FAQ: Raising Bilingual Children
From the Linguistic Society of America
by Antonella Sorace and Bob Ladd
In this article, the authors write from their own experience raising bilingual children.
Sorace and Ladd address several questions about raising bilingual children. One is the belief that children get confused if there is more than one language around them. The authors assert that this does not happen although they may start speaking a little later than their monolingual peers. They may code switch, but they do not mix up the languages.
A second major problem is how to successfully raise bilingual children. In order to accomplish this, children must have adequate exposure to both languages and have a need to communicate in those languages. The authors acknowledge the main issue:
The hard part is making sure they have enough natural exposure to both languages. Most of the time, one of the two languages you want them to learn will be “more important” somehow, and the trick is to provide enough opportunities for them to use the “less important” one in a way that isn’t forced or artificial. The best way, if you can manage it, is to put children in situations where only the “less important” language is used so that there is no temptation to mix languages or revert to the “more important” language.
The more important language is the one used at school and in the neighborhood.
Sorace and Ladd also discuss possible family scenarios and the advantages and disadvantages of those, such as one parent speaking their native language and the other speaking English. Ideally both parents should be bilingual with the addition of a natural situation such as a day-care setting or interaction with monolingual grandparents.
They close by stating that even though school-age children may use English words when speaking their parent’s language, they will be able to communicate in that language as well.
Here are the details, a downloadable PDF, and a Spanish translation.