Cowplanet

Remember you are not alone

December 31st, 2013

Four years ago today, on New Year’s Eve, I was on the métro going home when I overheard a mother speaking English to her preteen/teenage children, who replied in French. I couldn’t help it, I approached her and asked about languages in her family. It turned out they were a British family living in Normandy. The children went to French school and understood English well but refused to speak it.

Incidentally, yesterday I came across the website http://www.be-bilingual.net/ and the author’s e-book of the same name. Like me, she is a mom in a bilingual family who worried a lot and asked a lot of questions on bilingualism, and like me she wrote her thesis on the subject (though with a lot more practical research).

The point I’m trying to make is that when you are a parent in a bilingual family, and especially when you are the minority language parent, it is important to remember that you are not alone out there. There are many people like Annika of Be Bilingual and Adam of Bilingual Monkeys (http://bilingualmonkeys.com/) and they are doing the same thing you do – raise their children with two (or more) languages.

Happy New Year to all!

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