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

'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.

Don't you speak German at home?

NO!!!!!!

How many times have I been asked that question recently. Yes, we are all learning German (and not fast enough probably for some) as it is the language of the country we live in. Yes, we need to speak german for day-to-day purposes. Yes, we still need help from colleagues and friends to sort out some complicated (mostly administrative) things.

Multilingualism in my family (Sarah's story)

This week, we meet Sarah and her family. Sarah may be familiar to you as she is a regular blogger and a great source of inspiration for many! Sarah and her family live in the USA and she speaks non-native French to her children. 

Multilingualism in my family (Mymy's story)

This week, we meet Mymy and her family. Mymy and her husband live in Gran Canaria, Spain with their son. Both are French native speakers. Thank you very much to Mymy for answering my questions.

Sign in Gran Canaria

Multilingualism in my family (Olga's story)

This week, we meet Olga and her family. Olga, originally from Poland, lives in the Netherlands with her German husband and two daughters. Thank you very much to Olga for answering my questions in English and in German!
If you are a multilingual family and would like to be featured on my blog contact me at annabhu at gmail dot com.

Ipads and language awareness

Yes, I have to admit it! I too have given in to letting my daughter, 2, use my iPad! I, too, was very skeptical and would have preferred not to. But it is a good learning tool.

I am one of those mums who thinks that children should only watch TV when they are old enough to control it and understand what they are watching. I never have the TV on during the day when I am home by myself with (or without) LJ. Don't get me wrong, I love technology (maybe not as much as my husband) but I love hi-tech gadgets. But I would rather encourage my daughter to read and play by herself than have her watch TV.

Multilingualism in my family (Nichola's story)

This week, we meet Nichola and her family. Nichola lives in England and is raising her children speaking non-native French to them. Thank you very much to Nichola for answering my questions and being so honest with her answers!
If you are a multilingual family and would like to be featured on my blog contact me at annabhu at gmail dot com.

Multilingualism in my family (Luisa's story)

 In our Multilingualism in my family series this week Luisa tells her amazing story. She is raising multilingual children (currently in the Philippines having recently moved from the USA).

Multilingualism in my family (Julie's story)

This week for our Multilingualism in my family series I am bringing multilingualism to my blog too as we meet Julie and her trilingual (French, Turkish, German) family from Germany. Julie answered my questions in French, so I am publishing her answers as she gave them and I added my own translation in English.

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.

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.

Multilingualism in my family (Michelle's story)

I am launching a new mini-series on my blog. Hopefully, once a week I will be featuring a family who uses more than one language.
Quite a few blogs are now featuring interviews from other multilingual families. I think it is a great idea and I wanted to do something similar but with a more focused angle. The literature often reports and focuses on ideal situations where one parent speaks one language. But there are many different types of multilingual families, all very successful.
In this series, I will be posting interviews with multilingual families. They answer questions relating to their multilingual family settings and how it works (or not) for them. Who speaks what, how and why?

April's bilingual blogging carnival

Welcome to this month's blogging carnival on bilingualism.

I have had a terrible week after my fairly new computer broke down (and might have to end up in the bin). I lost a lot of valuable bits and pieces (thankfully we were making regular back-ups). So i am writing this on an old laptop hoping everything turns out ok and I haven't missed out on anything or anybody important.

I am fairly new to this blogging (carnival) but every month I love reading the carnival, discovering new blogs and reading what other parents fear, battle with or enjoy about their children's multilingualism. Before motherhood took me in a new direction, I used to be a researcher in linguistics. I devoted 4 years of my life studying bilingual children and how they acquire words. But I had no idea about all of these amazing resources. Maybe there were not that many back then (oh I sound old now!). But I still think a lot of researchers and academics generally underestimate the power and knowledge of parents. 

Words, words, words.... 4years, I heard you say, about words! 

How important are words? How are they written? How do our children learn them? How can we encourage our children to learn more of them? What do our bilingual children make of them?

