In this episode, Eve, Corinne, and special guest Jennifer Bikkál Horne discuss strategies for raising your children bilingually-a topic that, while not directly related to translation, is of interest to lots of us in the language professions. Eve (mother of two tween/teen boys) and Jen (mother of two girls, ages 1 and 3) offer tips from their experiences as English-French bilingual moms, but these strategies are applicable to any language. Listen in to learn:
- How they decided to raise their children bilingually
- How they incorporate French into their kids’ lives in the US
- How their kids have responded to the bilingual environment
- How they find resources such as books, movies, music, TV shows, etc. to use with their kids
- Their thoughts on raising bilingual children in your non-native language
Jen has some excellent insights on the early childhood end of the spectrum-how to expose babies and young children to another language and encourage them to speak, how to find resources that are appropriate for young children-while Eve has the perspective of 15+ years of bilingual parenting-the various phases of bilingual life as kids get older, and how her kids use French as their “secret weapon.” If you’re raising-or thinking about raising-your kids bilingually, we think this episode will be a great source of information.
Links mentioned in the episode:
The NERCh strategies that Jen uses with her daughters-especially applicable for babies and young children (download the PDF version):
Blogs:
Facebook:
French-speaking parents in the US
For other languages, use the Facebook search field to look for “bilingual kids” and ” bilingual children.”
Books:
Maintaining Your Second Language- Eve Bodeux
Bilingual - François Grosjean
The Bilingual Edge - Kendall King
Be Bilingual - Practical Ideas for Multilingual Families - Annika Bourgogne
Podcast:
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Raising bilingual children
Speaking of Translation 