Are you expecting and looking to raise a bilingual baby?

Having a baby is an exciting yet finely anxious time  especially for first-time parents. There is the feeding, the work vs. childcare puzzle, and, of course, where the baby is going to sleep, among the many other things that parents plan around.

If you have moved from a foreign country to your child's country but speak different languages, then the big question is, how do you raise your child to speak these languages as well?

In many regions of the planet, however, the status quo is multilingualism, and it is common to speak at least two languages. There are even official EU statistics showing that almost 60% of between 25 and 64-year-olds in the EU speak at least one more language fluently.

This cultural advantage has drawn many parents who aspire for their child to grow up in a multilingual environment to provide them with a skill set that will surely benefit them in the future. But raising a bilingual child takes careful preparation and a good plan to be successful.

Preparing For Bilingualism Before Birth

Even before birth, the foundation for how to raise a bilingual child is being laid. Expecting parents can begin by talking through their language wishes. What languages do you want your baby to speak?

For lots, the answer seems clear they want their child to speak languages they speak. In the opposite situation, when one parent is a native English speaker and the other speaks a different language, the family has to make thoughtful choices about which languages to encourage and how to incorporate them into their child's life.

Generally, the first language of acquisition has the greatest impact on a child's upcoming lingual progreson. However, when you have to support multiple languages, practical limitations could mean that you have to prioritize one language over another. The trick is to make sure that the child gets meaningful, repeated exposure to each language in the child's formative years.

How much exposure the child has to each language is important. Parents should expect to provide regular opportunities for their child to hear and engage in each language.

For example, it might be advantageous for parents to communicate with the child in their native languages while limiting exposure to other language inputs until the child starts daycare/preschool. This approach can help ensure that the child is getting enough input from their parent's first languages without flooding them with too many languages at once.

Language policy and who speaks what?

Creating a family language policy is one of the most effective strategies for raising bilingual children. This is where you will make decisions about which languages will be spoken in which contexts.

One popular way, called the one person, one language strategy, has each parent speak their native language to the child, who answers in the language they're spoken to.

If one parent speaks English to the child, the other parent might speak Swedish. Over time, the kid learns to associate the language with the parent, effectively picking up both languages.

This was the case with our children. I spoke English, and their father spoke Swedish, which worked for us. The children learned both languages naturally and without these instructions. For this method to work, both parents need to have a good command of the respective language.

It's more common in families where both parents speak a shared language, and the family speaks that language most of the time. In these situations, additional languages, specifically, the majority language present within the country of residence, can be implemented gradually through external factors, such as daycare or interaction with friends and family.

The Role of Extended Family and the Community

If you want to raise a successful bilingual child, you have to get the extended family on board. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives might worry that, if they don't speak the family's language, they won't be able to communicate effectively with the child.

Educating family members about the benefits of bilingualism and including them in the process will go a long way toward easing this concern. When he knows you plan to raise your child to be bilingual, he might be more eager to support the effort.

Family members who speak the minority language can be invaluable partners in providing input and interaction. This is extremely vital in the initial migratory period where the linguistic skills of children are at their strongest developing stage.

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