanish in Mexico. My son is a dual national as I, because my mother is

American. I have spoken English exclusively to him since he was six months old and he only watches TV in English. We

is 3 and a half now and his dominant language is English. He started speaking Spanish at school and my husband is

reinforcing it at home, and he is acquiring it very fast. Now he translates, he talks to my husband in Spanish and then

turns to me and says it in English. Its amazing!

We have had many challenges, including doctors and teachers telling me to stop speaking English to him, because of a

(slight) speech delay and some phonetic problems. I have refused every time.

I didnt grow up speaking English regularly at home . My father did not like it. Although I had a native pronunciation and

could say some things, I was not fluent at all. We moved to Canada when I was twelve and I was not able to understand

TV, movies and had a really hard time at school. When I saw my mother being able to speak and understand everything,

I was angry. I couldnt believe she had not shared that with me! I felt cheated. I learned English properly those two years

in Canada and later by watching TV and reading a lot. As an adult I lived in England and spent some years in the States,

and thats when I really became fluent.

I work in English language teaching now and I know that you cannot acquire a language 100% (especially native

pronunciation,) unless you are exposed to it by a parent or by the environment in a consistent and significant way from a

young age. Thank you for a great article! The advice is excellent.

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:
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March 6, 2014 at 3:18 pm

Thank you Diana for sharing your and your familys story! My daughter also translated as soon as she knew a

few words in both of her first languages. She was not even two at the time, it did feel amazing Sorry to

hear that you have also had to stand your ground against incorrect advice, I am so glad you did!

I can understand your pain when you felt cheated as a twelve-year-old, but I am sure your mother had her

reasons fantastic that you have become and English teacher!

Thank you for reading I am happy you enjoyed my post

Reply

Diana Paredessays:

March 6, 2014 at 3:47 pm

Thank you, Rita!

I know challenges lay ahead. As you mention in the article, I have heard from friends that

sometimes children dont want to speak the minority language anymore. My plan is to stay firm

and to travel to the States as much as our budget allows- lol. I m sure the sightseeing, shopping

and restaurants will motivate him, let alone Disneyland!

Thanks again for the article! Sometimes bilingualism feels like a lonely road and its great to hear

other experiences and very good advice!

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 6, 2014 at 3:58 pm

I can read from your comments how passionate you are and how committed your are

to raising your son to be bilingual, and I am sure you will succeed! When it feels lonely

reach out, there are so many others who are sharing a similar journey!

Reply

11. Ana msays:

March 6, 2014 at 6:43 pm

Hi, I am Mexican and my husband is Italian. We have two children 7 and 5 who speak since they were born in Spanish

with me and Italian with dad. Although we live in Italy, I always wanted them not only to be able to learn my beautiful

language but about their culture and heritage. Also, I have always spoken English since very young so I wanted them to

learn English, so we decided to put the eldest one in an international school where she has learnt the language since

she was in early years. Now at 7 her English, Italian and Spanish are fantastic!!! And she keeps on developing her

reading/writing skills in all three languages. I definitely struggled to keep to Spanish and also relied on t.v. And

technology to help me with exposure to the language. My youngest son has the same except that he goes to a French

school, he is in his second year and already his French is developing amazingly. We now speak four languages at home

without it being chaotic!!!

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 6, 2014 at 7:51 pm

Wonderful, thank you for telling us your family story! We had a similar situation in the family with four different

languages, and we seemed to be the only people who didnt find it difficult or confusing

Reply

12. Rosannasays:

March 7, 2014 at 9:20 am

Great Post! Me and my Husband are italian and we live in Germany since 10 years. Ous son is 4 years old and is

growing up speaking perfectly italian and german. Sometimes he mix them and its so funny And its incredible how

his German pronounce is PERFECT. Much more perfect as ours!

Reply
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Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 7, 2014 at 9:27 am

Hi Rosanna thank you for your lovely comment! You are so right about children and accents as adults we

have to work really, and I mean really, REALLY hard to get anywhere as authentic an accent. That said, I like

accents, they are part of our make up as bilinguals, I think

Reply

Lindasays:

March 7, 2014 at 11:36 am

Hello Rosanna,

Your son was born in Germany, or you just moved here?was he going to a German kindergarten?? I had a

bad experience with a german kindergarten, because at home we speak Italian and hungarian but no

german.. The teachers could not work with a 3 years old kid who not knows german..everyday was a mess

for him and for me too!! Than we decided to move back to I taly, at least he learned italian and now that he is

almost 7 we moved back to koln and he is going to a German-Italian school..

