Q&A: Should a Parent Stop Speaking one language and Switch to another one?

 

Should a parent of a 2,5 years old bilingual child switch the languages to reinforce a third one (English)? Question from a trilingual Greek- French- English mother living in Montreal Canada with her French Canadian husband and bilingual Greek-French child.

 

Question:

Thank you so much for your website, I have definitely learned a lot by reading your articles.

Our son is a little over 2 and a half years old and I stay at home with him. We live in Montreal Canada, so our country is predominantly English but our city is very French. I am of Greek origin, but I am perfectly trilingual in Greek, French and English, with the latter being my main language. I have decided to speak to my son exclusively in Greek. My husband is French Canadian and we had decided early on that he would speak to him only in French. At this point my son speaks Greek and French and does not confuse the 2 languages. I am happy about this, however, I am starting to worry about his English language skills. He does not seem to understand English and definitely does not speak it, but it is extremely important for me that he do so. His books, TV, are only in English and my husband and I decided to only speak to English to each other for maximum exposure. The issue is that the school system here is French. We have decided to send him to a Greek elementary school, but it is still 70% French, 20% Greek, and 10% English. However, the English program is very advanced as I found out that most children of Greek parents are only learning English at home and therefore they are all fluent in English by the time they start elementary school. My family is very Greek/ English and my husband's very French, and our friends are 50% / 50%. I am now rethinking our choice of languages...should my husband be speaking to my son in English instead of French? What can we do to make sure he is very fluent in English?

Thank you so much for your help,

Christina

Answer:

Hi Christina,

I am glad you found the material on the website useful.

You are absolutely right to rethink your trilingual family strategy. Your goal is and should be to support the minority languages at home. In your son's case those languages are English and Greek. He will receive plenty of exposure to French later at school.

Have you already talked to your husband about switching the languages? The solution that you proposed yourself is the best in your situation.

If your husband is willing to switch to speaking English exclusively, he would need to transition to it very slow (!). After reaching milestones in one language a child transfers whatever he learned to another one. You want to avoid taking away the language your child might have progressed in more. At this age you can not really say which language is the main language for a child, especially when the language input is about the same in both languages, such that they develop in parallel. During this transition make sure that your child has enough French language input from somewhere else. For instance, from a kindergarten. The transition needs to be smooth allowing for developing all three languages. Still speaking French, start from building some basic vocabulary in English and then use the learned words in the sentences. Translate them, if you feel your child does not understand what you say. Your goal is eventually to reach the full immersion.

Since your child has been already exposed to English, by listening you and your husband speaking to each other, he should have the necessary base and would feel comfortable speaking English in a relatively short time. Read the article about children’ passive language learning.

Your husband might need help of a toy. You could introduce an English speaking toy-friend to your son. Just get a new toy and tell your child that it speaks and understand only one language - English. You could even make a story about this toys previous life before getting to your home. My kids love when I talk for toys, it is a lot of fun for them. Kids love structure, it helps them to separate the languages, and they are more willing to accept a toy speaking some different language than a parent.

In case your husband does not feel comfortable completely switching to speaking English ( I am talking about the long run. You still would need to proceed as described above), he could speak both languages. This is a common strategy bilingual parents use when would like to pass on both languages to a child. He could alternate the languages daily or weekly or bi-weekly depending what suits best in your particular family situation.

Let me know if you have more question.

My best wishes for your family trilingual journey:)

Best Regards,
Galina

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Are you bringing up a bilingual or multilingual child or are you a parent to be and have a question? 

Read other parents' questions and my answers in Multilingual Family Q&A Series. 

Feel free to contact me. Use "Q&A" in the subject line.

For privacy protection I can change your name and omit some personal details, if you wish. 

Are you a multilingual family and looking for a playdate in your language? Click here to find it now!

You might also like:


Multilingual Family Language Strategies.


Bilingualism and speech delay. How can you help? 


When should you start teaching your child to read? Plus, 7 great tips


Exposing our kids to languages - Learn about our family language strategy and read great questions and answers in the article's comments.   



7 facts that can determine the language spoken between multilingual siblings.  


How to read to a toddler? Advice for parents of monolingual, bilingual or multilingual children. 



Advantages and disadvantages of raising a trilingual child.

Q & A: How to pass on two non-native languages to a child?

