Babies and toddlers

During the early years of your child’s “talking career” you may be holding a monologue for much of the time, but this is when you set the foundation for the language and there is a lot you can do to encourage your little one to start talking.

1. Make talking your minority language with your child a habit from the very start – actually, why not get used to speaking your language to the bump (whether you are the mum or the dad!)
2. Sing to your baby, and not only at bedtime. Articulate your words and make eye contact to create engagement.
3. Repeat what your little one says. Initially it will only be random sounds and babble, but confirming the sounds is important.
4. Pretend to understand the babbling and lead “discussions” – wait for an “answer” and practice taking turns.
5. Have a well-stocked book shelf with children’s books in your language. Choose ones that you also like yourself, as you are going to read them several times. Get used to discussing the characters and the plot with your little one. Make it interactive from the start, although you might just get a
6. When you talk, combine actions with words: wave when you say ‘goodbye’ or ‘hello’, point at things when you talk about them. Acknowledge the action when your child uses it.
7. Attend play dates and play groups where your language is spoken. Being among other children speaking the language is a great motivation at any age.
8. When your little one communicates, with or without intelligible words, show that you are pleased and excited.
9. When your toddler says the first word, confirm it by repeating it and showing that you understand. If the word is not in your language, still confirm that you have understood.
10. As the vocabulary grows, build on what your child says, e.g. when he or she says “ball” you can say “yes, it’s a yellow ball”

Small children

Keep a language diary about your little one’s new words and phrases, you think you will remember, but trust me, your child’s vocabulary will expand very quickly and soon there are too many precious talking moments not to forget some of them. Create a fun and positive environment for speaking the minority language.

11. Continue being the positive role model for speaking your language – this does not mean that you should speak all the time, instead encourage two-way communication.
12. Tell and discuss stories based on photo albums – make print-outs of those holiday pictures with grandparents, relatives and friends and talk about the people and places.
13. Kids love hand-puppets – use them to introduce new monolingual characters into your play. Give them a “genuine” backstory to support the fact that they only understand and speak the minority language.
14. Use ‘I spy’ games to expand your child’s vocabulary. You can do this in any situation – at home, when you are out and about or have to sit in a waiting room (use a magazine if you run out of words).
15. Engage in role play with you little one. Let him or her take the lead and immerse yourself in their imaginary world. Help with new words which are needed to move the story forward. Ask open ended questions.
16. Find that something which is really motivating for your child. What will make your little daughter or son really want to say something? In our case it was a monolingual pet, Pricken – the Swedish-speaking kitten.
17. Use free online video call apps to catch up with grandma and grandpa or any other relative or friend who only speaks the minority language.
18. Introduce the terms ‘mummy says’ and ‘daddy says’ (or whoever speaks the language in question) to help distinguish words from different languages. E.g. if your child uses a different language when pointing out a specific thing, confirm that it is right and give the word in your language.
19. Engage your kids in discussions in everyday situations, ask for their opinion or advice. Ask why so that they can expand on their answers. And do always answer their “Why?” questions!
20. Have patience, wait, relax. Don’t rush your little one or offer the word too quickly. Allow him or her to find the word or to come up with a different expression.

School-age children

Starting school in the majority language is one of the most crucial stages in a bilingual child’s language development. The minority language may have been dominant in the home until now, but the balance will inevitably tip in favour of the majority language, so your continuing support is vital.

21. Stick to speaking your language with your child – don’t make a big deal of situations where he or she uses the majority language. Remember that they have spent the whole day immersed in it. However, always stick to your language in these situations.
22. Visits to where the minority language is spoken in the community is arguably the most effective way of encouraging your child to speak it. Being fully immersed in the language through people and media can give your child a real language boost.
23. If the majority language is becoming more dominant in the family, e.g. children use it as the language they speak with each other, try to introduce ‘minority-language-only’ days or situations. Depending on what spurs your kids on, you could have incentives for sticking to the right language.
24. Treasure hunts are always a popular game. If your child can already read, this will also help with the reading. If you are the one reading the hints, make it a rule that you only answer questions in the minority language.
25. Play board games with read-out instructions or questions in the minority language. If you can’t find them where you live, suggest them as birthday presents that the grandparents can buy!
26. Small children are eager to help if we let them. If you have more than one child, ask the older siblings for help with teaching their little sister or brother your language.
27. Continue singing! Find familiar songs that your child has sung at school and sing them together in the minority language.
28. If you are the majority language speaker, ask your child to teach you something in the minority language. Kids love being in the “teacher” role with their parents.
29. Leave the room when your child gets going on a Skype call in the minority language. Kids are sometimes inhibited by parents, especially if they are a bit unsure how to express themselves, and perform better on their own.
30. Always listen – stop and take the time to listen to what your child has to say. They are small for a very short time.