Reply

Athinasays:

August 31, 2014 at 8:49 am

My husband and I are both Greeks.We moved to England 3 years ago and we are both fluent in

English although when at home we both speak greek. We have a 5month old baby and my fear

was that she might felt isolated if she didnt know English till kindergarden so since I was pregnant

started to speak to her only in English the problem(well i dont know if its a problem) is that my

husband and I continue to speak in greek when at home but when i want to talk to my lo i speak

only English. With that way i reckon that it might be good for her to be exposed to both lanquages

although i have my doubts from time to time. Hope it goes well

Reply

13. marrikrajjarsen1says:

March 7, 2014 at 6:41 pm

My friends Walter and Sophia (now retired), living in the Netherlands, raised their two daughters speaking their fathers

native German with their father, their mothers Dutch with their mother, whichever language started first in collective

conversations, and English as a secondary language. Not only did both daughters come out exquisitely trilingual, but

also, one has adapted to tough economic times in her original profession by becoming a primary school German

teacher. (There may be some family talent: Sophia has become a fluent Swedish speaker as a hobby, and Walter is able

to converse comfortably in Latin, French and Italian.)

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 7, 2014 at 8:24 pm

There are so many advantages to being bilingual! Thank you for telling this family story.

Reply

14. Kaysays:

March 7, 2014 at 7:46 pm

Reblogged this on Everyday Issuesand commented:

Shame I cannot speak one of my languagesbut am proud of it.

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 9, 2014 at 12:44 pm
http://multilingualparenting.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=433#respondhttps://www.yadyreve.wordpress.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=434#respondhttp://multilingualparenting.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=432#respondhttp://thismoonlesssky.wordpress.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=1040#respondhttp://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=431#respondhttp://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=430#respondhttp://multilingualparenting.com/


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Thank you for sharing my post, Kay!

Reply

Kaysays:

March 10, 2014 at 12:36 pm

Thank you for writing it. Very very helpful!

Reply

15. EliseV22says:

March 7, 2014 at 9:29 pm

My husband and I both grew up only speaking English but invested a lot of time, money, and energy throughout our lives

learning Russian and Spanish respectively. Neither of us are native in our second language, but we are

conversationally fluent and speak correctly with little accent (we lived in Russia and Spain). We would like to pass our

second languages to our children because we have invested so much trying to learn them ourselves and because we

believe that foreign languages are so important. Do you have any advice for this situation? Our child will be in a

Spanish/English daycare and we plan to use technology to help. Our first baby is due in 3 weeks, so were trying to plan

ahead :).

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:March 8, 2014 at 11:22 am

Congratulations and well done for planning ahead! If you feel comfortable about the idea of speaking the

language with your child, i.e. you can relate and express your feelings in the language, and you can achieve

approximately 30% exposure time in each language for your baby, I see no reason why you couldnt succeed

in this. If you want your child to have a native-like accent, you would need to make sure your baby also gets

exposed to native speakers of the languages. Good luck!

Reply

EliseV22says:

March 10, 2014 at 9:13 pm

Thanks for your response! It gives us encouragement and the 30% exposure goal is very helpfulas a guideline. We will be getting some childrens books and CDs of songs to help us out :).

Reply

16. Bibiana Perezsays:

March 7, 2014 at 11:27 pm

My five children speak German (my language), Spanish (their dads) and English. They were all born and have always

lived in the US. I was more consistent in speaking German with my older ones, and they definitely are doing better with it

than the younger ones. My second-oldest (college-aged) pretends she does not understand me when I speak English

and even texts me in German. So proud of her!

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 8, 2014 at 11:25 am

Fantastic you are right, the children can start language policing (in a good way) when they grow up,

especially keeping their younger sibling in line

Reply

17. Susannesays:

March 8, 2014 at 7:24 am
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Hi everyone! My husband is from the US, I am from Austria and we both live in Austria. We both became f luent in the

other persons language (English vs. German). This is why on the odd days (e.g. on March 7th) we speak English, on the

even days we speak German to each other. We plan to continue this with our future kids. Does anybody have

experiences with this model? Switching the family language each day? Thanks for your response.

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 8, 2014 at 11:30 am

This can be done, and I have a friend who has successfully implemented language switching in her family

though I think they use two-week intervals. I will ask my friend to comment on this thread.That said, since you are now living (and plan on staying?) in Austria, you might want to consider the minority

language at home approach. When the children grow up, they will be surrounded by German most of their

day and English will play a smaller part in their lives. Having English as the home language would at that

point safeguard their future as fluent English speakers.

Reply

Trilingual Mamasays:

March 8, 2014 at 2:24 pm

Dear Susanne, If you have found a rhythm that works for you and your family, then by all means stick with it!

We personally work on a two-week system, a personal adaptation of OPOL for our family. My husband is

French and I am American born to a Hispanic father and a Mexican mother and raised bilingually in

California. While living in the U.S., we used classic OPOL (Papa French, Mama Spanish) and our children

got English everywhere else. When we moved to France 8 years ago, we switched to an every two week

system. Papa still does the French and I switch from Spanish to English every two weeks. It usually takes us

about three days to get everyone on track with the new target language (we do a lot of mixing of languages

those first three days!) and then for the rest of the two weeks, its usually smooth sailing and we get a true

immersion experience in the target language. This rhythm has been working like a charm for us for the past 8

years. We are the proud parents of 4 budding trilinguals (all at different stages, of course), ages 16 months to

13 years! Good luck to you!

