Part I Bilingualism in Theory and Research
What is Bilingualism?
During the last hundred years the attitude toward the subject of bilingualism has gone through remarkable changes. In the beginning of the twentieth century, scientists believed that the use of a foreign language in the home was one of the chief factors in producing mental retardation in children. Over the last century, with better research methods and increased knowledge on the subject, experts tend to agree that bilingualism is an asset both to the child and the society. Today the phenomenon of bilingualism has become so popular, that even monolingual parents in a monolingual cultural setting put their children in kindergarten and school immersion programs of foreign languages in order to boost their children’s linguistic capabilities and give them a head’s start in life (Sword no pag). This written project seeks to investigate the experts’ views on bilingualism and the proposed benefits of introducing a second language to children in early childhood. The paper further includes practical guidelines for parents and caregivers who wish to make their children bilingual, and the last part consists of three case studies of families who currently are teaching their children two native languages.
Finding a precise definition of bilingualism is not an easy task; the word seems to have as many definitions as experts trying to define it. The narrowest definition is perhaps linguist Leonard Bloomfield’s classification that a bilingual person has “native-like control of two or more languages, “ (Bloomfield in Åkerlind p. 7). According to this definition, the number of bilingual persons would be quite limited, since most people with knowledge of two languages are often still dominant in one of them (Hyltenstam & Stroud in Åkerlind p. 9). On the other end of the spectrum, linguist Einar Haugen offers his definition: “Bilingualism begins when the speaker can produce complete, meaningful sentences in another language” (Haugen in Åkerlind p. 10). Whereas Bloomfield’s definition might be considered too narrow, Haugen’s is most definitely too broad, where even beginning second language users qualify to be labeled bilinguals.
No matter how wide or narrow one’s definition of bilingualism, linguists at least agree that there are several terms in bilingualism that are important to differentiate between; terms that define when a second language is introduced, who else is speaking that language in the community, and whether a family chooses themselves to introduce a second language or is required to do so out of necessity for survival in the society. Below, four sets of terms are discussed and these terms will also clarify which kind of bilingualism this project seeks to explore.
The first set of terms is successive versus simultaneous bilingualism (Kandolf no pag), referring to the specific time when a second language is introduced to a person. If a child is presented with two languages at once from the beginning of life, he will be a simultaneous bilingual, learning the two languages simultaneously. The other case would be a person learning one language first, and then the second, making him a successive bilingual.
Another set of terms is national versus personal bilingualism, and deals with whether anyone else speaks the second language in the community (Kandolf no pag.). Many countries in the world are not monolingual, but have two or more official national languages. Some examples of this would be Canada, speaking English and French and Finland, with Swedish and Finnish as their national languages. Bilingualism in the cases of Canadians speaking both French and English and Finns speaking both Swedish and Finnish would be labeled national bilingualism. Personal bilingualism would then be when a person is bilingual not due to the fact that the country of residence has two national languages, but for personal reasons.
The third set of terms defining bilingualism is elite versus folk bilingualism (Kandolf no pag.). Elite bilinguals (not referring to their status in society) include children of international couples and people living abroad, permanently or temporarily for educational or business purposes. These groups of people are often bilingual by choice and the research done about bilinguals in these groups often show positive results. Folk bilinguals on the other hand, consist of people in minority groups in society, such as refugees, who do not choose to be surrounded by a second language to the same degree as elite bilinguals, but simply have to learn a second language to survive in the community. Their learning of a second language is often related to more problems than benefits, as discussed next.
The last set of terms is additive and subtractive bilingualism, and they importantly stress the socio-cultural aspect of learning two languages (Lindberg no pag). If a child is allowed to develop his languages in a community where both languages and cultures are valued, he is likely candidate for additive bilingualism, that is, each language complements and enriches the other. If, on the other hand, a child learns a second language at the expense of the first, this is called subtractive bilingualism. This is often the case for folk bilinguals, where the minority groups are forced to learn a second language to be able to communicate to the dominant people group. In the presence of subtractive bilingualism, a person is unable to fully develop either language, and the benefits of bilingualism explored in the next section do generally not profit subtractive bilinguals.
As seen above, the jungle of terms and aspects to take into consideration when discussing bilingualism is dense. However, this project seeks to compel parents in an international setting to explore the positive aspects of additive bilingualism, and how to best present two languages to children. With this aim, the project will focus primarily simultaneous, personal and elite bilingualism within an intercultural context.

Benefits of Bilingualism—What Does Research Reveal?