Teenagers and young adults

Becoming a teenager is another phase when the minority language might lose ground. Peer pressure can lead to your child avoiding using the minority language. Maybe it is not the done thing, perhaps your teen just wants to be like everyone else. Your support is essential so your soon-to-be-adult child can maintain the minority language. They will thank you later!

31. While a small child cannot appreciate all the advantages bilingualism brings with it, with a teenager you can discuss for example the benefits of knowing more than one language when you look for a job.
32. Money is often a high priority at this age, remind them that if they keep up their language skills this will most likely lead to a higher salary later on.
33. Being able to speak another language gives your teenager a bigger choice of schools – maybe they would want to study abroad at some point?
34. Find ways of making a connection between their hobbies and the minority language – could you find a fellow enthusiast they could connect with over Skype?
35. Look for interesting films in the minority language and watch them together.
36. Travelling broadens the mind and deepens the language skills – if possible, help your youngster to take a solo trip to somewhere where he will have to use the minority language. I would start with relatives or friends and take it from there.
37. Are there summer camps your teenager could attend, preferably in a country where your language is the majority one? Speaking the minority language with other teenagers will give the language a real lift.
38. To support the written form (and so continue increasing the vocabulary) always message in the minority language with your teenager. Even if you get an answer in another language, continue using yours, as it is beneficial for him or her to regularly see the written word.
39. A language course in the minority language can sometimes be the most effective way of reinforcing it. Check out the teaching style of the course in advance to make sure it will be suitable for your teen.
40. You are the most important role model for speaking your language. Show pride in the language and the culture it represents. Speak it at every opportunity both inside and outside the home. Be the confident bilingual you want your teen to be.

I hope these tips are helpful to you on your journey to raise a confident bilingual!

A minority language parent’s attitude to his or her own language can be the deciding factor for how fluently the child will learn to speak the language. This is an interesting find from an on-going small-scale study of bilingual children. According to the study, a positive attitude towards the language plays a significant role in how well a child will be able to express himself/herself in the minority language. Even when children had the same amount of exposure to the minority language, those who grew up in a family where the language was valued more highly became more fluent speakers of the language. No difference was found in how well children understood the language. (I will be able to write more about the study after attending a conference on bilingualism in Malta later this month.)

What does this mean generally for families bringing up bilingual children?

Value your language and be a positive role model as a parent

The way you think about your language and use it around others will affect the way your child feels about it. Just because many people may not speak your language where you live, does not make it any less valuable!

If you live in a bilingual environment, but quickly switch to the majority language if the other person does not know your language as well, your child will notice this – so make it a habit to speak your language as often as you can.

If your language is not widely spoken in your community and you avoid using it in public with your child so not to exclude everyone else (even if your discussion has nothing to do with them), your child will behave in the same way and use your language less – so speak your language with your children, also in public.

Stay consistent in your language use – even if, and especially when, your child shows a tendency to use the majority language more. Persistence an patience will pay off in the long run, and your child will appreciate your efforts, perhaps not right away, but certainly, when she or he grows up.

Show pride in your language – speak to your child about why your mother tongue is important to you. Make plenty of resources available – books, music, films, toys – make your language a part of all aspects of your child’s life. Do not let it become something that only plays a supporting role, give it centre stage!

Make sure to not only pass on your language, but also the culture that it is part of. The more your child knows about the family roots and cultures the closer they will feel to the languages. The closer the connection, the higher the motivation to keep speaking it.

Like any other “project” in your life, bringing up your son to become bilingual is much more likely to have a successful outcome if you plan ahead. You may ask: “Why do I need a plan? I grew up to become bilingual without anyone making a plan for me!”