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 8, 2014 at 3:09 pm

Thank you so much for your valuable input, Maria you have an amazing family!

Reply

18. says:

March 8, 2014 at 1:00 pm

[]12 things parents raising bilingual children need to know []

19. Sharon Simmondssays:

March 9, 2014 at 5:41 am

Hi everyone, my family live in Australia and at the moment we all speak English, my husband is from brazil and we have

always wanted our daughter to speak Portuguese as well. She is three years old and we have found that she is very

resistant to speaking Portuguese, she knows at least fifty words in portuguese but will rarely speak thwm. she is

speaking very well in English and can understand complex concepts. should her father simply start speaking portuguese

to her all the time, or should we ease into it more slowly. I suggested to her moments ago that daddy will start to speak

portuguese all the time and she was upset because it is to hard and she cant speak portuguese, I am expecting her to

be quite resistant and she is quite stubborn, I dont want it to be a negative experience. How to proceed from here?

thank you for your advice,

Sharon

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 9, 2014 at 10:19 am
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Hi Sharon, thank you for your comment! You ask should her father simply start speaking portuguese to her

all the time the answer is Yes, he should. The longer you wait, the more difficult it is going to be to change

the language (you can read what I had to do to change languagewith my daughter). She will be a bit upset to

start with but if you both support her and make it fun for her, it will soon become a norm in the family. Do a lot

of activities in Portuguese: play games, watch cartoons together and discuss what is happening. You could

also learn Portuguese alongside your daughter and even ask her to help you with words that you know she

already has in her vocabulary (kids love knowing something better than their parents). This will be a great

motivation for her. It will take a bit of effort gett ing into the Daddy-speaks-Portuguese routine, but the longer

you wait, the more tricky it is going to be. My suggestion is, start with the Portuguese today, doing something

she really loves.

Reply

20. [email protected]:

March 9, 2014 at 5:56 am

I never felt so good in my life. Every and each word is true. My children speak three language and we did exactly what

you (Rita) wrote. It is so good to read that other people support and understand us. Thank you

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 9, 2014 at 10:20 am

Thank you so much for your lovely comment I can feel your joy!

Reply

21. Melsays:

March 9, 2014 at 6:29 am

Hello, I always wanted to raise my son bilingual. I was born in the US. My dad is American and my mom german. We

lived in the US for about 5 years. I grew up bilingual. Than we went to Germany and I went to german Kindergarten ,

than german school and than the german school for nursing. I never forgotten the englisch language. I do think that I

speak it fluently and understand everything. But german has become my main language.

I am now 28 and live in Austria and my son will be 3 in June. I have such a hard time to speak english to him. My

boyfriend is Austrian and also understands english. But its just so hard for me to actually use the english language for

the everyday speak.

We read English books to him and he gets to watch english television.but I am afraid that is not enough.

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 9, 2014 at 10:45 am

Dear Mel, thank you for telling your story. The passion for English and for teaching it to your son clearly

comes through when you describe your situation. Reading English books and watching English on the TV will

be beneficial for your son, but you are right when you say that it will not be enough for him to become an

English speaker. Are there any English playgroups in the area that your son could participate in? Any

American or English families whose children speak English with each other and you could arrange play dates

with? It is important that you feel comfortable when you communicate with your son. While it is fantastic to

pass on a language to a child, remember that the relationship between the two of you is more important than

which language you use. Try to think what would make you more confident in using English with your son

would it be to listen to English TV programs, read magazines and books what about frequent Skype callswith English speaking friends and family? You could also choose a specific day, or the weekends to use only

English with your son. In this way it would probably not feel as hard. Even if he doesnt learn to speak English

at home, he will gain an immense advantage in having a passive understandingof it, which can later be

turned into active use of it. Good luck with everything!

Reply

22. Zoesays:

March 9, 2014 at 11:51 pm

We are raising our boys in Brazil so their main language will be Portuguese. My husband is Brazlian but he has made

the amazing choice to make our home an English speaking environment. This is an enormous investment for his sons

which we all appreciate. Our eldest is now 2 and speaking primarily in English and showing obvious signs that he knows
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there are two languages. They are very lucky boys. We have a blog about child development where we write about our

language journey. Please let me know if you would like the blog page. Thank you for this inspirational post

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 10, 2014 at 9:09 am

I take my hat off for your husband! What a wonderful investment he is making into his childrens future.

Please feel free to ad a link to your blog in the comment.

