Isabelle Gerretsen, who grew up speaking Dutch and English, offers advice to families who speak only one language but want to raise their children multilingually. BBC Future investigates.
Regarding the upbringing of bilingual children, there is a belief that it is best for parents with different native languages to strictly speak their own language from birth. This is also known as the „One Parent, One Language (OPOL)“ strategy.
But is this the only way to truly achieve bilingualism? Is it really necessary for two parents to speak different languages? Can a bilingual child be raised if oneself and others around speak only one language?
„Each language is associated with a different time and place.“
Viorica Marian, author of the book „Power of Language“ and professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern University in the USA, says there are many methods to expose your child to two languages, and none of them is the most suitable method. According to Marian, the „One Parent, One Language“ strategy could work for parents who speak more than one language.
In families where minority languages are spoken, parents may choose to speak only one language at home because they know their children will be exposed to a different language at school.
(„Minority“ in this context means that it is less widespread in any society or educational system than other languages: for example, in the USA and the UK, Spanish is a minority language, while English is the majority language.)
Families may need to make special efforts to keep the minority language alive: as interactions outside the home increase and the majority language becomes more dominant, there is often a risk that this language will disappear from the children’s lives.
„Speaking a different language with your child every day of the week could be another strategy,“ says Marian.
This is sometimes referred to by researchers and bilingual families as the „time-and-place“ strategy, where each language is associated with a specific time or location; for example, the whole family speaks the same language on weekends or during meals and a different language during the week or when going out.
Marian says, „The most effective strategies are those that can be applied in the long term and in a balanced manner. A successful strategy is one that works for your family and turns the experience into a pleasure rather than a duty.“
„When should a second language be taught?“
Research suggests that it may be sufficient to familiarize yourself with the second language as early as possible. Because children learn the sounds and rhythms of their native language very early on, known as phonology.
According to a 2013 study, babies begin to learn language even before birth. Accordingly, fetuses can listen to their mothers in the last 10 weeks of pregnancy and show what they hear after birth.
Approximately 30 hours after birth, a test group of 40 American and Swedish babies were exposed to sounds in their native language and a foreign language.
Their reactions were measured by how long they sucked on a pacifier connected to a computer. Both American and Swedish babies took longer to suck on a pacifier when they heard the foreign language than when they heard the native language.
According to the researchers, the longer sucking on the pacifier in response to unfamiliar sounds was related to learning and showed that babies could distinguish between languages at birth.
This does not mean that it is too late to add a second language. Older children and even adults can learn new languages.
However, it is easier for young children to speak a language like their mother tongue.
Associate Professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Development at San Francisco State University in the USA. DR. „The earlier you start, the better,“ says Sirada Rochanavibhata.
„In the first six months, babies can distinguish the sounds of all languages. Later, it becomes difficult for them to distinguish sounds other than their mother tongue or the languages they are exposed to,“ he says.
But even if you or your family miss this opportunity, it is still possible to speak other languages fluently later in life. It just requires more effort and different approaches.
On the other hand, as children get older, the risk of losing the second language increases. Immigrant children may refuse to use the minority language because they do not like feeling different.
One method that helps motivate children to use these languages is to form „mini-communities“ with peers who speak the same language.
„A monolingual family, a multilingual child: there is no perfection in languages.“
Prof. is the founder of the Bilingualism is Precious program at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Antonella Sorace says that parents, even if they are not fully bilingual, can add new languages spoken at home.
For example, he notes that parents may start learning a new language and sometimes speak that language with their child.
„It is useful to familiarize the child with the words and phrases of another language, even if it is not very fluent. There is no perfection in languages,“ he says