Bilingual Children - The Easy Way
My brother and I were brought up in Germany with both of us speaking English which was the family language. The problem was that neither my parents were native English speakers.
When we started German school, we could not speak any German, or French but only English which was not our mother tongue and therefore a problem. This was a recipe for disaster. I went through school with a huge amount of extra lessons in German, because I could not understand a word people were saying. And my English was not very good either. This has knocked my confidence a lot. Obviously over the years I managed to catch up, but it took me a long time.
After talking to many of my friends who have married people of other nationalities and having had my own children, I came to the conclusion that the only real way to bring up children bilingual is if both parents talk to them in their native language. It does not matter in what language the parents talk to each other. It is very important that they stick to their native language when they address the children all the time.
Often when children start school or make friends they prefer to talk in the language their friends talk in. If you are French and live in England, your kids would prefer to talk to you in English. This is fine, but you have to continue to talk to them in French. Consistency is very important.
There is only one drawback from going down this path. At times it can be a little antisocial. If you have friends around who do not speak your language and you talk to your kids, they will not understand. But this is a very small price to pay compared to the huge benefits your kids will have.
You cannot do your children a better favour than teaching them as many languages as possible at an early age. They just learn so easily and it is a great gift for life. Languages become more and more important. With the current difficult economic environment, it gives kids far more opportunities and confidence when they travel abroad, study abroad or even work abroad.
It can be a little cumbersome at first, but it will soon become second nature. I know kids that speak three languages fluently and switch from language to language with total ease. They are not even aware of it.
My brother and I were brought up in Germany with both of us speaking English which was the family language. The problem was that neither my parents were native English speakers.
When we started German school, we could not speak any German, or French but only English which was not our mother tongue and therefore a problem. This was a recipe for disaster. I went through school with a huge amount of extra lessons in German, because I could not understand a word people were saying. And my English was not very good either. This has knocked my confidence a lot. Obviously over the years I managed to catch up, but it took me a long time.
After talking to many of my friends who have married people of other nationalities and having had my own children, I came to the conclusion that the only real way to bring up children bilingual is if both parents talk to them in their native language. It does not matter in what language the parents talk to each other. It is very important that they stick to their native language when they address the children all the time.
Often when children start school or make friends they prefer to talk in the language their friends talk in. If you are French and live in England, your kids would prefer to talk to you in English. This is fine, but you have to continue to talk to them in French. Consistency is very important.
There is only one drawback from going down this path. At times it can be a little antisocial. If you have friends around who do not speak your language and you talk to your kids, they will not understand. But this is a very small price to pay compared to the huge benefits your kids will have.
You cannot do your children a better favour than teaching them as many languages as possible at an early age. They just learn so easily and it is a great gift for life. Languages become more and more important. With the current difficult economic environment, it gives kids far more opportunities and confidence when they travel abroad, study abroad or even work abroad.
It can be a little cumbersome at first, but it will soon become second nature. I know kids that speak three languages fluently and switch from language to language with total ease. They are not even aware of it.
My brother and I were brought up in Germany with both of us speaking English which was the family language. The problem was that neither my parents were native English speakers.
When we started German school, we could not speak any German, or French but only English which was not our mother tongue and therefore a problem. This was a recipe for disaster. I went through school with a huge amount of extra lessons in German, because I could not understand a word people were saying. And my English was not very good either. This has knocked my confidence a lot. Obviously over the years I managed to catch up, but it took me a long time.
After talking to many of my friends who have married people of other nationalities and having had my own children, I came to the conclusion that the only real way to bring up children bilingual is if both parents talk to them in their native language. It does not matter in what language the parents talk to each other. It is very important that they stick to their native language when they address the children all the time.
Often when children start school or make friends they prefer to talk in the language their friends talk in. If you are French and live in England, your kids would prefer to talk to you in English. This is fine, but you have to continue to talk to them in French. Consistency is very important.
There is only one drawback from going down this path. At times it can be a little antisocial. If you have friends around who do not speak your language and you talk to your kids, they will not understand. But this is a very small price to pay compared to the huge benefits your kids will have.
You cannot do your children a better favour than teaching them as many languages as possible at an early age. They just learn so easily and it is a great gift for life. Languages become more and more important. With the current difficult economic environment, it gives kids far more opportunities and confidence when they travel abroad, study abroad or even work abroad.
It can be a little cumbersome at first, but it will soon become second nature. I know kids that speak three languages fluently and switch from language to language with total ease. They are not even aware of it.