Reply

Zoe Hamlet Silvasays:

March 14, 2014 at 5:13 pm

The blog is babystepsindependence.blogspot.com.br. we have a facebook page too!

Reply

23. eddie rojassays:

March 10, 2014 at 12:20 am

Rita, it there a way your post can be translated into SpanishThat can helphelp a lotf families in my community in HoustonTexas.

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 10, 2014 at 9:11 am

Hi Eddie, thank you for the interest! This is something I have in my plans for future until then, I hope Google

translate can help a little bit.

Reply

24. Abigailsays:

March 10, 2014 at 6:51 am

Hi Rita, and thank you for this post: it is excellent advice.

I feel a bit deflated as for us, it has not really paid off. Before having children, it was very clear in my head that I would

raise my children bilingually. I am French living in the UK. My husband does not speak French, and furthermore, I speak

excellent English. (By this, I mean that I do not have an accent at all, and no-one suspects that I am French at all). My

son is 5 and my daughter is 2. Because we speak English at home, the only exposure they have is when they speak to

me and me only. So we are very far from the 30% time you advocate for the minority language.

I religiously spoke French to my son, and t ried to encourage him to watch French cartoons. However, we noticed his

speech was very delayed, and after two years to observations and visits to specialists, he was f inally diagnosed as

having Autism Spectrum Disorder. He is very bright, and his speech is improving, but he is still behind his peers. The

specialist who diagnosed him did query if perhaps the French might be a hindrance to him. She did not advise me to

stop speaking, but implied that she simply did not know. I decided to stick with the French because more than a

language, I also believed it was part of his identity. Perhaps I should have sought more help at the time. What happened

is that gradually, I have slacked. I gave in. I speak English to him when I really want cooperation. I know that he can

understand French and he usually translates what I say, but he is still struggling with his speech and comprehension. So

from little exposure, he now has very little exposure. I feel a bit of a failure, but it is very hard to communicate with him at

the best of times. He has also refused to speak French to me. Taking him on holidays to France are difficult because of

his attachment to routine and familiar environment. I have taken him three times by myself (without dad who speaks

English) and this was before his diagnosis. These were very difficult and stressful times for me. Not holidays at all!!!

My little girl is now starting to speak, and she understand French, but there again, I feel that the exposure to minority

language is still too little. I speak a lot to her, I do a running commentary of everything, but all the play groups she

attends, and all the friends she has are English-speaking.

I suspect she will copy her brother (like she does for everything) and reject the French when she realises that I can

speak English very well too, so theres no need to bother!!!

So I gradually accept that I did my best, but that my children will probably not be bilingual. It is tough to accept, but not

as tough as having a child with autism. Life does not turn out as you plan

Reply
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Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 10, 2014 at 9:33 am

Dear Abigail, how lucky your children are to have you as their mother. Not for a single fleeting moment should

you think you are a failure! Your concern and eagerness to do the best for your children shines through so

clearly in your message. As I write in the post, bringing up a bilingual child is never an easy task and when

you add to that the fact that your son has ASD makes it a big challenge, Instead of feeling that you have

slacked, look at it this way: you have given your son a passive understandingof another language, which is

more than most ASD children will ever have! (I do actually prefer the more positive term receptive bilingual

for someone who understands a language, but doesnt speak.) The most important thing for your relationship

is after all that you can communicate, not which language the communication happens in. Your little girl can

still become a fluent French speaker, dont give up on the idea. If you diligently stick to French with her, this

will be THE language between the two of you. The fact that she will realise you speak English is not that

important, the main thing is that you always stick to French when you speak directly to her. The chance of a

child giving up on a language is greater if a parent switches between languages in direct interactions.

Life certainly never goes to plan, but you have done and are continuing to do the very best for your children.

Give yourself a tap on the back and be proud of yourself, you are a great mother!

Reply

25. Dinara Faizuldayevasays:

March 11, 2014 at 8:50 pm

Hello and thank you Rita for sharing very helpful advice and insights from your own multilingual experiences!

We are raising our son (almost 2 years old) in two languages: German and Russian in Germany, I speak exclusively andtry to expose our son to the Russian and my husband to the German. I speak to my husband in German as he does not

understand Russian. Now, is it ok that I speak to my husband in German and translate him what I just said to our son

and what our son said to his father, i.e. isnt it some sort of blurring of languages? Our son mixes the languages and I

understand him as he for example asks me and I answer in Russian. Is it okay, if I understand and not pretend not to

understand. What language did you speak to your Punjabi speaking husband?

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 11, 2014 at 9:03 pm

Hi Dinara, thank you for sharing your story. It is ok for you to speak German to your husband, just always

stick to Russian when you speak directly to your son. Bilingual children almost always mix languages to start

with, so thats nothing to worry about. With regards to whether or not to pretend not to understand when your

son speaks German to you, I would leave that up to you and what feels right. My option would be to repeatwhat he said in Russian and steer the language to Russian that way. Initially I spoke English with my then

husband and when our first daughter was born, I switched to Finnish which he was getting up to speed with

at the time. He learnt Finnish alongside our daughter.