Question from an English speaking father and English, Danish and Norwegian speaking mother on how to pass on the two non-native languages - Danish and Norwegian - to their soon-to-be-born child.

 

Question:

Hi there,

I am so glad I found your website! I have just had a great read and found it really useful. I wanted to ask your advice about my current situation, and how best to proceed.

I am 11 weeks pregnant, and am lucky enough to be a very gifted linguist. I lived in Norway for a summer as a 12 year old, after teaching myself the language from a book (neglected child, left to own devices, very inquisitive, and I was quite good at entertaining myself in an educational way rather than being naughty and running riot!) When I spent that summer in Norway my language-lessons before the trip prepared me to do really well in the 6 weeks I lived with a friend's family, and I picked up the local accent. I am now 31, still have that accent, and did all the talking when we holidayed there in July this year - perfectly understood by everyone there. So I guess I "still have it". :)

In the last two years I have also learned Danish. I am not as proficient, I feel, in Danish - I just "do" Norwegian without thinking, and sometimes mix up words by accident when speaking Danish, and Danes always ask me if I am actually Norwegian, because my accent sticks out massively. That said, my Danish is much improved and I have a few books I can read in both languages to get myself even better in both in the coming months. I also still have the original Norwegian book I learned from, so I can brush up on grammar etc in no time.

I have been online and looked for children's books in both languages, and as expensive as they are, I am able to get some kids' books shipped out. I also have a Danish friend who is able to help me out by perusing his local thrift stores for me. I also watch a lot of Danish TV/box sets, and can work on my spoken Danish over time, so I sound less like a Norwegian imposter ;)

I adore both languages, but Norwegian seems to be my stronger, given that I learned it rather young, and have had it "sitting in my head for the last two decades". Living in the UK, children learn French, Spanish and/or German at school, so as well as I can speak those three, I want to avoid them, as it is a skill any children of ours will learn anyway at some point in their schooling. My husband is 100% supportive of raising bilingual/trilingual children, and as he loved Norway when we visited this year, and he saw me do the talking first hand, he's happy with that. My love of Danish keeps nagging at me, and my issue is how to go about trying both. My husband will speak English to our children, but with Norwegian and Danish being so similar, and both coming out of my mouth, I don't know if it is best to stick with one, or split my time between the two.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and welcomed! Before I go buying the wrong kind of books if I shouldn't be getting both! :)

Thank you very much,

Sarah and Dave, UK

Answer:

Hi Sarah,

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

I think it is wonderful that you and your husband would like to raise a bilingual or even a trilingual child.

I am impressed by your linguistic abilities. There are not many teenagers, who are able to learn a language on their own from books as you did.

I am sure the qualities that helped you to learn Norwegian and Danish will also help you to pass on these languages to your child.

Passing on a language takes a lot of effort and commitment on parents side, especially when they are alone on this journey. Since you were not raised bilingually from birth and do not have a deep attachment to those languages, I would advise you to start by picking one language first , either Danish or Norwegian, and stick to it for several years ( about 3) until your child masters speaking in it. Then add a third language.

I would choose Danish as a language to start with first because you have a friend who can help you and also because you need more time to work on your pronunciation ( as you say). When you add a second language, you will not have time to work on it, but you could work on your vocabulary though. This way you will be able to master both languages while teaching them to your child. Learning together is a lot of fun. It would be great if you could involve your husband too!

From what you wrote it is not clear if you are willing to switch to Norwegian or Danish completely following one parent one language (OPOL) strategy , or you’d like to also speak English to your child. I’d like to note that the full language immersion brings best results and it would be better to stick to minority language only.

When your child is born you will feel overwhelmed with emotions. You will recollect your childhood memories, the children's songs and lullabies that your parents sung you. Do not stop yourself from singing them to your child. Just find some lullabies in Danish / Norwegian and sing them too. Singing is good for developing early phonemic awareness.

It is good that you already checked for the second language books availability. Try to locate other Danish or Norwegian language speakers in your area. If you do not find anyone in your town, consider looking for communities in a big city nearby. Check if someone offers private lessons or if there is a weekend language school. This will give you a peace of mind that you can get a support if you ever need it.

Other questions you would need to consider:

How would you handle languages “at the table”? What language would you speak to your bilingual child when you are all together? Read about my experience to give you an idea.

What language would you speak to your bilingual child in public? You will find my answer in the same named article: What language should I speak to my child in public? - Multilingual parent dilemma.

