How to Raise a Bilingual Child

Ensuring Fluency in Children Raised in Two-Language Families

Jan 10, 2009

When parents speak more than one language, which one should the children learn? Find out what the experts say about bilingualism and simultaneous language learning.

Amy Santin is a native English-speaker, but is fluent in Spanish. Her husband, Jose grew up in Spain. English is his second language. When they were expecting their first baby, they knew they wanted the child to be fluent in both languages, if for no other reason than to be able to communicate with both sets of grandparents and other family members. They now have three children ranging from three to eight years of age. All of them are fluent in Spanish and English.

The One Person, One Language Method of Raising a Bilingual Child

One of the most widely used bilingual language systems, One Person, One Language (OPOL), is used by families in which the parents have different native languages. In the OPOL method each parent speaks with the child using only the language that is native to that parent.

The OPOL method of teaching children two languages works best if started at birth. Children quickly associate each language with the appropriate parent, and very little confusion is reported.

The main drawback with this method is that sometimes one parent has the opportunity to spend more time with the child, thus the language learning risks becoming unbalanced. Couple this with a situation in which the family lives in the country in which the language of the dominant parent is spoken, and the child may become a passive user of the minority language, rather than an active speaker. A passive bilingual understands the second language, but cannot or chooses not to speak it.

The Minority Language at Home Method of Raising Bilingual Children

When both parents are native speakers of a language other than that spoken in the host community, the Minority Language at Home (mL@H) method is a good option for promoting bilingualism in the children. With the mL@H system, both parents speak only their native language(s) to communicate with the child. It is left to experiences within the community (including the schools) to teach the child the host language.

Some parents worry their child will be at a disadvantage compared to native-speaking children in the community. However, according to linguistic experts Kendall King, Ph.D. and Alison Mackey, Ph.D. in their book The Bilingual Edge [HarperCollins, 2007] bilingual children typically gain a greater knowledge of how language systems work. A strong foundation in one language (i.e. the parents’ language) lays the groundwork for successfully learning the second (host) language.

Alternate Methods for Teaching Children to Speak Multiple Languages

Some families have found success introducing a second language at home, then giving the child opportunities to practice while on extended trips to the other country. Other families have experimented with speaking the second language on alternate or specific days of the week, or splitting the day in two, assigning each time period to a specific language. Some use babysitters, nannies, or au pairs to teach their children to speak the desired second language. Many families have found public or private schools that offer duel language immersion programs.

The Santins, who live in the U.S., chose to speak Spanish exclusively to their children at home. They were confident the children would pick up English through their contact with Amy’s extended family and hearing it outside the home and in school.

Regardless of the method used to teach children to speak multiple languages, the important considerations are time and consistency. King and Mackey say children can become fluent in both languages in about five years, depending on the situation.

The copyright of the article How to Raise a Bilingual Child in Language Study is owned by Margaret M. Williams. Permission to republish How to Raise a Bilingual Child in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Mar 8, 2009 4:06 PM

wahnabee :

A variation of the "Minority Language at Home (mL@H) method" would be when both parents are native speakers of a language other than that spoken in the host community, AND are not bilingual. This method does work, even when there is no choice. My own parents spoke Spanish exclusively to me and my siblings at all times. They were confident that we would learn English while interacting with others in the community, and in the schools, and they were right. We also learned a lot just by watching television, no doubt about that. The key here is the age of the child, and the younger, the better. You have full-immersion in one language at home, and full-immersion in another language everywhere else.