How do you raise bilingual children? And what are some of the do's and don'ts?
In this video, I answer four of the most commonly asked questions. Let's start!
So as I said in the introduction, in this video I will be talking about how to
make your children bilingual. I don't have children myself but I was raised
bilingually by my parents and I grew up speaking French and Portuguese from day
one and I also have experiences of doing research in child language acquisition
and bilingualism as part of my BA and my general university studies.
The reason why I did this video is because there's a lot of misconception around how to
make children bilingual. Frankly, all the points I will be making the video are
kind of common sense but they're still ignored by a lot of people though.
Before we start have a look at the description because I will define the main keywords
that are used in the video just for the sake of clarity.
So the first question I will answer is probably the one that most people will be interested in is
what is the best strategy to raise your children bilingually?
When answering this question a lot of people refer to the one parent one language kind of strategy
which basically means that each parent will speak one language to the children
so for example if in a couple there is an English and French parent then the dad
might want to only speak English to the child and the mum might only want to
speak French to the child even though both parents might have some knowledge
of the two languages or be actually bilingual in both.
The issue with this strategy, and it will make sense when I explain the second strategy, is that the
children might not get enough exposure to the two languages and this is why I
suggest a better strategy which is called the home versus community
language strategy. This strategy has actually been discussed a lot in the
literature of bilingualism but it doesn't seem to be that popular even
though I think to me it makes sense. And in this strategy there is basically one
language that will be spoken in the home and one other language that will be
spoken in the community usually that's the official language.
In my opinion the assumption is that the child doesn't need to speak the community language or
the official language of the country in the home because when he or
she goes out or even later when he or she goes to school they will have enough
exposure of the language so they don't need to have it at home basically
Another thing that is important with this strategy is to make sure that the
weaker language or the language that the child is the least exposed to is also
available to him or her in other aspects of their lives.
What you might want to consider is to make sure that the child has opportunities to use that language
so not just at home but also outside of the home for example some parents decide
to put the children in international schools or bilingual schools or for
example they have a community of friends that speak that language that weaker
language so they can try to maybe have their children spend more time with
these people you know their children or something like that so that can be a
good way for your child to be exposed to the language.
Another way of course can be to actually go on holiday with the child to the country where the weaker
language is spoken to ensure that the child gets as much exposure as possible
don't worry too much about the stronger language because even if you might feel
the child doesn't have enough exposure as long as the child gets some exposure
later in life when they go to school or you know later in life in general they
will definitely get a lot of input from the language so it will find its place in the end.
The second question what if one of the parents are non-native speakers?
A lot of parents or people in general seem to think that if a child is
exposed to non-native input then the child might get a weird accent or they
might not speak the language properly and actually that's a big myth.
For example in my case both my parents speak to me in two languages and for example
my dad French is no his native language Portuguese is and he speaks to me in
French and always has for my mom is a bit similar
she's Portuguese and French but her Portuguese is quite heavily accented and
she still speaks to me in Portuguese and my accent in Portuguese is not weird or anything
because I still had native input from my broader family back in
Portugal and my parents also had Portuguese friends so I still had that
native input with non-native input. I hope that makes sense
I would say though that if both parents try to speak to the child in a
language that is non-native to them or maybe not comfortable to them then I
would question whether it's a good idea to do that because I think as a parent
maybe you might disagree I feel like you want to speak to your child in a
language that is natural to you and that is you know the language of your
heart so I would kind of consider whether it's a good idea to do that
because I feel like in the end you might just end up speaking your native
language to the child I mean it's not a black and white answer to that question
but it's something that you definitely need to consider
And I think it's important for children to really have a need for that language so I would
question whether if you're speaking to your child in your non-native language
then they might just figure it out and then they will feel like oh I don't need
to learn that language because mommy or daddy they already speak another
language and there might be even more comfortable with it so in that case
if you're kind of forcing yourself to speak a language that's not natural to you,
your child will pick it up and maybe this language will just stop being spoken at home I think.
that's why "need" is very important. The only reason why I learned
Portuguese wasn't because my parents forced themselves to speak Portuguese
all the time. The reason is that I had to learn it because otherwise I wouldn't be
able to communicate with my dad who didn't speak French when he arrived in
France so I had to speak Portuguese to him in order to communicate I also had
to speak with my broader family so all this stuff kind of triggered this need
because if I couldn't speak Portuguese then I couldn't communicate with people
around me or some people around me. So if you don't feel like you can give that
native input to your child then I would definitely advise as I said earlier to
put that child that poor child in situations where they will absolutely
need to use that language in order to achieve whatever they're doing their activity or their task.
