Tips to keep your kids (and yours) multilingual brains rocking
Globalisation has maybe brought our greatest demons like corporate ruling, extreme mass production or deforestation. But fortunately, there’s always the other side of the coin and borders have blurred, bringing the amazing reality of multicultural families.
Opening the door to a multicultural household means different types of foods in the fridge, a calendar with bizarre festivities on it and two, three or even four languages mixed in the same sentence! With the cultural expansion that learning a language brings, comes the challenge of retaining fluency in all of them. The scenarios we can imagine are endless, from same country parents (language 1) but living in a foreign country and kids learning this new language (language 2); to the most complex: parents from different countries (language 1 and 2), living abroad (language 3) and the kids attending an international school (language 4) and even learning a new language as part of the school curriculum (language 5). It might seem daunting or even like a joke but it is the reality of many multicultural families.
Here are some tips to help you in the process of learning a new language or with the laborious mission of keeping the native languages alive:
Promote the culture. A language doesn’t come alone, it is surrounded by a whole heritage. Whether you are learning a new language or connecting with your culture while away, going to cultural festivals, art exhibitions, or movies related to any of the languages you juggle at home, will bring another dimension to the learning process. Knowing more about the way of living, the traditions, and the art of one country makes it more interesting and gives the feeling of being part of something bigger. Besides that, it puts the language in another context allowing you to learn new expressions, vocabulary or understand the origins of traditions. The more you are exposed to different facets of the language, the more motivating it will be to use it.
Respond in the language you keep close to your heart. It can be quite strange to be the only one speaking your mother tongue in a foreign country. However, do not succumb to the temptation of speaking to your kids in this new foreign language for the sake of their integration. Your kids will lose the opportunity of learning their mother tongue and unless you are bilingual, you might even unwittingly teach them some grammar or pronunciation mistakes. They will be surrounded by this new language everywhere -at school, the supermarket, the TV, the playground, the sports clubs and so on, but only with you they can hold onto their mother tongue. If you stay in that particular country long enough, your child might eventually start talking to you in the new language. Cry your eyes out for a while but don’t despair or give up. Just keep answering back in your mother tongue and it will pay off one day.
Do not force the learning. If you want your kids to hate something, force them to do it. Instead, let the children discover how rewarding it is to speak a different language, how fortunate they are to be able to communicate with other people and fully understand a culture they are in a way part of. Find special friends that speak the same language, use it as your secret code language when there are people around, or when grandpa and grandma visit you, let the kids translate the menu for them at the restaurant. How proud of sharing that language everyone will be! As soon as they take a liking to speaking a different language, they will start using it spontaneously.
Read, read and read. Probably the best tip of them all is to have access to plenty of books in all the languages you want to nurture at home. When reading for yourself or to your kids, without noticing it, you are in an intense grammar session and at the same time expanding your vocabulary list. The magic in books is endless. Their story will transport your mind to faraway places while their writing will improve your language knowledge and skills. Besides that, research has even shown that the stronger you become in one language, the easier it will be to transfer your abilities and learn a new one. Sometimes it can be difficult to find books in certain languages while abroad and it can feel like you are fighting against all odds. Look for local, independent bookshops, create a book exchange group in your city or even a book club! You will be surprised at how many people might be interested. Again, you will add another dimension to the language, you will create a reading network around it that will make your language unique.
Be ready to learn from everyone, everywhere. Take advantage of every single time you are exposed to the new language: the cashier at the grocery store, the waiter. Keep your ears open and try to understand the announcement at the metro, the advertising on the radio. Every little opportunity for practice is important and will bring fluency in the end.
Now it is up to you, to carry on burning all those languages! You could start by translating this post ;-). In any case, if you are part of a multicultural household, you already know that there’s no one size fits all! Don’t hesitate to share your personal tip in the comments below. Enjoy the enrichment you have created for your family and keep talking in whatever way you feel!
These are mine: Gracias, Gràcies, Merci, Thank you, Dank je wel, 감사합니다.
