How expats can help their children become bilingual

Depending on how expat parents view the situation, growing up bilingually may be a blessing or a curse.

Families who follow the chief breadwinner overseas in his search for the perfect career opportunity are often desperate for tips on how to ensure the younger members grasp the language of their new homeland without forgetting how to use the lingo of their country of birth. Multilingualism can be a blessing in adulthood, but may be a curse for the younger members of the family, even although children do have a faster rate of assimilation of a new language, especially if they’re school-age and it’s all around them both in class and at play.

The degree of multilingual interaction as well as the social factors involved both play a part, motivating youngsters to commit to learning the new second language in order to please their parents and also to cement their positions in school. Parental positivity about multilingualism is all important at this stage, as it gives a strong message allowing young people to be themselves. One successful strategy is outlined in the One Language One Environment method, in which children are encouraged to speak the new language in a school setting and their native language in the home. Expat parents worried about being as supportive as possible can try a number of tips from those who’ve already been there and done that, such as sticking to the native language even if the child is speaking his or her new local language. Reading aloud and making sure books in the new language are available at home is another useful strategy, as is arranging formal lessons if you feel you’ve lost the plot and can’t cope.

Another important tip is to remember that most children pick up second languages far faster than do adults, who’re often stressed out due to their own less than successful attempts to learn. Concentrating on the language your offsprings use at school is the best idea, as children are eager to integrate with their peers, no matter how hard it seems at first. However, speaking your native language at home ensures younger children don’t forget its basics whilst they’re concentrating on the new tongue. One thing to remember is that, although it’s been proven many times that language-learning is easier when undertaken at a young age, children don’t all learn at the same speed.