Before beginning to haphazardly meddle with the intricate bilingual language development of one’s child, any conscientious parent would want to know if he is irrevocably ruining the language acquisition capabilities of his child, or if he is, on the contrary, enhancing his child’s experience by letting the child take part of two languages and cultures. As society’s interest in bilingualism is steadily increasing, so has also the research done in this area intensified over the last two decades. Kathleen Marco of the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C, suggests that being bilingual presents a series of benefits on behalf of the speaker. These benefits can be grouped into four main categories: personal, cognitive, academic and societal (Marco no pag.)
An obvious personal benefit is the instant access a bilingual person has to two languages and cultures. Knowing a second language from childhood gives the bilingual person an automatic advantage of expanded access to people and resources, since he will be able to communicate with more people on a global scale than a monolingual. Knowing two or more languages also fosters an awareness of different cultures that enriches the human experience (Marco no pag.). Another personal benefit in the situation where the parents are of different cultures is that knowing both parents’ languages gives the bilingual child a sense of identity and a belonging with all members of the extended family (Genesee no pag).
In the area of the cognitive benefits of bilingualism, much research has lately been done to support the thought that the mental abilities of children are enhanced by their bilingual competence. Dr. Wallace Lambert of McGill University coined the expression “the bilingual advantage,” referring to the fact that bilingual children in Canada, Switzerland, Israel, South Africa and Singapore outperform monolinguals on intelligence tests (Myers p. 329.) These study results seem to indicate that ability in more than one language enables a person to achieve greater intellectual flexibility (Marco no pag).
For a more specific example than Dr. Lambert’s, of how bilingualism in children enhance their cognitive skills, Dr. Ellen Bialystok, a renowned linguist from York University conducted a study demonstrating bilingual preschoolers’ ability to understand written language sooner than their monolinguistic peers (How Bilingual no pag). Since bilingual children understand that a particular object can have different sounds, they recognize the symbolic relation between letter and sound without visual aid much earlier. For example, a Swedish-Lithuanian bilingual child knows early on that the object of a moose can be expressed both with the sounds inherent in the word “älg” (Swedish) and with the sounds composing the word “bredis” (Lithuanian). Understanding that the same object can have different sounds makes it easier to recognize the symbolic relation between the letter characters on the page and the sound they represent. In Dr. Bialystok’s study, the preschoolers were given tests to assess an ”understanding of the symbolic function of the letters”, and the bilingual children scored twice as high as the monolingual children (How Bilingual no pag).
Bilingualism in children further promotes a metalinguistic awareness (Ben-Zeev in Lindberg no pag). Children using two languages understand that an idea can be expressed in different ways (using different languages) and this leads to an earlier insight in the construction and function of language. The metalinguistic awareness is an important factor in the general intellectual development. A child switching from one language to another is prone to compare the languages and learn to figure out how each language works, and this enhances conceptualization, analytical and creative thinking (Lindberg no pag).
Lastly, linguist Jim Cummins suggests in a study that bilinguals are more sensitive to non-verbal communication such as facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice (Cummins in Åkerlind p. 21).
The third benefit of bilingualism in children according to Kathleen Marco is in the area of academics. Sometimes parents and educators express concern that introducing a second language from birth or in early school years will have a detrimental effect on the child’s native tongue. However, in additive bilingual situations, the reverse seems to be true; a second language enhances the academic achievement of children.
A study in Louisiana in the United States compared students learning a foreign language on a daily basis with students who did not receive such instruction, and the result showed that regardless of race, sex or academic level, the first group of students out-performed the group that did not receive any language teaching (Marco no pag.). In regard to bilingual children’s advantage in reading skills, Dr. Ellen Bialystok concludes from her extensive research in the area of bilingualism , that “learning a foreign language at a very young age can clearly benefit children’s reading abilities,” (How Bilingual no pag.).
A last example of academic benefits in the area of language learning is the studies from the United States indicating that bilingual students or students who have learned foreign languages score higher on standardized college entrance exams than those students who do not know a second language (Marco no pag.)
The fourth and last area of benefit that Kathleen Marco mentions is the societal benefit of bilingualism. Never before in the history of mankind has the world been such a small place. In this age of the global village mentality, nations and people-groups fraternize on a wide basis. International corporations keep enlarging their territory, and more people than ever travel outside the border of their nations, both privately and for business reasons. Language is how people communicate with one another, and what makes this globalization process possible at all are the people who know more than one language and functions as connectors on the international market. If a nation wants to be a partaker of the future, it must increase its connections with other nations, and language plays a major role for this endeavor to be realized, in order to communicate on a global scale. Thus, people with bilingual knowledge are an asset to society.