You should also consider giving your child an opportunity to play with Danish speaking peers. Best would be to find someone living nearby. If not possible, you could plan a relaxing vacation in Denmark/ Norway , where you could visit interactive museums and playgrounds.

Read also the 9 steps of raising a bilingual child successfully, where I cover most important points and give some helpful tips.

Good luck on your multilingual journey!

Best Regards,
Galina

Click here to get notified when a new post in the Question and Answer series goes life.

Are you bringing up a bilingual or multilingual child or are you a parent to be and have a question? 

Read other parents questions and my answers in Multilingual Family Q&A Series. 

Feel free to contact me. Use "Q&A" in the subject line.

For privacy protection I can change your name and omit some personal details, if you wish. 

Are you a multilingual family and looking for a playdate in your language? Click here to find it now!

You might also like:

Non-native Speaker Raising Bilingual Children. Interview with Christine Jernigan, the author of "Family Language Learning" book.


Multilingual Family Language Strategies.


Bilingualism and speech delay. How can you help? 


Exposing our kids to languages - Learn about our family language strategy and read great questions and answers in the article's comments.   



7 facts that can determine the language spoken between multilingual siblings.  


How to read to a toddler? Advice for parents of monolingual, bilingual or multilingual children. 



Advantages and disadvantages of raising a trilingual child.

Question about language choice asked by British-Chinese parent living in Czech Republic.

British Chinese and Czech family living in Czech republic asks a question about language choice. Parents would like to raise a trilingual child that speaks English, Chinese (Cantonese) and Czech. 

Question from a trilingual parent, who already raises children bilingually and would like to add a third language.

 

This question came from a trilingual parent, who would like to pass on both of the languages he speaks fluently besides the country language. The children have been raised bilingually. When would be the right time to introduce the language? Languages in question are English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Question:

Hi,

I have a question about raising trilingual kids. I live in America so the common language is English. Grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles (One uncle speaks Spanish) all speak English. So my wife only speaks English. I am fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. My oldest daughter is 2 1/2 and I have only spoken Spanish to her since birth but English to everyone else. She understands everything I say, but still tends to respond in English unless I push her to respond in Spanish.

I now have a 1 year old boy. Same thing, I have only spoken to him in Spanish his whole life. He doesn't talk yet, so not sure how much he gets. I would really like to teach them Portuguese as well, but am not really sure how to do this. My wife is convinced that If I speak to them in Portuguese as well, it will confuse them. I considered speaking to my son only in Portuguese and my daughter in Spanish, but don't really know what to do, so I haven't done much. Suggestions? It's not too late I hope.

Michael

Answer:

Dear Michael,

As a multilingual parent myself I share the same wish with you and would like to pass all the languages I know onto my children; however, this is hard to do alone in predominantly monolingual environment. The community language influence is so strong that some parents, who are the only source of language input, have a hard time bring up bilingual children and pass on their mother tongue, not to mention raising them multilingually.

If you would like your children to be trilingual with a good proficiency in minority languages, you definitely would need someone else support for at least one of the minority languages Spanish or Portuguese. Your plan would be either teach Portuguese yourself and find support for Spanish, or teach Spanish yourself and find support for Portuguese. I am not sure how feasible it is to find a Portuguese native speaker , teacher or caregiver near where you live. More possibilities are open up for older kids, such as language learning via Skype or language summer camps. If you decide to concentrate, for example, on Spanish, I would still support Portuguese through occasional activities, conversations, book readings …

That said, I think you have a greater priority now. Considering children's age and what you write about the language situation I would shift the priorities from adding a third language (Portuguese) into supporting and developing your children's Spanish. I’m not saying that you should not do anything in Portuguese. You could provide a limited input in that language, that would help to built a base for the future language learning.

Here are your short term goals, the way I see them:

 
Make sure your bilingual children reply to you in Spanish all the time.


Since you speak the community language, it is almost given that the kids will try to speak it to you too. 

Do not take it personally, even my fully bilingual child tried doing it in indirect way. He was addressing his community language speaking dad, when in fact he wanted to speak to me. He knew I listen and understand what he says. What I did : I just forced myself not to listen to him and always asked what did he say to his dad or to others. I still use this technique.


Be proactive in developing your child’s vocabulary.

