Antonella Sorace is professor of Developmental Linguistics at the University of Edimburgh, and together with her team created Bilingualism Matters, whose objective is to bridge the gap between research and the community.

Federica asks:

Hi,

Thank you so much for this blog, it’s been really useful and is helping me finding my way in the complicated world of bilingualism… Myself and my husband are Italian, we have a daughter, who will be 4 in September and we both speak English.

Last year my husband moved to the US because of his job, and with my child we moved between countries spending about 4 months in the US. Initially she refused the idea that we would speak a different language with other people, but eventually came to terms with it, although she never tried to speak English herself. Things will change soon, we’ll join my husband in the US for good, so we’ll all be together. Once there I’ll start working too, so my child will go to childcare, which of course will be in English only. I’m worried this might be a shock for her and don’t know how to make things easier for her.

Also, I wonder how we should behave when other people are around, shall we keep speak Italian to her or switch to English?

Thanks and best wishes.

Professor Sorace answers:

All too often in similar circumstances parents project on the children their own fears and doubts, while they actually don’t have any. In this specific case the best thing parents can do is to keep speaking Italian at home. The child will hear and learn English at school, so it will be important to provide lot’s of input in Italian too for her to grow bilingual. She will certainly learn English in no time, there’s no need to “prepare” her in advance, quite the contrary it could well be the case that she’ll end up talking English at home too (in this case it will be even more important that parents speak italian to her).

In my personal and professional experience I’ve seen that children don’t have any linguistc trauma when they move to another country, although they have face some difficulties in adapting to the new environment. If parents are relaxed and don’t transfer anxiety to her, if they provide a bilingual environment (like Italian at home and English outside) the child won’t have any problem.

 A mom adds:

I’m really happy we got Prof. Sorace’s view, I think in Federica’s shoes I would have worried a bit too, while her words are really reassuring.

I have seen something similar happen in my child’s day nursery, a german little girl arrived without speaking a word of italian. The first couple of weeks were hard for her, she cried a bit, but it was soon over and she’s the happiest child now. So I would say you might see few tears, but don’t worry about it; as Prof. says, if you are at ease, she’ll be too.

As for your question about what to speak in public, different families take different approaches, some stick to the minoritày language also outside, unless other people are present, some switch language the  moment the walk through the door. This really is for you to decide, my advice, if you have time and wish to, is to read a book, like Raising a Bilingual Child by Zurer, it’s easy to read and has many practical examples. It might help you making up your mind.

 Please let us know how it goes!

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 An italian mom who is raising her child bilingual in English, although none in the family is an English native speaker, asked some tips about how to find Enlish speaking opportunities for the summer vacation. Of course a trip is always a good idea, although the trip is expensive and is always done with family, which speaks italian… Here’s a nice alternative idea, which suits nicely both children that live in Italy and children who live abroad and have some italian origins: Arte al Sole.

Arte al Sole is a summer camp for international children focussed around fine arts, promoting creativity, enjoying nature and local cuisine. It’s run by Shannon: mom, american (she lives most of the year in the States), fine arts expert, passionate about Italy and italian arts.

I asked Shannon whether she thinks Arte al Sole camps would suit bilingual children, that’s what she says:

“Our summer camp welcomes a few bilingual children every year, and many from Italian American families who are not necessarily bilingual but have had Italian language exposure or instruction throughout their childhood.

It’s interesting, because, as I’m sure you know, there are many English language intensive summer programs for Italian children to practice their English, but I’ve heard from Italian parents these past few years that in many cases their children don’t perceive this option as a “fun” experience, and so they inquire about Arte al Sole because it has an appealing artistic/cultural curriculum that they feel their children would enjoy, but is conducted primarily in English with staff and other children who have the ability to speak Italian if necessary. So, the “playful” or “fun” aspect seems to subtly lend itself to the variety of multilingual experiences among the kids.

It is different every year, but the children really do enjoy sharing their language abilities among each other in a relaxed, natural way, which is so endearing. This year we have a few children who attend international schools in Italy and a few who attend Italian state schools from families with Italian mother/American father or vice versa. The remainder are American families organizing their summer vacation in Europe around attending this camp, many of whom are Italian American or have a strong connection to Italy .

