#1 Go team!

To raise a bilingual child it’s important that both parents are completely on board and committed to the idea. Talk about it, share opinions, experiences and concerns and find a solution that works for both parties. Make it a family mission!

#2 Make a plan!

Once both parents committed to the idea of raising a bilingual child, create a plan on how to do it. There are different methods depending on your family’s situation – the two most popular are the ML@H (minority language at home) – where both parents speak the minority language at home and OPOL (one parent, one language) – where one parent speaks one language to the child and the other speaks the second language. Choose the one that works best for you and stick to it even when it gets tough, (because it can). Consistency is the key!

#3 Talk, talk, talk!

Languages need exposure! And while there is “no good measure of ‘enough exposure‘ for a child to become naturally bilingual, there is no dsputing the fact that the more, the better. Make sure your child is constantly exposed to the sound of the minority language – talk to them about anything you can babble on about.

#4 Play, play, play!

Sing, dance, read and play in the target language! As much as talking is important to your child, so is having enough time to play and enjoy. Make sure you involve the minority language in games, rhymes or songs. Attending a playgroup or Fun Language club will also make languages a fun social event for your child.

Recently, Jodie, a parent from Melbourne, called us about the possibility of starting a Fun Languages club at her daughter’s school.

Like many parents in Australia, Jodie deeply regrets the fact that she did not learn her ancestral language (Italian) from her parents, who came over to Australia in the post-WWII period.

During that period. migrants were encouraged to forget their culture, replace their customs with those of Australia, suspend or revise their beliefs and adapt their attitudes to better assimilate into their newly adopted country’s culture. To learn to speak “‘Strine”!

At Fun Languages, we speak to parents like Jodie every day. Parents who want to give their children the gift of another language, of their parents’ “mother tongue”. Parents who want their kids to benefit from the many opportunities that being bilingual brings.

Language Portraits for Kids

Language portraits provide a colourful overview of the languages a child knows, or is learning.

Whether used in the classroom or at home, they are a fun and interactive way to help kids think about their different languages and how they feel about them.

Language portraits cover both home and school contexts and are a way of giving visibility and value to all language-learning experiences. They can be used to motivate young learners and they may be particularly valuable, when children move from school to school or when teachers change.

In either case, they highlight and promote the linguistic diversity which exists in our society, both inside and outside of school.

“French is in my legs because it is too far away for me to learn it properly even though I would like to. And in order to go far you need legs.” Yogie, aged 12

“My tummy is Italian…” Chiara, aged 5

When I was growing up, my mother was working in the fashion industry for a French knitwear company.

Her glamorous lifestyle would take her off to Paris for all the shows and there was no doubt that her ability to speak German and French had landed her the job in the first place. 

With NZ Fashion Week in full swing in Auckland this week, the eyes of the international fashion world will be on New Zealand fashion and for some of the models and designers this will mean opportunities overseas.

According to a recent article in the Guardian newspaper, designers that speak another language are going to have an added advantage and will enhance any budding designer’s visual and verbal communication skills.

In fact, this is so important now, that London College of Fashion students are encouraged to make use of the university language centre and Erasmus links to study textiles in Lyon or design in Denmark.

Do you know your multilingual facts from fiction?

Answer the statements below and read on to see how you did.

True or False?

#1 Monolingual parents can successfully raise a bilingual child
#2 “Real” bilinguals have equal knowledge of both their languages
#3 Young children soak up languages like sponges
#4 Some languages are easier to learn than others
#5 Most of the world is multilingual
#6 Becoming multilingual at a certain age is too late
#7 The more languages you know, the easier it becomes to learn another one