The third question are there any big don'ts to raise children
bilingually? And the short answer is yes and the longer answer is the following.
Contrary to popular belief children don't just pick up language like that
think of it children get exposed to a language for
many many years until they actually are able
to communicate freely and comfortably in that language and until they reach
linguistic maturity. In fact, they require a lot of input repetition and they make
a lot of mistakes. They also start with very basic vocabulary they might use the
grammar wrong but it's normal they are only children. As humans, we only reach
adult like fluency when we're about probably 15 or 16 or even later for some
other people. So what you need to take from this is that input and repetition
and exposure is super super important. So don't just think that children they just
learn it you know it's not magic.
Another big don't is don't put your child infront of the TV and the radio and just expect them to pick up the language.
That will not work. Babies or children in general or human beings you know we're
social beings need to communicate in order to function in society in general
so if there is no actual interaction or communication with the child then there
won't be any bilingualism. However having some exposure to movies a bit later on
so they still get some regular exposure is good but it can't be the only thing.
Another thing not to do is to force that language on the child. If you feel like
your child is not picking up the language or is not speaking it or
refuses to speak it don't make it a frustrating experience because it won't
help anyone the child will feel it if it's forced on them and that will just
lead you nowhere. Instead think of other ways you could kind of implement
bilingualism or the other language in the everyday life again the activities I
mentioned earlier in the video.
Last don't that I want to talk about is do not freak out if you notice that your child starts to mix up the two languages
so for example the sentence will be in English but one or two words will be in
French for example. Do not freak out about this all bilinguals ever have
always done it. It's a perfectly normal thing and it's part of the language
development. Eventually, the child will be able to differentiate between the two
languages and they will certainly not end up mixing them up when they are
older or when they are adults. For example when I was younger (I use myself
as an example because I've been there) but you can ask any other bilinguals or
notice other bilinguals when they actually
speak to monolinguals or people that speak only one of their languages they
will not mix up they will notice that the person will not understand the other
language so they will stop using it eventually and the reason is that
children are very smart you know they're not stupid and they will eventually know
that if they use the wrong language with certain people they will not get their
message across or their needs won't be met they will
pick up on that eventually so do not worry about this it's perfectly normal
and it should not be discouraged it's not a bad thing at all.
A fourth question that I often see on the Internet is how many languages can
children speak or learn when they are younger and the answer is there isn't
really a limit well in a way. Obviously it will be more difficult for a child to
learn ten languages when they're young because learning and understanding ten
languages is a lot of work for a child so the issue there would be that if the
child is exposed to too many languages it will be near impossible for them to
master all of them because they won't have enough input to actually learn the
language and as i said earlier a child needs a lot of input to actually know
and learn the languages because language learning starts with a lot of repetition
and patience and you know just a lot of work.
so I would not encourage trying to teach your child too many languages because it might be that in the end the
child will not be able to learn any of them because they won't have enough exposure.
Instead, actually focus on the languages that you and your partner
speak or the language that is spoken in the community. In some countries for
example some children will learn four languages when they're young and that's
fine because the language is naturally present in their environment.
If the languages are not very present the environment then I wonder what is the
point of having so many languages and also as I said you need to make sure there
is enough exposure so unless you can manage that don't do too much try to do less and well
So to conclude this video the three things you need to remember is
that exposure need and input are extremely important. Without exposure the
child cannot learn the language because the child is not exposed to the language
without the need the child will eventually not want to speak the
language or they won't see the need to learn it
because they can use another language that is more common or more natural in
their environment. And input is, like exposure, making sure that the child is
spoken to because otherwise they will not develop their other language.
So that's it for the video if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave
a comment below and I will see you later bye
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