(Read about it here.) Talk to your little child, explain what you see around and read books. Nothing builds child’s vocabulary better than books. Read How to read to a baby? Advice for parents. if you need some help to get started.

Speak Spanish to your children even in public.

You need to maximize the minority language exposure. Speaking Spanish everywhere is the only way I see you can keep children's language exposure high. Sure, you could also hire someone to speak Spanish to your children when you are not around: at work or busy running errands. Read “What language should I speak to my child in public? - Multilingual parent dilemma.”

 
Help your children to choose Spanish as sibling’s language.

I am not sure if you realize that you have a unique opportunity for language development. If your daughter chooses Spanish as the siblings’ language, the kids will have endless possibilities for language practice. The older children are, the less they want to stick around you and the more they want to be with their friends. My kids, who are 3 and 5 years old, come home and want to play with each other. Although they like reading books so much, the only thing they want to do is to be together and play. Here is another article that can help you: 7 facts that can determine the language spoken between multilingual siblings.


Bring your bilingual children in direct contact with Spanish speaking people.

I would look for other Spanish-speaking parents near where you live. If you do not know anyone and have difficulties finding other families, try to enter your data in the Playdate finder. Also I would set a goal to travel with your children to a Spanish speaking country at least once before your older child’s 5th birthday. Remember that there are also areas and communities in the US, where Spanish is widely used. It should not be hard to find someone who speaks Spanish locally. 

Can you start speaking Portuguese now?

Yes you can; however, since you did not start speaking Portuguese to your older child from birth I would hold on to it until she/he starts speaking well in one of the languages - English or Spanish. I would slowly introduce Portuguese to both kids through activities, music, cartoons. You could also use time and place language strategy and switch between Spanish and Portuguese every other day or week. Read more about it on the Language strategies page. Just keep the expectations according to the level of your language input.

To finish, I would recommend you also read this article: Bilingualism and speech delay. How can you help? 

I am sure, if you come up with a plan and stick to it, you will be able to pass on both of your languages and your kids will become trilingual.

Good luck! And let me know, if you have more questions.

Click here to get notified when a new post in the Question and Answer series goes life.

Are you bringing up a bilingual or multilingual child or are you a parent to be and have a question? 

Read other parents questions and my answers in Multilingual Family Q&A Series.

Feel free to contact me.

For privacy protection I can change your name and omit some personal details, if you wish. 

Are you a multilingual family and looking for a playdate in your language? Click here to find it now!

You might also like:


Multilingual Family Interview: When your home languages are different from community language. Resources for Teaching Phonics and Reading to Children.

Life Story: Trilingual mama - trilingual kid.Why would it be any other way?

Can babies distinguish foreign languages?


7 principles to keep in mind while teaching your child to read.

"No English!" Motivation is the key.

Question from full-time working parents of Indonesian heritage, who live in Japan and would like their child to speak both Indonesian and English with full literacy in the second.

 

Question from full-time working parents of Indonesian heritage, who live in Japan and would like their 2 years old child to speak both Indonesian and English with full literacy in the second. Languages in question: Japanese, Indonesian and English.

Question:

Hello Galina,

Me and my husband are Indonesians, we got married 2 years ago and now blessed with a 7-month old baby girl. We live in Tokyo and both full-time working parents. Having been stayed in Japan for more than 17 years, husband speaks, reads, and writes Japanese just like a native. While for me, Japanese is still truly a FOREIGN language, and I'm happy enough when I can get my errands done using my limited Japanese.

Our baby now starts to form words (although 1 syllable) and this is the time when me and hubby need to decide on what language we will use at home. She will be going to Japanese childcare in 2 months and until now we are talking in Indonesian to her. Although at times, we say things in English like "good morning" or simple instruction.

Our desire is to have our child be able to understand Indonesian (at least verbally) and have good literacy in English. Japanese is "banned" from home and request my husband to speak only Indonesian when baby is around. We believe 11 hours of Japanese exposure a day will be more than enough for her to easily pick up the language without even trying.
At home, we agreed to use Indonesian at home verbally but yet all the books, CDs, TVs, games will only be in English.

My concern given our limited time with her as she will spend most of her time being exposed to Japanese, how do we help her acquire Indonesian and English. Moreover, I am particularly would like her to be an English-literate child for future educational benefit. I have read many articles and it is mainly said that we need to create the "need" and "exposure" for the child to the foreign languages.

