Twitter is my friend for anything writing-related these days. But I also do a bit of bilingualism on the side, as several of my writer friends are expats and parents, too. This week I came across this wonderful website with really good advice for parents of bilingual or to-be-bilingual children: Raising bilingual children

As I quote in my diploma theses, « Der Begriff Interferenz ist der Physik entlehnt und meint dort die Erscheinung, daß es durch die Überlagerung von Wellen (z.B. Radiowellen) zu Störungen kommt (z.B. Pfeiftöne im Radio). Auf die Situation des Zweispra­chigen übertragen meint der Begriff, daß sich Regeln der beiden Sprachen überlagern und es dadurch zu […]

This morning, I can’t remember in what context, my daughter (now almost 3½) said: “Je vais couper ein bisschen was ab.” Switch in mid-sentence without any trigger that I can see. (Maybe too early for the “switch-at-trigger” phase.) Did you notice the prefix “ab” placed in the final position (where it would belong if the […]

L’équipe du Labo Bébé de l’université Paris Descartes a publié son premier newsletter sur leur recherche. J’aime bien l’illustration de la cabine insonorisée: Vous pouvez lire leur newsletter en cliquant ici (fichier PDF).

Today I came across this article on a UK website: Languages – Gift of bilingualism is too often ‘squandered’ Some quotes: [Professor Joseph Lo Bianco, of the University of Melbourne] who advised the Australian government on its languages policy, said it was of “critical importance” that education systems across the world fostered a “multilingual mentality”, […]

The other day I was preparing my daughter for our upcoming dentist appointment. She had accompanied me to every single check-up since she was born, and half a year ago, she’d had her first very own check-up. As a reward, the dentist had let her choose a little plastic ring. So I reminded her of […]

Yesterday we participated in the annual lantern walk (Laternelaufen) of the bilingual school an older friend of my daughter attends. Following the walk, I was queuing for sausages, enjoying the unusual situation of being surrounded by German speakers on all sides, when I overheard three girls (I guess they were about 9 years old) talk […]

Yesterday when I picked her up from day-care (it’s the school holidays), my daughter told me what they’d been doing: “We went by Nanny’s house, and then there was a big TV.” Turns out she’s been to see her first movie at the local cinema. Already. I think I was six or seven when I […]

We’ve run clear out of pirate muesli. Alright, I admit we ran out of pirate muesli several months ago and have since been refilling the box with a very nice chocolate muesli from Germany. But now we’re still two months away from Christmas, the box is empty, and our daughter refuses to eat any other […]

This morning my daughter was playing with her parrot feathers (a gift from a friend). I told her: “Next time we’re at Grandma’s, I’ll show you a photo of me with a parrot on my shoulder.” She: “Mommy, were you a pirate?”