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Showing posts with the label mother tongue

Child refuses to speak in minority/native language

- April 06, 2018

I often hear that child refuses to speak minority or parent's/grandparent's native language in public (more on this later). However, I also came across instances when the child refuses to speak the minority language altogether. I get many people praising how our oldest is capable to switch into three different languages. His younger brother is too young for actual speaking ( for a multilingual child - yes mine do speak late...more on this later) but even him now switches the limited words he has three-way depending to whom he is speaking to. Yes, kids are individuals and we have been very lucky but also there are some approaches that we have tried and tested. Well, this is what has worked for us: We made it a need for both LingoBabas to speak in the minority languages. This means I make it obvious that it is an absolute necessity to speak to their parents in a respective language. With a toddler that is about to start speaking, we affirm the new word (said in the majo...

Be a proud oddball! The biggest and most common block to multilingual upbringing

- April 01, 2018

I already wrote about the "killer language" and the need to get the right ammunition to fight it. However, before we start speaking the "ammo and conquest", there is a really important aspect of multilingual parenting/upbringing that needs to be discussed. Hand on heart, I can say that this aspect has been coming up time and time again when I have met other people attempting the whole multilingual family business. So I feel this needs to be highlighted. Most of the time the parents and carers who plan or already do try to bring up the kids with another language(s) admit that they are: a) not confident, b) shy, or c) feeling that they stick out/draw attention to themselves, or d) ashamed ...to speak to the child in minority language in public. Well, let me tell you, if you feel any of the emotions listed above when speaking in public in your language (most of the time minority one), YOU do have a problem. This is because, your child will fee...

Majority Language Trap

- March 30, 2018

In the context of multilingual setting the "majority language" is usually the language spoken by great majority of people around us. Sometimes such language can be described as a "dominant language" . Having worked with LittleLingo for past 4 years and MiniLingo for 2 years, I can understand why a majority language is also referred to as the "killer language" . I can confirm that even if you put a maximum effort into speaking to a child from birth in non-majority language, the killer one will creep in. Especially, if you live a well adjusted life in the majority language community such as visiting playgroups, children activities, sports clubs, watch TV and interact with other majority language speakers. In our case, what is even worse is the fact that PapaLingo and I speak "the killer" to each other at home. But not to worry, there are tried and tested ways to beat the "killer"! ************************************************...

The "WHY" volume I. Our reasons to teach our kids our mother tongues

- March 27, 2018

This post is purely focusing on reasons why we decided to pass our mother tongues ( yes plural because husband and I have entirely different mother tongue) to our children. Czech countryside Many people may have many other reason why to do so. In no particular order of importance, here are our answers to the "WHY": 1) Authenticity of communication with our off springs To us we will never speak our second or third language as well as our mother tongue, even though we are pretty good. Also all those little expressions and jokes...right? 2) Passing on the cultural heritage Lots of the culture we grew up in is locked in language. Some things you just cannot translate. LingoPapa uses many Urdu proverbs to illustrate a point for example. 3) Passing on a skill for life Being able to use another language and think in it is an invaluable skill and asset. Even if you think your language is too small or not wide spoken. 4) Brain development It is proven th...

The "WHAT" ...mother tongue, father tongue or language?

- March 26, 2018

When deciding for multilingual upbringing for your kids, it is important to clarify for yourself what you want to teach them. Your conscious intention is crucial to the success. From the very beginning we knew we want them to learn our respective mother tongues (Urdu and Czech). Living in a country that is English speaking we knew this is not going to be an easy task considering we do not have extended family here. Kid's multilingual library items We searched for a strategy that would work for us the best. We unanimously settled on One Person One Language (OPOL) approach. There will be a separate blog post on this and links to other strategies later on. We also decided later on that we want to teach them some of the languages we speak other than our mother tongues and possibly learn a new one with them. We are currently working on French and Arabic by speaking and exposing these to them. Watch out for posts on how we do that and what is the success. Remem...

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