Among all the important conversations you will have about bilingualism, the on-going conversation with your children is one of the most important. In many families, parents wait until the kids are “older” to start the discussion, but in fact this discussion should be started from very early on.
One important factor in encouraging successful bilingualism is promoting the status and usefulness of the languages in question. In most bilingual situations, there will be a language with a higher status or more usefulness, and a language with a lower status or less usefulness. Children need to be aware from very early on about the why of bilingualism, not just the how., to help them understand why both (or all) the languages they have in their lives are important, regardless of status or immediate (daily) usefulness.
In the very early years, the family discussion about bilingualism will be framed in terms a young child can understand” “Mummy says…” and “Daddy says…” or whatever the language roles are in the situation. By the age of 2-3 years old, most (bilingual) children have enough awareness of different languages to give them the correct name, but each family can choose the language that suits them.
As the language conversation evolves, it should encompass issues of heritage, family ties, travel, schooling, local integration, or any other factor that impacts the family language situation. Whichever factors are emphasized, the critical issue is to transmit to the children the reasons for which they are being asked to learn each language, and to find ways to help them see each language as a living, useful, dynamic way of communicating. For families with limited exposure to one of the languages, this can mean finding means of promoting the language through monolingual tools, and building ties with speakers of that language, either locally or via multimedia sources.
So if you are a bilingual family, and you have yet to start the discussion with your children, please, go start your conversation today!
Monthly Archives: April 2012
Talking to kids about bilingualism
Filed under Content
Thoughts from FIGT
A couple of weeks ago I attended a conference hosted by an organisation called Families in Global Transition. It is a group that works to better understand how to support families who are mobile, from a business and educational perspective. It was a very interesting experience, as I normally attend academic conferences rather than industry-type conferences.
One of the things that surprised me was how many different aspects of the mobile world can be impacted by language. Companies who offer moving support and school choice support need information on bilingualism, to better advise their clients on critical issues such as mother tongue maintenance, school language support, special needs services etc. Organisations that support international adoptions need access to information and research on the issue of language loss by adopted children. Coaches and therapists who work with Third Culture Kids and their families need a better understanding of how language issues can impact the expat experience.
For the first time, I found myself presenting the opposite perspective from my usual message – that bilingualism is not for every mobile family. In some situations (age of children, length of stay, special circumstances), choosing to add another language for a child is not always the right choice. However, I do believe that if a family chooses for monolingualism in an international lifestyle, there are ways to do so that can still benefit the children.
The bottom line, for me, is that everyone involved in an internationally mobile lifestyle needs a basic understanding of the principles of bilingualism, from a cognitive and sociolinguistic perspective, in order to navigate the language aspects of a global lifestyle in an informed manner.
