Some believe that multilingual children are whiz kids, although this can be said for only a small number of them. This is because most do not receive their link with languages as an innate gift, but instead as the result of the decisions of their parents or other external circumstances. However, this does not mean…
Vocabulary is the Achilles heel of multilingualism. This does not mean, of course, that multilinguals cannot have a wide vocabulary. Rather, it simply means that vocabulary building is not automatic, but is usually the result of conscious effort. What is reassuring, however, is that while there is a more sensitive period for pronunciation and the…
When they start their own families, our multilingual children will face this situation and some parents have already turned to me for help in this matter. For example, I spoke to a German mother of Turkish origin and a bilingual Basque-English mother. They did not have it easy, living in Barcelona, but they both managed…
Maintaining a mother tongue abroad is like taking a rollercoaster ride. What’s more, multilingual children travel in multiple cars on different lanes at the same time. The rollercoaster cars of their various languages do not go up hills, go straight ahead or go down slopes at the same speed, and sometimes repeat the same peaks…
In my last workshop, a French father who lives in Spain told me that the silent phase lasted 4 years for his first child. He spoke to his son in French, but his son never spoke a word of French back; if he did reply, it was always in Spanish. Then, on his return from…
