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An accessible, practical guide for multilingual families.
Have you ever been told that raising your child to speak multiple languages will harm their development? Are teachers or other professionals suspicious of your efforts? Are you sometimes unsure if you are helping your child’s language development, or are you uncertain where to start?
It is increasingly recognised among researchers that, far from harming a child’s development, being exposed to multiple languages from birth or early childhood can result in linguistic, creative and social advantages. The authors, all multilinguals themselves, parents of multilingual children, and researchers on language and multilingualism, aim to provide advice and inspiration for multilingual families across the world. The latest research on multilingualism and the authors’ own experiences are used to provide a friendly, accessible guide to raising and nurturing happy multilingual children.
The book is successful in clearly communicating the processes involved in multilingual acquisition to readers who might not have a prior knowledge. It is effectively organized in a way that leads readers to understand why it is important to acquire multiple languages, what to expect during this process, and how to assist children to successful acquisition. The cases of the children provide real-life examples to illustrate and simplify concepts such as code switching, cross-linguistic interference, transfer errors and language awareness, which might be foreign concepts to individuals without a background in the field of linguistics.
Julia Festman works at the Pedagogical University Tyrol, Austria. She is the mother of Aya (12) and Noam (8), and they speak German, English and some Hebrew.
Gregory J. Poarch works at the University of Münster, Germany. He is the father of Loïc (15) who speaks Dutch, English and German.
Jean-Marc Dewaele works at Birkbeck, University of London, UK. He is the father of Livia (20) who speaks English, Dutch, French, some Spanish and some martial art Japanese.
Preface
Chapter 1. Ten Good Reasons for Raising a Child with More Than One Language BEFORE Entering School
Chapter 2. The Stories of Our Multilingual Children
Chapter 3. Some Background Information on Learning, Methods and Language Policies, and Suggestions to Ensure Successful Early Multilingual Acquisition
Chapter 4. Developing a Good Language Policy for the Multilingual Family
Chapter 5. How to Foster a Multilingual Home and How to Deal With Some Concerns about Multilingualism
Conclusion