I would like to get your opinions and others' too. Given limited time we can spend on daily basis with her, what would be the best tip to help her acquire Indonesian and English.
Any tips to make this journey smoother? and what we need to watch for?
And if there is any other working parents who have successfully raising a trilingual/bilingual child, we would really much like to hear.

Best Regards
Cikki

Answer:

Hi Cikki,

It is wonderful that your daughter is trying to say her first words! I believe that even if you are a busy parent you can pass on your heritage language and teach her a third language - English.

I think your language strategy should work; however, I would make some adjustments. Especially if your and your spouse's parents (your child's grandparents) do not speak other languages (English or Japanese ) besides Indonesian.

I would concentrate on Indonesian until your daughter starts speaking it well at around age of 2-3 and then start increasing the English language input. At age of 3 she will be progressing in learning English very fast, if she has a strong language base built in another language. This base you have been building already by speaking Indonesian to your little girl from birth.

Start reading books in Indonesian to her (When to start reading to a baby? ) Later, after your child celebrates her 1st birthday, add one English book reading per week. Your goal is to increase the quantity of English books read after her 3d birthday.

As of media, I would play it in both languages. Just tell your child what language it will be in. ( Read Naming languages with their proper name.  )

I know you say that you do not want your child to be literate in Indonesian, but I think you could teach her Indonesian letters, if you start with this activity early enough, and later you could teach her English. Just to give you an example, my 3 and 5 years old children are able to read in the minority language, Russian. The older child learnt how to read in the community language ( Italian) on his own and now is asking me how to read English words.

Think about it. And read the following articles on the topic:

How to develop early phonemic awareness and reading readiness by using language play with kids from birth to preschool

7 principles to keep in mind while teaching your child to read

Also I would start already looking for other sources of English language input, in order to have an idea how much English language input you as parents would need to provide to meet your multilingual parenting goal. Is there bilingual kindergarten in the area? What about bilingual schools? When will English be taught at schools? Are there English classes for children?

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions and good luck on your trilingual family journey!

Regards, Galina

Click here to get notified when a new post in the Question and Answer series goes life.

Are you bringing up a bilingual or multilingual child or are you a parent to be and have a question? 

Feel free to contact me.

For privacy protection I can change your name and omit some personal details, if you wish. 

Are you a multilingual family and looking for a playdate in your language? Click here to find it now!

You might also like:

7 facts that can determine the language spoken between multilingual siblings.  

How to read to a baby? Advice for parents of monolingual, bilingual or multilingual children. 

Multilingual Family Interview: When your home languages are different from community language. Resources for Teaching Phonics and Reading to Children.

Bilingualism and speech delay. How can you help?

Q&A: Trilingual parent-to-be would like to raise a trilingual child and worries that her monolingual husband and his side of the family would be uncomfortable. What can be done to avoid a possible tension in the family? Could it affect the child's language learning?

Question from a trilingual parent-to-be (English, Chinese, French), who would like to raise a trilingual child and  pass onto him both of her language Chinese and French. She is concerned about her  monolingual  husband (English) and relatives being surrounded by languages they don't understand and wonders, if this can have a negative effect on child's  language learning.

Note: This question was originally posted in a comment field on Multilingual Family Language Strategies page. My answer to it was too long (it happen again!) to fit as a single comment, so I decided to publish it as a separate post.
 

Question:

Hi Galina,

Your website is such a wealth of information. I am glad to find it.

I have a dilemma and I was wondering if you have any advice. I am trilingual (English, Chinese, French) and my husband is monolingual (English), and we live in an English speaking country. We do not have children yet but are planning for that now, and, being multilingual, of course it is important to me to do my best to raise multilingual children. My husband is supportive of the idea, but he has some concerns.

Since he is monolingual, he's afraid he will feel left out in our family dynamics. On the other hand, since we live in an English speaking country and our family language, at least between my husband and I, and my husband and our children, will also be English, I'm concerned about exposure to our minority languages.

Ideally I would do OPOL, starting with Chinese, and later introducing French on my own or through school. But I'm worried that my husband's discomfort will be palpable, and our children will not want to speak in the minority languages because they can sense their father's discomfort. I'm also worried a similar discomfort if I were to speak a minority language with my children around my husband's family, who are all monolingual.

