A Parent's Guide

4
How do we deal as a family with bi-/multilingualism on a daily basis?

Families and institutions use different strategies to deal with bi-/multilingualism in their daily lives. What strategy is chosen depends on what is believed to work best for the children. As knowledge about bi-/multilingualism grows, certain strategies turn out to be more or less valuable for the development of language skills in the long run.

1st strategy: Only the school language is spoken at home and in public

Levent and Fatma have a daughter called Nisa (5 years old). The little family lives in Austria. Levent and Fatma are from Turkey and are very keen on their daughter speaking German as soon (and as well) as possible. Although Fatma's German is quite limited (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and melody of the sentences), she tries to speak German with her daughter whenever possible. Fatma would prefer to speak Turkish to her daughter because this is the language in which she can express herself best. But she feels she needs to make this effort so that Nisa won't fall back in school or later in life.

For a long time, parents were advised that also using the school language at home would avoid confusion and overburdening for the child. This advice was usually well-intended, but in the meantime, research has shown that it deprives the child - and also the rest of the family - of its language and cultural identity. If there is no daily routine for using the family language, it will be neglected. If the parents are not fluent in the school language and grammar and vocabulary skills are restricted, the child won't get enough support in the process of language acquisition. This won't help either with the acquisition of the family language or with the acquisition of the school language. We also have to consider that learning different languages is usually a manageable challenge for the child (see Chapter 2). So, this formerly popular strategy is nowadays seen as not recommendable.

2nd strategy: One person, one language

Saya lives with her husband, Jim, and 18-year-old son, Alishan, in Slovenia. Saya speaks Kurdish with her son. Her husband, Jim, uses English to communicate with Alishan. They feel strongly about it because they want to pass on the language of their ancestors and their own identity. Their son has always been "surrounded" by Slovenian in kindergarten and school, so they never worried that he would be unable to learn Slovenian properly. It worked out - Alishan has become a competent Kurdish, English and Slovenian speaker.

Another approach is the "one person, one language" strategy. Each parent communicates with the child in the language the parent is most familiar with. This way, the child is provided with elaborate and diverse expressions and words in each language the parents choose to communicate in. Emotions and ideas are usually better expressed with more adequate words in the language a parent masters best. This strategy also gives the child many opportunities to acquire the languages in authentic situations. It also makes it possible to maintain language and cultural identity since the child can access different parts of the family's language heritage.

A variation of this strategy is the one where parents speak the family language at home but change into the school language as soon as they interact outside their home—often trying to fit into their surroundings.

This strategy requires a high amount of self-discipline and effort to use one language consistently and not change to a different language when more than one family language is used at home. It may involve much "translating" to the other parent who may not master a specific family language. On the other hand, if pursued consistently, it may support the acquisition of a rich vocabulary in the languages the child gets in touch with. Furthermore, this strategy also allows parents to express their mutual appreciation for their partner's cultural identity.

3rd strategy: Translanguaging

Gordin and Agbogbe have a 12-year-old daughter, Katja, and live in Lithuania. Gordin's predecessors are from Israel, and he is fluent in Lithuanian and Hebrew. Agbogbe is from Togo, and she speaks French, Ewe and Lithuanian. Each parent wants to pass on their language heritage. Agbogbe speaks French and Ewe with her daughter. She usually speaks French in public and Ewe mostly at home or when the conversation gets emotional. Gordin also uses his two languages when he communicates with Katja. In their daily routine at home, they constantly change from one language to another, which reflects their multilingual reality. Katja understands all the languages but usually answers in Lithuanian. Her parents are okay with Katja answering only in Lithuanian and don't force her to answer in a different language. Her understanding of Hebrew, French and Ewe shows that Katja is competent in these languages. She and her parents are proud to understand and speak so many languages.

Translanguaging is an approach where all people involved in a conversation may use all of their linguistic repertoire (all the language skills and vocabulary in all the languages one person is familiar with). This approach respects the multilingual realities of the family. It allows adults and children to interact freely, using their language skills to the maximum. This strategy requires an awareness of different language-promoting situations to support the child's linguistic repertoire in a balanced manner. In other words, the child is invited to use their complete linguistic repertoire to express themselves. Still, parents are responsible for supporting language development in any language the child is familiar with as much as they can. This way, the child can get new impulses in any language provided and may learn the school language more efficiently in line with parental approval. Furthermore, parents can also deepen their own linguistic repertoire while providing their kids with good learning opportunities.

Reflecting questions:

What family language do we use in our family?
If we use more than one family language, are there special situations when we prefer one family language? Why is that so?
Which are the strategies we feel most comfortable with in our family?

Takeaway messages:

Families and institutions use different strategies. The aim is usually to support bi-/multilingualism and the child's future educational success. Parents and institutions should be aware of the potential chances and challenges of the different strategies.
Families should be encouraged to facilitate access to all the languages vital to them and essential to their child's educational career. Parents could also use the opportunity to enrich their own linguistic repertoire while doing so.

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