As bilingualism has been increasingly studied and analyzed, researchers and linguists tend to agree that children learning multiple languages in an additive bilingual setting lead not only to personal benefits in the area of their own development and careers, but also is an asset to society as a whole.

Myths and Faulty Beliefs of Bilingualism
Although recent research in the area of bilingualism indicates the benefits of learning languages, linguists often feel the need to address the many myths and faulty beliefs that still circulate concerning this subject. One myth in bilingualism states that learning more than one language confuses children and actually lowers their intelligence (Kandolf no pag). The studies that seemed to prove this were primarily from the United States and poorly designed; linguists have since then pointed out the flaws in the results they showed. The most obvious flaw was that the bilingual children in the test case were recent immigrant children, living under stressful circumstances in a subtractive bilingual setting. Naturally they would score lower on tests than their established, middleclass monolingual counterparts.
Another myth is that bilingualism delays language development. However, the bilingual researcher and McGill university professor Fred Genesee refutes this. He states that if children have a regular and rich exposure to both languages, they will reach the same language developmental milestones as other children at roughly the same time (Genesee no pag). However, the key is to provide the rich exposure to language. Changes in exposure can otherwise disrupt language development and create difficulties for the child.
Yet another faulty belief in bilingualism is that since bilingual children have less exposure to each language, they never become as proficient in either language as monolinguals. Again, Dr. Genesee states that bilinguals certainly can reach the same proficiency, both phonologically and grammatically, as monolinguals. This faulty belief probably stems from the differences in language proficiency in the short term, especially in the area of vocabulary in young children (Genesee no pag). A bilingual child is in the process of building two separate lexicons, and often, bilingual children’s lexicon in one language is temporarily more limited than the corresponding lexicon in a monolingual child. However, if one would compare the total amount of lexical words in a bilingual and monolingual child, the number of words known would even out, since the bilingual child’s vocabulary in both languages added together would equal the vocabulary of the monolingual (Lindberg no pag).
Another myth in bilingualism is that bilinguals develop something similar to split personalities (Kandolf no pag.). Cindy Kandolf, host of the Bilingual Families Web Page, affirms that some bilinguals do sense that they have developed different “personalities” for each language (Kandolf no pag). This is however not a sign that they are ready for admittance to a mental institution. Different languages have different cultural norms and standards attached to them. For example, a Swedish-Lithuanian bilingual would assume different cultural roles whether speaking Swedish or Lithuanian, as the two cultures of Sweden and Lithuania will not have the exact same ways of expression in different cultural settings. So it is only natural that when speaking Swedish, the bilingual would assume a different role than when speaking Lithuanian to fulfill the expectations of society of acceptable speech and behavior. Instead of labeling this as something negative as exhibiting split personalities, it could positively be stated that bilinguals demonstrate flexible cultural adaptation abilities, managing to fulfill the expectations of two cultures.
A most interesting faulty belief is the notion that “real” bilinguals never mix their languages, and if they do, they are but confused “semi-linguals.” The inability to separate one’s languages is often seen as a sign of confusion, although linguists heartily agree that “confusing the languages” or “code switching” as it is correctly labeled, is proven to be a “sophisticated, rule-governed communicative device used to achieve goals such as conveying emphasis or establishing cultural identity” (ERIC digest no pag). Since code switching is a conscious action, it only occurs when the speaker knows that the listener is also familiar with both languages. Speakers use code switching for a number of reasons. One reason might be a change in topic; for example, a speaker begins talking about something he is used to only talk about in the other language. Another reason might be that another party has entered the conversation. Yet another reason might be convenience, when the speaker simply finds a word he is searching for in the other language first (Åkerlind p. 14).
To evaluate code switching and it’s alleged negative effects, Danish researcher J. Jørgensen conducted an extensive study on Danish-Turkish children under a period of ten years (Lindberg no pag). One part of the study included the recording of 10 Danish-Turkish bilingual teenaged students and the occurrence of code switching in their Turkish interaction with each other. Interestingly, the students who engaged in code switching the most were the ones most proficient in their second language Danish, and the students who hardly used code switching at all, were the students with the weakest aptitude in Danish (Lindberg no pag). This supports the view that mixing languages is far from the survival strategy of inadequate language users, but it is a powerful communicative tool used to enhance verbal interaction.
