For most immigrant parents, raising bilingual children is not a choice or a decision, but rather a way of life. Whether our native language is Spanish, Filipino, Korean, Chinese, or French, we all want our children to communicate in the language we were born with and we all want to instill in them the love of our native language. After all, we want them to be able to travel back to our place of origin and speak with the family that stayed behind. We want them to know where we come from, and language is a big part of that knowledge. As writer Rita Mae Brown once said, “Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” For the immigrant parent, this is more than just a catchy saying. It becomes a fierce desire:
“I am from Spain but my husband and I are raising our children in California. As important as it has been for us that our children embrace the English language, it has been paramount that they are fluent in Spanish. My family back home, they don’t speak English. We want the children to be able to communicate with their grandparents and other family members.”
—Mireia, mother of three children
But in today’s America, the desire to teach our children our native language is often secondary to making sure they are proficient in English so that they can thrive in school and reach leadership positions in the workplace. We want our children to knock down every barrier that might be in their way, and to succeed beyond measure—and we know that a command of English is a necessary foundation for this kind of success. What this means is that we have two competing desires, two deep wishes around language learning. But the task of teaching two (or more) languages at home can be so overwhelming that sometimes we are intimidated by what steps to take or even where to start.
Raising Bilingual Children is an easy, user-friendly, how-to guidebook for the immigrant parent who is committed to raising children in two or more languages. It is designed to work with your busy life, offering a quick way to search for advice and direction about the everyday joys and challenges of raising a bilingual child. It will provide answers to questions such as:
• “What do I do when my five-year-old doesn’t want to speak Spanish at home?”
• “My husband doesn’t speak Japanese, so how do we find common ground to raise our kids with two languages?”
• “My child is two years old and not speaking in either of the two languages we speak at home. Should I be concerned?”
In addition to helping you find answers to your most immediate questions, Raising Bilingual Children also offers stories from parents, who share their ideas and experiences; interviews with the kids from these families, who give us insight into what it feels like to be in their shoes; opinions and suggestions from experts in the field; comments from renowned personalities who have benefited from being bilingual; and links and resources for finding out more information on a wide range of topics.
I hope it inspires you to start and to continue the effort of raising a bilingual child. “Language—with all of its magnificent complexity—is one of the greatest gifts we give our children,” says Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD, in an article published on Scholastic.com. “Yet, we so often treat our verbal communication with children in a casual way. It is a misconception that children learn language passively. Language acquisition is a product of active, repetitive, and complex learning. The child’s brain is learning and changing more during language acquisition in the first six years of life than during any other cognitive ability he is working to acquire. How much easier this learning process can be for children when adults are active participants!”
My name is Maritere Rodriguez Bellas, but everyone calls me Mari. I was the parenting columnist at the newspaper La Opinión in Los Angeles for over ten years. For the last three years I have been writing a column for ImpreMedia’s magazine Vista. Vista is distributed in eight states nationwide and is published online in English and in Spanish. ImpreMedia is a national media company whose Hispanic portfolio includes newspapers, magazines, and websites. Over the years, my articles have ranged in topic from the challenges and rewards of raising children, specifically aimed at Latino immigrant parents raising children in the United States, to issues affecting children and adolescents. My Vista column is called “Entre Amigas” (Between Friends), and I get to write about topics impacting family life for today’s Latino parents, especially Latina moms.
I am not a language expert, but I am in the enviable position of having raised two bilingual children. I say enviable because my kids are grown-ups and making their way in the world, and it is a joy to see them thriving. My son is twenty-four years old and a film producer with a business in Los Angeles. He enjoys speaking with his grandparents when we go to visit my family once a year. My daughter is twenty-one and a senior in college. She is planning to go to Spain for her semester abroad.
I know without a doubt that the hard work of the early years is worth it. My husband is Greek and I am from Puerto Rico, and we raised our children in California. It was quite a mishmash of cultures! There were some years when we had turkey at Thanksgiving, arroz con pollo for Christmas, and stuffed grape leaves for New Year’s. At times I wasn’t sure what we were doing, but there was one moment when I knew that it was right.
That confirming moment came during a family vacation to Puerto Rico. We were there to celebrate the Christmas holidays. I heard my daughter, who was three years of age at the time, run up and say to her cousin, “Quieres jugar?” (“Do you want to play?”). She knew even then that her cousin didn’t speak English, and she talked to her in Spanish! A few years later, my teenage son was talking to a new friend and I overhead him say, “I am 50 percent Puerto Rican and 50 percent Greek. And I am proud to be an ethnic American!” It brought tears to my eyes.
I invite you to read along and discover ways that might help you and your family in your quest to raise bilingual children. Enjoy!