Multilingualism in my family (Cordelia's story)

In our Multilingualism in my family series this week Cordelia tells her story. She is raising multilingual daughters (currently in Thailand). Many thanks Cordelia for taking the time to answer my questions.

Multilingualism in my family (Claudia's story)

This week for our Multilingualism in my family series we meet Claudia who lives in England with three languages: Norwegian, English and Brazilian Portuguese.

Word of Mouth: Losing Your Parents' Language

Instead of reading a blog post, why don't you listen to this program from the BBC Radio 4 (Word of Mouth). This is a fascinating half hour programme on languages that raises so many interesting questions concerning the concept of a mother tongue, loss and shift.

I found the beginning quite emotional and sad. I completely agreed with Jan's shift of personality (depending on what language you speak) too.
I thoroughly recommend a listen. Not sure how long it is going to be available for, so listen to it now! 

I loved Dean Atta's poem: 

I can’t tell you why she would wilfully deny

Her daughter and her son

But she has swallowed it

And we are struck dumb

Our mother has swallowed her tongue.

 The full version is here.

Should my child say 'baby' at 2?

 Following on from my post in April for the carnival, I was slightly puzzled by the fact that the articles I referred to managed to compile different lists of words two-year-olds should know even though the seemed to quote the same source. So I thought I'd share my own list(s).

A word of caution: there are no list of words for multilingual children (partly because of the endless language combinations possible). And while bilinguals are not two monolinguals in one on many accounts, it can be a good starting point to find out what monolingual children should say at a given age. Don't forget that if your child only hears English for half of the day, then it is possible s/he may only produce half of those words.

Multilingualism in my family (Jen's story)

Our second instalment for our Multilingualism in my family series this week is from Jen in Japan. Many thanks Jen for taking the time to answer my questions.