It should be noted that code switching is a conscious communicative device, and young children who mix languages mostly do so unconsciously. The most likely reason for inserting a foreign word in a sentence is simply the child’s ignorance of that word in one language, but he resourcefully borrows the missing word from the other language lexicon in order to express his thoughts. This kind of mixing of languages is not uncommon in very young children, but successively disappears until the age about four (Åkerlind p. 13).
When finding what linguists have published on the World Wide Web in regards to bilingualism, one immediately notices how much effort they display in countering myths and faulty beliefs on the subject, and rightly so. To convince the public of the benefits of bilingualism, one can not only refer to the positive research and study results, but to be truly persuasive, common objections must be addressed and refuted. Parents, who are questioning whether to introduce two languages to their children, want to have their questions and concerns answered before venturing out on this bilingual enterprise. Once convinced that giving their children two languages from birth will be beneficiary both to the child and society, they can turn their focus to the questions of practical implementation, which the next part of this project will discuss.

Part II Bilingualism in Practice and Implementation
Parental Bilingual Strategies
How small children find it within themselves to learn a language is both remarkable and mysterious. Linguists and psychologists have long pondered on exactly what cerebral processes take place in learning the complicated system of a language. Parents of monolingual children do not have to worry themselves with these metaphysical questions; they expect that their children will pick up the language they and society at large speak, as the developmental process goes on. Parents of bilingual children will perhaps neither have to worry about the actual processes of language learning, but in order to make their children bilingual, and to give their children the rich exposure they need in both languages, these parents do need to spend time in planning and executing a language learning strategy that will enable their children to be proficient bilinguals.
Any successful company knows that it is not enough to dive into implementations without clearly defined company objectives and goals. The principle is the same for bilingual families. In order to find success at the end of the endeavor of making one’s children bilingual, one must have clear objectives and goals. Studies have shown that families who take the time to formulate their goals for language development often see their kids acquire higher levels of language skills in both languages (Rosenberg no pag). The first step in this process is to find out what “bilingual” means to the individual parent. As seen in the theoretical part, the experts cannot decide on a clear-cut definition, so each individual family must decide on what their goals are in aiding their children to become bilingual. Some families are content if the children are receptive bilinguals, meaning that they can understand two languages, but be able to express themselves in only one of the languages (Kandolf no pag). Other families are not satisfied until their children possess equal ability to read, write, speak and listen in both languages. This latter goal will of course put more demands on the parents in providing enough opportunities for the child to learn these skills in the minority language, as most children will develop these skills in school in only one of the languages. Once a family has defined what their goal is, evaluating one’s success or failure along the way will be easier, and in case of supposed “failure,” the parents can make amendments in order to better achieve their objectives.
Once a family has decided on what their objectives are, the first question to settle is how to introduce the languages of interest to their children on a daily basis. Many families concur that keeping to a fixed pattern provides stability both for parents and children in this language learning effort (Kandolf no pag). For many families the decision of what language to speak makes itself, due to the language capabilities or restrictions of the parents. If the parents have different native languages and do not speak each other’s mother tongue, the most natural decision would be to have each parent speak his or her language to the child. This is one of the two most common language strategies, and is called the One Parent-One Language approach (Rosenberg no pag). Most commonly, one of the parents speaks the same language as the community at large (although in some cases both parents speak a minority language in the society), so the weight of the burden to make the child equally proficient in both languages lies on the shoulder of the parent who speaks the minority language. The child will learn the majority language not only from the parent speaking it, but also from interacting with other children and adults at the playground, through friends, and later in school, so even if the parent of the majority language does not provide the child with a rich language environment, the child is saturated with the language outside of the home as well, providing adequate stimulation for language growth.
To ease the burden of the minority parent as the single provider of that language, a family can choose the other most common parental strategy, called Minority Language at Home (Lindberg no pag). This pattern obviously only works if the other parent also is familiar with the minority language. Parents sharing the same mother tongue living in an expatriate setting certainly use this pattern, but both parents do not necessarily have to be natives in the minority language for this pattern to be effective. Letting the minority language dominate in the household increases the child’s contact with the language and thus betters the odds of him excelling in it.
Other less common patterns of introducing two languages to children would be to speak one language a day, alternating between languages throughout the week, or whoever speaks first choosing the language of expression. Further, a family can choose to speak one language every day, and the other language only on special occasions or on extended vacations to the country of that language. A last example of another pattern would be to send the child to school immersion programs, if available, and let the child learn the second language at school (Kandolf no pag).
