Parent to Parent
What general advice would you give other parents?In order to raise bilingual children successfully, both parents have to be willing to do it and supportive of each other. If parents are persistent in insisting the children speaking their mother tongue, they have to speak the language at home at all times. Additionally, introducing the children to their culture will help them appreciate the language. The main differences [between families we know whose children who speak Chinese well and those who don't] are the parents' interests in the Chinese culture and their comfort level in speaking English. Those children whose parents more interested in Chinese culture but less comfortable speaking English, tend to speak Chinese better. I believe this is a cross
cultural phenomena. This also means that we should be teaching the children not just the language, but the culture as well. After all, language is an integral part of the culture. Without culture, language will be very dry.
— Mother of bilingual 15-year old and 13-year old (Mandarin Chinese)Don't give up, be consistent. What you are giving your child is a gift and a cultural heritage. They will thank you later.
— Mother of trilingual 2 1/2-year old and 1-year old (French & Spanish)Redouble the efforts around the 7th year to counter the child's tendency to give in entirely to the monolingual environment at school and in the neighborhood.
— Father of bilingual 11-year old (Spanish)Don’t be afraid of teaching only your language when they are young. They will pick up English in no time. The best advice was to start a cultural/language school. It is a great asset to learn two languages.
— Mother of bilingual adult children (Marathi)I think I expected they would just be bilingual and have learned that it takes work and planning. In our case, the only formal Japanese school that is available takes place all day Saturday which conflicts with any sports they might want to play so no formal training so far. I just hope it is in their brains somewhere! Having spent some time studying the language, I just want them to be able to get something out of their mother's culture and know that part of their family in a way I cannot as a functional illiterate with limited conversation skills.
— Father of bilingual 11-year old and 7-year old (Japanese)They [other parents] may make the mistake of speaking English with their children. My advice is to always speak with them in your native language, even in front of people who speak only English.
— Father of trilingual 8-year old and 3-year old (Italian & Farsi)