I tried to make this my little theme for this carnival. Every post is represented by a word on this map. But I have also included a small description about each of our wonderful posts so you can make your choice where to go.

Suppressed languages

I recently had a short stay at hospital with my daughter (2). Thankfully, she is fine. Just a nasty fall that needed monitoring for 48 hours.
If you follow me, you will know that we are all learning German in the family having moved to Germany 11 months ago, now. So in the hospital, under very stressful conditions at first, I was extremely grateful for doctors and nurses who tried a little English and/or French when they realised I struggled. While there, we were put in a room with another mum and her daughter (exactly the same age). The little girl's dad turned up once and (even though my German is not great) I am sure he corrected the mum's German while she was speaking to her daughter. Later in the evening, while on her mobile phone, she clearly spoke another language than German (couldn't identify it clearly - Eastern European). However she was speaking German to her daughter.
I, of course, spoke only French to LJ. The other mum seemed bemused at first. She didn't dare say anything despite my smiles, hellos and dankes. Finally, she mustered the courage to ask me what I was speaking to LJ and what my husband (who had been popping in and out) spoke. I explained. But my German being still limited I didn't have a chance to go into details and ask her about her situation beyond basic information.
It got me thinking. Was she not speaking her mother tongue to her daughter? How sad! I couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
I have never ever considered not speaking my own language to my child. The relationship wouldn't be the same. I guess not everybody feels this way.  It is so easy to give the gift of languages to a child when they are young. But I can understand some communities/families may feel pressure to conform or integrate. They think that by speaking only the majority language their child will have a better chance in life.
An interesting article I read this week explained how it can be so much more difficult to learn your mother tongue later in life.
This episode struck me and reminded me that multilingualism is still frowned upon by some groups of society. I was living in my idealistic multicultural/multilingual bubble! I should have known better.

N.B. By the end of the stay, her little girl was saying 'merci' to mine.

Where are you from?

When you meet new people they often ask "Where are you from?". For a lot of people it is an easy question. But for others it is tricky and can bring on a lengthy answer your interlocutor might not want to hear. Often, if you mention more than one place, they will ask you to choose a country or language as your favourite one. It is like asking a mum to choose between her two children. 
I feel French. My parents, grandparents and close relatives are French. But I often, now, want to add that I have lived 13 years in England (most of my adult life) and so feel a little connection to Britain.
I have been reading a lot of articles this week about ethnicity, culture and language that have made me think about my daughter's future.
Madalena Cruz-Ferreira at Being Multilingual talks about a phrase which is dear to our family: Minha pátria é a língua portuguesa (My homeland is the Portuguese language).
I am really wondering what my daughter will consider to be her home and her language. She was born in England, but now lives in Germany. She speaks 4 languages. We will most likely move again in the future. She technically has two nationalities (even though she currently only has one... don't get me started on the Portuguese bureaucracy... that's another blog topic). I wonder how she will reply to the question "where are you from?": Will she be confused? Will she be annoyed?  I guess that is that part of the multilingual and multicultural upbringing. Something that needs to be explained and valued (in my opinion).
 I completely agree with Madalena Cruz-Ferreira on the myth that "belonging to more than one place means that you don’t in fact belong anywhere". I feel that belonging to more than one place or belonging to more than one linguistic group (more than one language) makes you see the world differently, enriches you and makes you a better person. But this is hard to explain to people. Preconceived ideas and myths are still deeply rooted in terms of multiculturalism and multilingualism. 
I just hope my daughter will grow up to be a wonderful confident person opened to all cultures. 


Check out this wonderful art project about mixed race/ethnicity: The Hapa Project. In their own words, it "was created to promote awareness and recognition of the millions of multiracial/multiethnic individuals [...]; to give voice to multiracial people and previously ignored ethnic groups; to dispel myths of exoticism, hybrid vigor and racial homogeneity; to foster positive identity formation and self-image in multiracial children".