Psychologists often cite writers and poets to illustrate their own arguments, thoughts, or comments. I’ll take the opportunity to imitate them. And who could provide me with better material than a poet or writer who is multilingual himself? Often, as a reader we do not know if the author whose work we are reading is…
Encouragement and motivation are good for everyone. But why are they so important for children who grow up in a multilingual environment? Firstly, because learning a language is not an overnight process, even if you start early. Secondly, because multilingual children are surrounded by many monolingual people who speak their dominant language with great confidence…
Arabic numerals connect many languages, even if we use different names for them. Children who speak languages where the names of these numbers are shorter have a slight advantage at first. A child whose mother tongue is Mandarin, for example, has it easier because all numbers from one to ten consist of only one syllable.…
“Why should I take another cake when I already know how it tastes?” – one mother living in Belgium told me her mother-in-law had asked her. She must have found this argument surprising to remember it so clearly. Of course, you could also ask why we shouldn’t have the same cake twice, because we already…