So, in summary, the program supports bilingualism truly through an emphasis on the “play” aspect and on the children’s natural desire for cultural exchange. I can very strongly say that when the kids are allowed to proceed on their own level and at their own initiative in language exchange, they flourish more than when it is perceived by them as imposed or mandatory. Furthermore, we have some wonderful local Lucchese artists, cooks, and a book author who conducts our tour of the center, so the children are always so polite and in a sense honored to share their Italian language/or English as appropriate in a respectful way with the teachers who have either English or Italian as their native tongue.”

I think it’s a great idea, and I believe that it takes passion to live in the States and organize summer camps in Italy, and when things are done with real passion they always have something special about them.

If you have already experienced Arte al Sole’s camps please share your experience, or if you are planning to do so please let us know too, but be fast, as the first session is sold out since April already!

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My husband and I are Americans and we have been living in Rome for 10 years. Although all three of our daughters were born here, we have always spoken to them in English. With our oldest child, when she started school at 3 years old – we decided on an international English speaking school. Although we are here long term in Italy, we wanted to be very involved in her education and the environment where she went to school. It was important for us to be able to have a close relationship with the school and in being able to help her with her studies. Although we are fluent enough in Italian (my husband is much more fluent than myself), at that time when we made the decision 5 years ago, I was not that confident that I would feel comfortable with my child going to Italian school.
Now 5 years later – both of our older daughters have been going to this English speaking school (although our middle child is being home educated by us this year). Our youngest who will be 3 years old in March has had a Romanian nanny since she was 6 months old and who only speaks to her in Italian. However, although my daughter’s initial words were in Italian, she now only speaks in English. She recently started at an Italian nido as we thought it would be a good idea and in the few short weeks we have already started to hear her speaking a few words in Italian although her predominant language still remains English.
My husband, daughters and I are now moving to Bali for one year starting in August and so our children will be attending another international English speaking school, but that also teaches the local language Bahasa Indonesia. Once we return, we are not sure how our children’s education will continue as my daughters are extremely resistant to going to an Italian school, but realistically and financially speaking – we cannot continue for all three of our daughters to go to this private school for the rest of their schooling as it is very expensive. So we have some hard decisions to make before we return to Rome in August 2010.
My family background is Puertorican so at some point I would like the children to learn Spanish and my husband is Jewish and would like to spend some time in Israel and have the children learn Hebrew. So our daughters’ multilingualism has just begun!
We do not anticipate ever living in the US again – our daughters have never lived there and are not interested in it. They are, however, interested in living in the UK so that may be a possibility. Who knows what the future will bring. I must say, I am very happy that they are living a more international life than many of my friend’s children in the US and that they are seeing different parts of the world – I think this is important in so many ways. They are used to being friends with and around bilingual/multilingual children as almost every child at their school speaks more than one language.

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I am an American mother of three children, whose father is Italian, and we are living in French-speaking Switzerland.

I am raising my 3 kids in 3 languages and it works fine. My oldest (12) recently did a CILS test in Italian and received a 37/40! We are very proud! He goes to school in French and gets English from me and the TV!

None of the languages are as fluent as a monolingual child. You do notice a lack of vocabulary and a slight accent but they are fluent in all 3 languages.

We are proud of our children and happy with the choice that we made. We stay consistent with our children (I speak English, my husband speaks Italian, and they are schooled in French). We NEVER speak to them in another language. When other children are about we translate everything even though our children understand. We were told by our pediatrician to be ULTRA consistant. There have been times when my husband gets frustrated with them as their vocabulary is small in Italian but he trudges on and it has paid off!

I do admit that it is hard at the beginning but you must stop yourself from switching languages.
Also, if my kids asked me something in another language, I would just say…in English please, and they would repeat it in English. If they had trouble finding the right words then I would help them.

At one point my 2 oldest started speaking together in French (as they go to school in French) and I told them that when we were just us or between themselves, they must speak English together. I felt bad insisting on it but they didn’t bat an eyelash and have never looked back! They are thanking me now as they see other kids where the language is slipping
Geneva is an exceptional place. Everyone seems to have more than one language at home anyway! Switzerland has 3 main languages anyway (4 if you count Romansch) and on top of that Geneva is an international city. I only know a handful of couples where both parents are the same nationality!

I can thoroughly recommend Tracey’s book: Raising multi-lingual children.

Lisa

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