Reply

26. Erinsays:

March 12, 2014 at 8:43 am

Just a quick question. I didnt see it mentioned in your post but whats your opinion on language delay caused by

learning multiple languages? I seem to remember hearing/reading in a linguistics class that it often takes bilingual

children longer to speak initially but when they do, they have a general grasp on both languages.

I keep warning my husband of this fact as were currently speaking a mix if English and Portuguese at home (in

America). Thanks for the other guidance-I like the 30% exposure guideline.

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 12, 2014 at 2:03 pm

Hi Erin, the pace at which children learn to speak vary greatly, independent of whether they are mono- or

bilingual. Bilingual children in general have a slightly different learning pattern, they are after all learning two

meanings for each new concept. So while a monolingual child might seem to have a greater vocabulary, a

bilingual child will in total know more words. Bilingual children quickly catch up with any perceived delays.

Just as an example, my older daughter started using two languages when she was two, the younger one

didnt speak until she was three and a half.

Reply
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27. Ashsays:

March 12, 2014 at 3:07 pm

I came across your blog by chance. Its a great way to provide advice on raising multilingual children.To all the parents

out there, dont give up. I speak,read and write in 3 languages, 1 dialect and understand (but cannot converse) in

another. The proverb of It takes a village to raise a child rings quite true for me as different family members would force

me to speak in an assigned language/dialect to them when I was younger. Along the way, the school system

introduced an extra language which was then added to my already confusing list.

At first, it may be a struggle for parents to introduce multiple languages to a child since the child will always favour theone he/she could express themselves best in. They may pout, answer in a dominant language instead of complying with

your request to speak in another, or may feel that you are out to get them in some way.

But when they are adults, they will thank you for all the hours you have put in. Life becomes so much more interesting!

So hang in there!

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 12, 2014 at 4:45 pm

Thank you for sharing your story, Ash. I couldnt agree with you more it is not always easy, but so worth it in

the end.

Reply

28. The Citizen Culture (@citizenculture)says:

March 12, 2014 at 8:03 pm

I grew up bilingual and raising bilingual kids nowadays is key to their career success

http://thecitizenculture.com/2014/01/growing-up-bilingual/

Reply

29. carmen arboledasays:

March 13, 2014 at 11:44 am

Hi Rita, its interesting, Im mother of one young man 29 years old and one boy 9 years old, Im in Italy since 30 years,

always speak to my sons in spanish and also in english, never in Italian, y first son speaks italian, spanish, english and

french, the second one speaks italian and spanish without any problem, for the english Ill need a little more time

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 13, 2014 at 12:00 pm

Wonderful their language skills will benefit them in so many days!

Reply

30. Bensays:

March 13, 2014 at 1:47 pm

I disagree with your article. People always overcomplicate things just go with the flow. My kids are trilingual French,

English and Spanish and I would say at a very high level of proficiency in all 3. Actually many many of my kids friends

also, Like me none of them paid any attention to what they were doing or read articles about it like this one. most of them

ether married into a different ethnic back ground or just sent their kids to a school with a different language then the one

spoken at home. If i was to post this article on there Facebook page they would be laughing in tears.

1 It doesnt happen by magic -1) ya it did kind of just happened like that.

2 You need a plan -2) no we had no plan see above, why do people always over complicate things.

3 Consistency is crucial -3) no we were not consistent i switched from one to the other when ever.

4 You will have to pay attention to exposure times 4) lol what can i say apart from see answer above
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Basically the only good comment in this is 7 Dont listen to bad advice (basically this article.)

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 13, 2014 at 2:08 pm

Hi Ben, thank you for your feedback, I am glad you took the time to read my article and post your comment. I

am very happy to hear that it all worked out well in your family and your children naturally grew up to become

bilingual. Actually, that is how I became bilingual as well! However, this is definitely not the case in all

families, and based on the response I have had to this and many other posts in my blog, there are many

families that appreciate some help and encouragement along the way. Have a lovely day!

Reply

Olena Centeno (@Bilingual_Kids)says:

March 13, 2014 at 6:26 pm

Hi Ben!

#2 looks like you are really against the plan. But didnt your friends at least several months ahead thought

about enrolling their kids into language immersion school? Or they just all woke up in the morning and

thought Why wont we go to school today to learn a foreign language? That is called a plan.

#3 You had a luxury not to be consistent. I really suspect you had a very strong community and school

support for all three languages. For those of us who does not have such a strong language environment

NO Consistency means NO Language. If you dont use it you lose it.

