Multilingualism in my family (Tallulah's story)

This week, we meet Tallulah and her family. Tallulah lives in London with her husband and two children. Tallulah writes a great blog and she tells us how she has switched from French to English after 5 years of non-native French. She reminds us how tough it is. Pretty amazing!

 © kpiau on Flickr

Multilingualism in my family (Sarah R's story)

This week, we meet Sarah R and her family. Sarah and her family live in Hawaii. Their daughter is growing up multilingual French and English but also hears a number of other languages on a daily basis. She highlights the importance of support network and of teaching your children the local language (regardless of its status, I would add). Amazing multilingual environment!

Hawaiian language sign from http://lovingthebigisland.wordpress.com

Invitation to 'Laternenfest'

If there is one thing Germans do well, that is traditions and celebrating them. Take Christmas markets, for example, they are great. While Christmas markets are very popular and spreading around the world, this week we are celebrating a lesser-known tradition (in my eyes anyway).

We are celebrating the German St Martin's Day. To be fair, last year we had no idea about it. As newly-arrived foreigners, we had never heard of it and had to be explained the gist of it. But it seems to be a very popular tradition for children.

Né pour être bilingue

If you read French, you have to read this beautiful letter written by a leading figure in the world of bilingualism, François Grosjean. He was one of the first author I ever read when I was studying this topic.
This letter is a little more personal but summarises bilingualism so well and is well informed!

It just reminds me how great a gift I am giving my daughter.

>>Edited to say that he has now published the same letter in English here.

Is Earlier Really Better for Second Language Acquisition?

There is a common myth about second language acquisition that by six or seven years old, it is too late to acquire a language fully.  This argument is based on the “critical period hypothesis.” I admit that linguistics research is not easily accessible and linguists are notoriously poor at disseminating their findings to the public. Because of that, I can’t blame anybody for believing that older children can’t learn a second language with perfect fluency. Even researchers and academics have stated this claim to the wider public. (See this popular Ted talk). However, this is a very simplistic view of language acquisition, especially given the competing viewpoints on the topic.

Click here to read more. This article was published on IncultureParent on October 31st 2012.

'Fake' use of language or why I hate having to switch language

This post was influenced by Jan (@jexner). A few days back he tweeted:

Once I have settled on a language I use with another multilingual, it is uncomfortable for me to switch to another one. Feels fake.

 and I thought: 'thank God, it's not just me then!'

Multilingualism in my family (Sandra's story)

This week, we meet Sandra (aka S) and her family. Sandra is an amazing blogger, wife, mum, writer, etc! You may be familiar with her popular blog about bikes, academia and parenthood. Sandra happens to also be multilingual! Sandra and her family live in the USA where she speaks Romanian to her daughter.