I am proud of my languages and how trilingualism has given me so many benefits in my life, but I do not know how to address my husband and his family's natural discomfort at being around languages they don't understand.

Betsy

Answer:

Dear Betsy,

How wonderful that you are trilingual yourself and planning to raise your future child trilingual as well!

It is good that you started thinking about your family dynamics in relation to languages before your baby comes to this world.

Your concern is not without grounds and you would need to seat together with your husband again and thoroughly discuss everything.
How much is he willing to do for the children's trilingualism? Can he listen to you and your child speaking a language he does not understand and wait for a translation? Is he willing to learn one of your languages?

If your husband does not speak the language you will be speaking to your child, he most likely will feel left out. It will not happen right away, but slowly as your conversations become more complex and hence more difficult to translate for him all the time. The only solution to this problem I see is for your husband to start learning to speak one of your languages before your child will be born. I think French could be easer for him to learn, but that will require some changes in your plans.

Were you considering to speak both French and Chinese to your child ?
I would speak Chinese, when left with the baby alone, and French, when together with your husband and your child. You husband should be able to learn the language, if he is immersed in it. Start speaking French to him right away. Make labels around the house see also Multilingual Families: 8 Quick & Effective Ways to Learn Your Spouse’s Language, For the Busy Parent for great tips. Language learning will require some effort on your husbands side, but he will see the benefits of being bilingual very fast. Besides delaying the symptoms of Alzheimer disease (AD) , you both can go to Paris and your husband can order you a glass of wine then ;) Plus, knowing your and your child's language will give a bond and an extra connection to you both. If things go well you could even make French as a family language later on.

Also it's good to start evaluating your options of bilingual kindergartens and schools. Check, if there are any weekend schools or courses of French or Chinese for kids were you live / plan to live. Connect with other parents speaking French and Chinese. Depending on what language support you can find, you might want to consider focusing more on one or another language.

Your husband's relatives have to be prepared for the fact that you are planing to have a bilingual / trilingual baby. Small children adore their grandparents and take everything they say very close. It is best if you have their full support. You can not ask them to start studying your languages, but you could start educating them on the topic of bilingualism by sharing articles, suggesting books to read and simply talking about it. It is possible that the grandparents are not up to date on the recent research and look at bilingualism as a disadvantage, rather than an advantage. Please also read my suggestions regarding possible support partner's parents can provide in the answer I gave to a question from a parent, whose heritage language is different from community language.

Some thoughts regarding your possible discomfort while speaking to your trilingual child the language others do not understand. If order for a child to use a language, you need to provide opportunities and create a need to use that language. If he sees that you do not stick to speaking it, he won't do it either. For these reasons I believe it is crucial to keep speaking to your child the language no matter who is near by and how they feel about it. Explain to them why you do it and provide a translation. Read this article where I discuss the reasoning for it in details : What language should I speak to my child in public? - Multilingual parent dilemma.  

Let me know what you decide and if you heed more help. Good luck!

Click here to get notified when a new post in the Question and Answer series goes life.

Are you bringing up a bilingual or multilingual child or are you a parent to be and have a question? 

Read other parents questions and my answers in Multilingual Family Q&A Series. 

Feel free to contact me.

For privacy protection I can change your name and omit some personal details, if you wish. 

Are you a multilingual family and looking for a playdate in your language? Click here to find it now!

You might also like:

Q&A: Question from parents, whose heritage languages are different from community language. How to support the trilingual child's minority languages and keep them in balance.

Bilingualism and speech delay. How can you help? 

Exposing our kids to languages - Learn about our family language strategy and read great questions and answers in the article's comments. 


7 facts that can determine the language spoken between multilingual siblings.  

How to read to a baby? Advice for parents of monolingual, bilingual or multilingual children. 

Multilingual Family Interview: When your home languages are different from community language. Resources for Teaching Phonics and Reading to Children.

Question from parents, whose heritage languages are different from community language. How to support the trilingual child's minority languages and keep them in balance.

Question from parents, who have two different heritage languages (Greek and Italian) and live in the country, where a third language is spoken (English). Only one parent speaks the spouse's language. How to support the minority languages and keep trilingual child's languages in balance.

Q&A: Question from a bilingual parent-to-be about language choice.

Question from a bilingual parent-to-be with a monolingual spouse about language choice. They would like to raise a trilingual child, who would speak Korean, Indonesian & English.