#4 exposure times lol what can i say apart from see answer above,

And as for #1 magic: Ben, science, you dont know, looks like magic. And there is a lot of parenting science

behind magic of multilingualism. I definitely agree with you, that hearing children speaking comfortably

multiple languages is magical, but as any magician will tell you, it takes time, preparation and dedication.

It is great that your friends will laugh on FB, but most of the people usually cry in real live that they did not

read this article when their kids were young.

P.S. I hope your children along with languages learned manners at school too. And if they disagree on an

article, they would prove their points politely.

Reply

Varya @ CWOVsays:

March 14, 2014 at 1:03 am

It is so nice that {you} think you had none of those struggles that majority of multilingual families have.

Even if you had no plan, you had consistency and no, there was no magic. It is just that if you read more into

the scientific research on linguistics and how the languages are learned, if your children constantly heard

members in your family and community surrounding you speaking all these languages on a daily basis

(switching from one to another or not), they have picked the languages up. Did you know that children are

capable of learning up to 10 languages simultaneously without making much of an effort besides hearing

them on a regular basis before they are 5 years old?

And last, but not the least, I hope you DO post this article on your page and let your friends and

acquaintances decide (without posting mocking comments alongside, but rather something like what do you

think?) whether it is bad advice or not.

Being respectful even online is just a basic courtesy. No one has mocked you so far on your punctuation and

mistakes youve made in your comment?

Have a lovely day!

Reply

31. A French American Lifesays:

March 13, 2014 at 7:38 pm

In response to Ben-
http://www.afrenchamericanlife.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=475#respondhttp://creativeworldofvarya.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=471#respondhttp://twitter.com/Bilingual_Kidshttp://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=470#respondhttp://multilingualparenting.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=469#respond


16/23



I meet a lot of multilingual families, including those with grown children. I have yet to meet a family where

bilingualism/multilingualism just happened. For most families, one language becomes the dominant one and children

become, at best, passive bilinguals (mostly understanding but unable to communicate in the written or verbal form). For

many, children resist the non-environmental language, only to regret in later years that they didnt put in the effort to

know those other languages. The only true bilinguals I know got that way because their parents actively pushed multiple

languages on them through immersion schools, traveling and living abroad, tutors, and even assignments from Mom

and Dad.

I suppose it is possible that a person could learn multiple languages understanding, reading, and writing -just by

chance. But if it is truly possible (and I still have my doubts) it is certainly the exception to the rule. As for your personal

experience chances are great that there was a lot more structure and science to the language acquisition path your

children took than you realize via your home, your environment, and the schools they attended.

Ritas insights and experiences provide a valuable service to the thousands of families out there attempting to raise their

children with multiple languages. As a bi/trilingual person Im saddened that you dont see the value in that, but rather

feel the need to insult quite rudely what she is trying to accomplish.

Reply

32. Juan Manuel Espinoza Benzasays:

March 13, 2014 at 8:22 pm

Hi, I have a question. My partner and I have spanish as our mother tongue. Later on, by living in some english speaking

countries I manged to learn english pretty well. Since our son was born we talked about getting him to become bilingual,

but it has been two and a half years and I havent taken the courage to talk to him exclusively in english. I know that all

this talk about bilingual kids is usually directed to parents from different countries but do you have any advise to

parents trying to teach their child a language that is their second one (of course, in addition to their first language)?

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 13, 2014 at 8:44 pm

Hello Juan, my first question is, how do you really feel about speaking only English to your son? How would it

affect your relationship? You dont have to be a native speaker to pass on a language to your child, but it is

not an easy task to take on if you are not fully confident about the situation. I would also recommend that you

arrange some exposure from native English speakers for your son if you decide to go down this route. If you

were to speak English exclusively with your son and spend enough time interacting with him in English, he

would no doubt learn the language.

Reply

33. Lula Bsays:

March 16, 2014 at 11:14 am

Your post is so interesting. I have no story to share as both my parents are native English speakers, though I love

learning other languages.

I have several mixed-language parent friends raising their kids to be bilingual. It is such a gift, and so sad for both parent

and child if the opportunity is lost. It looks like you provide wonderful practical support here.

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 16, 2014 at 3:12 pm

Thank you Lula, I really appreciate your comment!

Reply

34. jaquelinesays:

March 27, 2014 at 2:55 pm

this is a great topic and the article i believe is directed to the parents that just want to introduce a second language to

their child..

if you live in a country with a different language and your child goes to school or watches TV all day and listen to you

speaking a second language to the people in the store they will learn for sure. But it definitely is a plan and depends on

your dedication to keep them bilingual.
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17/23



im from Brazil, my husband from Panama and we live in USA. at home, my 2 daughters speak portuguese to me and in

spanish to my husband (he doesnt speak portuguese at all) and perfect english at school. but it IS a challenge because

they will mix the words specially with portuguese and spanish and you need to make sure you correct them nicely and

make them repeat.. they will eventually learn, kids love to learn. I refuse to talk to my kids AT HOME in spanish and

english. I only do so when we have people either speaking spanish or english around. It is really nice see them abe to

communicate with my parents in Brazil (they only understand portuguese) and with my husbands parents in Panama

