Articles and Stories

April 21, 2015

By Amanda Scott

There are many reasons why parents may want to raise their children to be bilingual. Among the most common reasons are (1) the parents speak two different languages, or (2) the parents speak the same language, but live in a community where another language is dominant.  In the second case parents may speak to their children at home using their native language, but while in public speak the language that the majority of the population is using.

You would think that children would be confused while learning multiple languages. Children, however, are very sensitive to the way people speak. Even children who only speak one language pick up on the differences between the way women and men speak, the difference in speaking politely versus speaking harshly, and so on. Children associate language as just another difference between people.

The most important rule in raising bilingual children is said to be the “One Person, One Language Rule”. So what does this mean? Consistency and distinction between the languages is important for children. So for instance if a mother speaks German to her child, she should always speak German and if the father speaks English to the child, he should always speak English. Language spoken between the parents is not relevant at this point, only the language in which they speak to the child. Bilingual children will sometimes use words from one language when speaking the other, which is known as code-switching.

Even when using one-parent-one-language method, problems may arise. The child needs to be exposed to both languages equally. So if the child is mostly around his German speaking mother, and spends less time with his English speaking father, it could lead to an imbalance of language exposure.

When siblings arrive it can often affect the language balance in a bilingual home as well. Second children are quite often times not as fully bilingual as first children. This occurs due to the fact that the first child most likely will speak to the second child in the language that they see as the more important one. The “more important” language is often the one that they need to use more in daily life, like the language used by people in the community in which they live.

So if your goal is to raise your children bilingual, then remember that it is important to remain consistent in your communication with them.  Expose each child equally to both languages and make sure the child needs to use each language in their daily lives to communicate.