During my webinars I often hear participants say things that reveal their unconscious biases about language learning. For example, a Polish mother once said to me “I know that my children’s mother tongue will be Dutch, but I’ll try my best to teach them Polish…” In fact, there was no reason why these children shouldn’t…
At about 18 months, children start asking questions. At first, they tend to only use the question word “who” or “what”, then around the age of 3 they discover “why”. Like the flow of a river, the whys can rush in all directions, which is natural, and all we have to do is to guide…
At what age should you start studying a new language to avoid speaking with a foreign accent? For decades researchers have tried to find out if there is an age limit. The most recent studies suggest that there is no critical age. Instead, it seems that the musical elements, intonation or pronunciation of our first…
A mother from Barcelona spoke to me the other day about her 8-year-old daughter’s recent conversation with a friend. They had several languages in common, and the suggested that they stopped speaking Hungarian together. She said it wasn’t important as they only went to Hungary in the summer anyway. How should we determine the value…
When we think of music, we automatically assume that it conveys universal emotions. However, this perception is wrong since our ear has a certain taste, just like we prefer different foods. Everyone has a preference for the music they heard in their childhood, in the same way, as, for example, an octopus salad evokes the…
Flavours are hard for the tongue to forget. Traditional dishes survive a long time even in a diaspora, or even in scattered families, for centuries or more. However, unfortunately, the spoken language does not have this quality and is much, much more fragile than family recipes that get passed down through generations. So much so…
In our family, swearing was more of a male preserve, and I was surprised that when I visited home as an adult, my aging mother used expressions that I had never heard her use as a child. Perhaps this was because she lived alone, or perhaps it was because her environment had changed, as it…
If you live in a country whose official language differs from your own, when you try to decide which language to use with your children, many different considerations will come to mind. It is perfectly legitimate for each individual to decide which language to use according to their own best judgement. Looking back, for me…
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…