(they only understand spanish) it is really important to keep the relationship.. they live so far away can you imagine if

they cant understand each other when they spend a few days together?

but again, my recommendation to the parents that for example: both speak spanish and they live in a spanish speaking

country but they want their child to be bilingual, to start with music, movies, books and start little by little talking to them

about a specific topic they like in the language you want them to learn and 30 min today and 45 min tomorrow and so

on.. and if they dont want to talk dont force them they will get frustrated and start hating that language

my 4 yo told me the other day that her friends at school need to eat more vegetables so they can get smarter and learnportuguese or spanish! she still doesnt get that how in the world they cannot speak portuguese or spanish, it is so

easy LOL

hope you all have a nice day!! specially you Rita!

Thank you! Gracias! Obrigada!

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 27, 2014 at 3:11 pm

Thank you, Jacqueline, for your nice words and for telling us your familys story. I can see that consistency

has been high on your agenda and that it has paid out, wonderful! Absolutely love your 4-year-olds take on

language learning not only is she aware of language skills but also of what is healthy to eat!

Reply

Ral Torressays:

April 7, 2014 at 4:06 pm

Spanish and Portuguese are not so different that they are mutually unintelligible. I would think the probem

would be more one of confusing the words than of not understanding.

Reply

35. Adrianasays:

March 30, 2014 at 7:38 pm

Rita, your article is very interesting for me. I would like to know your opinion about this: my husband is Norwegian and I

am Spanish but I grew up in France. We live in Spain. We have a one year old girl, daddy speaks Norwegian to her and I

speak mainly French but also English to her. My mother and aunt speak Spanish and my husband and I use Spanish to

communicate.

Am I doing right? Could it be confusing if I continue using two languages?

Thank you.

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 31, 2014 at 7:14 am

Wow, let me just get my head around all your languages to start with Your daughter will learn Norwegian

from her dad and Spanish from her grandmother, other relatives and the environment you are living in. So we

are left with the two languages that you speak to her: French and English. How do you alternate between the

two? Do you use French and English on different days or different areas in the house? It is not an easy task

for one parent to teach a child two languages simultaneously. I am not saying it can not be done, but you

need to find a away to clearly separate the two, so your daughter can identify which language you are using

when. Another option would be to speak to her in one language first and when she has mastered that, switch

to the other one. This is what I did with my elder daughter. Note however, that the switch is not easy you

can read about it here: http://multilingualparenting.com/2013/05/08/pricken-the-swedish-speaking-kitten/

Reply

Adrianasays:

March 31, 2014 at 10:27 am
http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=548#respondhttp://multilingualparenting.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=547#respondhttp://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=554#respondhttps://www.facebook.com/raul.torres.3388http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=546#respondhttp://multilingualparenting.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=545#respond


18/23



Thank you for your response!

In fact, I dont have a specific plan with the two languages I speak to my daughter, I just try to

express things in both languages. I also sing and read stories to her in the two languages.

I tried during a few days to speak French at home and English when we were out but I didnt like

it. I think she is able to distinguish between the two and she already answers to questions in both

languages.

I like the idea of alternating days. Would you recommend that?

Tack s mycket

Hlsningar,Adriana

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

March 31, 2014 at 2:55 pm

Tack, Adriana!

It may well work out fine the way you are doing it now, though I think it would be good

to have some structure to how you use the languages. Every other day could work, or

even a longer period. In this post by The Trilingual Mama you can read how she

switches every two weeks: http://trilingualmama.com/2014/03/17/raising-multilingual-

children-using-an-adaptation-of-opol-switching-languages-every-two-weeks/

Reply

36. Ral Torressays:

April 7, 2014 at 4:00 pm

Hi, interesting article I am still hesitating what to do about languages with my soon to be born baby boy. We have four

languages in our family. We live in Geneva so French is the local languange. I am venezuelan, I speak Spanish, English

and French, but not Lithuanian. My wife is Lithuanian she speaks Lithuanian, Russian and English but not French or

Spanish. We speak English between us. Should we each just speak in our own languages Lithuanian and Spanish and

hope he picks-up French from the nursery and English from us? Is this too much? Should we phase in the introduction of

one or two of the other languages?

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

April 7, 2014 at 5:08 pm

What an amazing amount of languages to have in one family! You are right, ideally you should speak your

respective languages, Lithuanian and Spanish, to your boy from the day he is born (or even before that!). He

will most likely also pick up at least a passive knowledge of English (which will benefit him hugely when he

goes on to learn English later on in school). Your son will learn French from other children or by the latest at

nursery so I wouldnt worry too much about French. This is not too much, as there is a consistent use of the

different languages. Best of luck to you!