This is true – I too acquired my initial languages without anyone giving it a second thought. So why do I now say that you need a plan? If you have been reading my blog before, you know that I think every child that grows up in a multilingual family should be given the gift of becoming bilingual. I have however noticed that this is by far not always the case.

I have seen migrant families where from one generation to the next the language of their native country goes from being the main language of the family to being only a passive language for the children. I have heard many children of such families express their regret that they didn’t get used to speaking their family’s native language when they were young. We all know how much more effort it takes to learn a language as a grown-up. Sorry, if I sound like a broken record, but I truly believe that any parent that can give their child the benefit of an additional language should do their best to accomplish this.

What do you need for your plan? First you need to know where you are heading – how fluent do you want your son to be? Do you want him to be able to read and write your language as well? Reading is very beneficial to a child’s language development, so I would strongly recommend that you include at least reading into your plan.

Once you have decided the level of fluency you want for your son, you need to take stock of how much exposure he gets to each language. Ideally he should be exposed to each of the languages you want him to learn for at least 30% of his waking time. I know it can be done with less, but if this is the case you need to make sure that the exposure mostly consists of interactive exposure. With this I mean that he needs to be participating in the communication, combining the language with actions – note that for this he doesn’t yet need to be able to speak.

You should also take stock at regular intervals – is your son happy to keep on speaking the language or is the language pattern changing? If there is a risk of him dropping the language, find ways to encourage him back on the right track.

Plan to succeed and you will succeed with your plan!

When more than one language is spoken in a family, parents in face the choice of whether their child should learn both (or all) languages in parallel or if they should let the child’s skills in one language become established before starting to learn the second (and possibly a further) language.

Sequential or simultaneous bilingualism

The decision whether to go for one language at a time (also known as sequential bilingualism) or choose speak both since birth (also known as simultaneous bilingualism) depends on a few factors. The main things to take into consideration are how much exposure the child is going to get for each of the languages and whether one of them is going to be the strong majority language once the child starts attending nursery or school.

In families which use the one parent, one language (OPOL) family language strategy, children are usually simultaneous bilinguals. If both parents speak a minority language and have chosen the minority language at home (mL@H) approach, and if the child does not learn the next language until after the age of three or four years, the child is a sequential bilingual. Note that these are just names for the order in which languages are learnt, and children can become equally fluent in their languages independent of whether they are sequential or simultaneous bilinguals.

The decision of course depends on what languages each parent knows and what language pattern is viable in the family. Each family is unique and will have to adapt any suggested approach according to their circumstances.

Language learning order is relevant for sequential bilingualism

When it comes to sequential bilingualism, one important aspect needs to be considered. If a child learns the majority language first and parents plan to introduce the minority language at a later stage, maybe once they are confident that the child knows the majority language well enough to speak to other children, then they might find that they will have to put in a considerable amount of effort to teach the child the minority language. This is especially the case if there is little exposure to the minority language outside the home.

It is understandable that parents for example in families which have recently moved to a country are concerned whether their child will cope at nursery or school if they are not fluent in the community language. Unfortunately, such families are sometimes recommended to teach their children the majority language instead of maintaining the minority language(s). This is however not the right advice. If parents switch to the majority language, the likelihood is, that the children will not learn the minority language at all, or become so called receptive bilinguals, which means that they understand but are unable to speak the minority language.

Why switching to the majority language is not the right choice

There are several reasons why the advice to switch to speaking only the majority language with a child is highly questionable.

1. Research has shown that a solid home language, independent of which language, is extremely important for a child’s success at school. Switching to speaking the majority language can actually do a child more harm than good.
2. The switch will jeopardise the survival of the minority language as an active language for the child.
3. At least one parent will have to start speaking a language he or she is not used to speaking with the child.
4. Parents may themselves not be fluent in the majority language, and are actually not the right people to teach it to their children.

Is it too late to introduce a minority language?

Does this mean that if you didn’t start teaching your child your language since he or she was born, the boat has sailed? Of course not. You can start at any time, but you do need to be prepared to put in a concerted effort – read my post on (re)introducing a family language for ideas. Also, please remember that even a receptive language knowledge will benefit your child and make it easier to learn it later in life.