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What to consider in deciding whether or not to raise your child bilingually
an important part of our lives, and we wanted to share both with our children. We also plan to
spend a lot of time in both France and the United States, and wish our child to be able to
transition back and forth with minimal difficulty.
Each family is unique, and its language needs and patterns will be unique. Deciding to raise
children in two or more languages, particularly if only one is spoken in the greater community,
is an important decision that deserves careful consideration. Bilinguals may certainly have
many advantages socially, cognitively, and economically, over monolinguals; however, to
successfully raise a bilingual child in a monolingual society requires consistency and planning
on the part of the parent. Here are some points to think about (adapted from Harding-Esch
and Riley's The Bilingual Family: A Handbook for Parents, see Resources):
Benefits of bilingualism
Several cognitive benefits are associated with bilingualism, including creative or divergent
thinking, high linguistic awareness, concept formation, and mental flexibility. These benefits
are generally reported when the bilingual person has high ability in both languages, when
both language enjoy a high status in the community, and when the family has a relatively high
socio-economic status.
Social benefits of bilingualism include increased sensitivity and tolerance in general, and
particularly toward persons of different cultures and/or languages; the opportunity to enter
into another culture; and the ability to communicate with monolingual friends and family in
either language.
Bilinguals may have economic advantages as commerce becomes more and more global, and
persons who speak another language are in demand in the work force.
Drawbacks of bilingualism
The only drawback positively associated with bilingualism is a phenomenon called "subtractive
bilingualism, where the child learns neither of his two languages well. This only occurs where
the child receives little linguistic input (opportunity to listen, speak, read or write to speakers of
his target languages).
Parents' language background
What languages do you speak? How did you learn them? How important are they to you?
What are your attitudes toward them?
Language(s) parents speak to each other
Do both parents speak and/or understand both languages? Would raising a bilingual child
alter the way you communicate with one another? You are most likely to be consistent and
stick to a plan that fits easily into the way you already communicate.
Uses of your languages
Do you use your languages frequently or infrequently? In the home, at work, with family, on
vacation?
Language of child's principal caregiver(s)
What language will your child hear most often? How will you, or will you, work to create a
balance between the child's languages?
Contact with speakers of both languages
Who do you know who speaks both languages, and how often do you contact them? How will
you give your child opportunities to interact with speakers of both languages?
Support in maintaining the minority language
What resources are available to help your child maintain and grow in her minority language,
the one not spoken by the surrounding community? Will you be able to acquire books and
other media, join playgroups or bilingual family support groups, travel to countries where the
language is spoken?