Reply

37. Joshsays:

May 10, 2014 at 3:54 am

Thanks so much for this article. I have a similar question as Raul above. Im German, my wife is Chinese, and we live in

the US. We hardly understand each others languages, so our marriage language is English. If we now decide to each

talk to our daughter (due date in a few weeks) consistently in our respective languages (German and Chinese), but talk

to each other in English, will she be confused? And more importantly, in what language will we have family conversation

in? Should we resort to English once she picks English up from kindergarten, or will we have three-way conversations in

three different languages at the dinner table, translating each other back and forth to make sure everyone understands

what was said? Thanks for your advice!

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

May 10, 2014 at 8:18 am
http://multilingualparenting.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=624#respondhttp://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=555#respondhttp://multilingualparenting.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=553#respondhttps://www.facebook.com/raul.torres.3388http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=550#respondhttp://multilingualparenting.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=549#respond


19/23



Thank you for your question, Josh! Your family language set-up is a fairly typical one for international families

. Like I might have mentioned in previous comments, your daughter will not be confused with the two of you

speaking English together as you will both be using your respective languages when you speak to her

directly. Remember that she will not learn overnight, it will take some time before she starts speaking

German and Chinese during this time you both will have the opportunity to learn alongside her to gain some

more insight into each others languages. This way you will both feel more comfortable in speaking your

languages without worrying that the other parent cannot understand anything of what you are saying. Your

daughter will initially probably become a receptive bilingual (i.e. understands English, but doesnt speak), but

depending on how much other exposure she gets to English (from other children, TV, when out and about

etc) she might even speak before she goes to nursery or school. Dont worry if she doesnt, she will pick it up

soon enough. From then on your challenge will be to keep German and Chinese going at home. Being very

consistent from the start with your language use with her will be the best guarantee that she will continue

actively using both languages. As to what you should speak when you are all together if at all possible,

avoid switching to English when you speak directly to her. Like I said, you will both learn to understand at

least something of what is said in the other parents language and from the context you can figure out a lot

more. Agree that it is ok to ask for a translation when you feel like you need one. Good luck on your

multilingual family journey!

Reply

38. 10 coisas que os pais com filhos bilngues precisam sabersays:

May 19, 2014 at 12:07 pm

[] Traduzi o texto para o portugus, mas se quiserem ler o original, escrito pela autora Rita Rosenback, cliquem AQUI.

[]

39. Lucianasays:

May 22, 2014 at 3:01 pm

Hi Rita, congratulations on writing such a relevant article!

I have a question that Im wondering if you could help me with. I am raising my 3.5 year old daughter in Canada and both

I and my husband speak only Portuguese with her. Its going great and with the exception of a couple of mistakes here

and there in both languages, I can say with confidence that she is fully bilingual.

My question is about reading out loud to her. I read to her a lot, and love it when I have Portuguese books to read, but

sometimes we receive lovely gifts of books in English from our friends here in Canada, or she finds books she likes in

the library. Up until now, I have been doing simultaneous translation with her in those cases reading English books

but saying the words to her in Portuguese. I dont know if this was the right thing to do, but it felt right at the time. Now,

however, she is starting to learn her letters, will start kindergarten soon, and I am worried that not reading the same thing

as whats on paper will interfere with her learning process. I am concerned that she will see a letter, think it should sound

a certain way, but I will be saying something completely different So, should I start reading English books in English

and portuguese books in Portuguese even though I consistently only speak Portuguese with her?

Thank you!

Luciana

Reply

Rita Rosenbacksays:

May 22, 2014 at 6:03 pm

Thank you for your kind comments, Luciana! You have absolutely done the right thing to translate English

books on the fly for your daughter. Also, by doing that you have done a high level mental gym exercise

yourself, which benefits your brains! You dont have to stop doing it now that your daughter is learning to readEnglish. It is also ok for you to read to her in English if you want to. What you can do is to explain to your

daughter that you are TELLING the story in Portuguese when you translate on the fly, and when you want to

use English, say (in Portuguese) that you will now READ a book to her in English. This way there will be a

clear distinction between your use of Portuguese and English with her. By your dedication I can tell that she

will grow up to be fluent in both languages and probably be interested in learning more! Good luck!

Reply

40. ariascarmsays:

May 27, 2014 at 6:27 pm

Reblogged this on Carmen Ariasand commented:

Interesting and straight to the point , really useful tips when raising bilingual children . By a practicioner herself , Rita
http://ariascarm.wordpress.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=628#respondhttp://multilingualparenting.com/http://multilingualparenting.com/2014/02/26/12-things-parents-raising-bilingual-children-need-to-know/?replytocom=627#respondhttp://www.justrealmoms.com.br/10-coisas-que-os-pais-com-filhos-bilingues-precisam-saber/http://multilingualpare

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