How do you raise a bilingual child?

Today, Lindsay chats with Marianna Du Bosq, a bilingual educator who has three ways to help you raise your child to speak more than one language!

The benefits of raising a bilingual child are many. Not only will knowing more than one language open career opportunities for the child when they grow up, research is also finding significant positive cognitive advantages to having a bilingual brain.

Marianna believes bilingualism (and even tri-lingualism) is definitely achievable if parents are focused enough. Here are Marianna’s three main points to focus on:

Expose your children to quality language input. Read books, or even use audio books. This way, your child is hearing voices other than those of their parents.

Create a need to use the language. If the child doesn’t have to use the language to get what they want, they’re naturally going to fall back on using the dominant language. Ask your family members help by only speaking one language or the other.

Keep it fun! Children will be far more involved in the language if they are doing the kinds of things they already love to do.

Are you a parent interested in raising bilingual children?

Share your thoughts or experiences in the comments section below!

Marianna Du Bosq is a bilingual mother, former bilingual educator, and lifetime language learner. She is the host of the Bilingual Avenue podcast and blog where she interviews parents and experts raising and teaching multilingual children, and provides an excellent collection of tips and strategies for anyone choosing this journey.

She is originally from Venezuela, has spent the last twenty years in the United States, and is currently on a one year adventure in the Black Forest in Germany with her husband and two year old daughter.

Click here to get “7 Ways to Increase Exposure in the Target Language” a free PDF guide

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