Any pattern that works for a family is a good pattern, but certainly it must agree with the previously stated goals and objectives. A family that desires the children to be equally proficient in all areas of language would most likely not find success in applying the pattern of speaking the minority language only on special occasions, but that pattern might work for someone who is satisfied if the child displays rudimentary knowledge of the minority language.

Practical Implementation in Daily Life
Deciding on what objectives and goals one has in the bilingual venture, and choosing a pattern of introducing these languages to the child is necessary preparation work to guarantee better results in making one’s children bilingual. Having done this however, represents just the very first steps, and the main bulk of work lies in the actual implementation of the chosen patterns in the day-to-day life. Linguists and specialists offer great assistance to parents and caregivers in giving suggestions how to successfully implement the strategies for bilingualism. One of the main keys in succeeding in making one’s children bilingual is consistency. Once the parent has made the decision to speak to the child in a certain language, he should try to stick to this decision as close as possible. Sometimes a smaller child might be tired of having to figure out how to say things in two languages, and take a break from one of the languages for a season, (Folktinget p. 11). At such times it is especially important for the parent speaking the “rejected” language not to give up, but keeping consistently exposing the child to this language. Special care should also be taken not to overly mix the languages, as this can be confusing for the child, who already has his hands full trying to separate the languages spoken to him.
Another key element in successful language development in bilingual children is the provision of rich exposure in each language. This is generally not a problem in the majority language, as the child is often saturated with this language through radio, television and the interaction in the society at large. The challenge lies in providing the child with equal exposure to the minority language. Books play a vital part in exposing a child to language. Most children love being read to, and the minority language parent would do well to use this opportunity to spend time with the child in reading books in the minority language. But books are by far not the only resource in the digital age of this present time. Make use of the stereo and video as tools to enhance the child’s minority language; get music tapes with children’s songs and nursery rhymes for the child to acquaint himself with, and buy or order videos or DVD’s with well-known characters and stories from the minority culture.
The computer is another resource of language learning; there are plenty of computer games and CD-Rom programs that offer intriguing and thought provoking problems for young children to solve, and providing these programs in the minority language will compel children to dive into the language. Internet is another wonderful source to expose children to the minority language. Through the Internet it is possible to listen to radio from any country in the world, so keeping tuned in to a radio station of the minority language widens the child’s exposure to the language. On the Internet one can also find web sites hosted in the minority language that might be of special interest to the child. All these resources play an important role in expanding the child’s vocabulary. If the child is limited to mere dialogue with one parent in the minority language, his vocabulary will not sufficiently grow to meet the demands of communication on a larger scale.
Another invaluable source of strengthening language development in bilingual children, especially in the minority language, is visits to the country in which the minority language is spoken. Placed in a setting where most people would not understand a child’s dominant language forces the child to use the minority language on a wider scale and this experience acts as a real language boost in the child’s linguistic development. Certainly it is often a financial issue, but parents should try to go or send their children to the country of the minority language as often as possible. Having grandparents from the minority culture visit is another way of strengthening both linguistic and cultural bonds to the minority language.
In the innumerable ways of strengthening the minority language in bilingual children not mentioned here, perhaps lack of imagination is the only limitation. One last important consideration worthy of mention is that in all the work parents put down in providing a rich language environment for their children, they should not forget to put the child in the first place. Kandolf stresses the importance of not forcing children into bilingualism if it really makes them unhappy (Kandolf no pag). Studies show however, that if the parents have a positive attitude about the benefits of learning languages, this will often transfer to the children as well (Genesee no pag). If the use of multiple languages is treated as something natural in the home, it is likely that the children will enjoy and later appreciate the fact that their parents made the effort to enlarge their world through language. As writer Marsha Rosenberg states: ‘Becoming bilingual is a special gift parents can offer their children, but the gift must be planned and presented with care for it to be well used and appreciated,” (Rosenberg no pag.).

Part III Three Case Studies
Taking part of the theories on bilingualism and what the experts say on the subject is certainly worth wile, but parents truly considering aiding their children to become familiar with two languages, would undoubtedly also want to consult parents who are presently in the process of the bilingual endeavor, to find out the joys and hardships these parents experience. This last part of the project includes three case studies of Swedish mothers living in expatriate settings in Greece, Austria and Costa Rica, sharing their experiences in teaching their children two languages.

1. The Loulaki Family, Crete, Greece

Family Members:
Manos 41 years old
Marina 33 years old
Melina 8,5 years old
Georgios 2,5 years old

Marina Luolaki has Finnish speaking parents, but was born and raised in Sweden. Although Finnish is her mother tongue, she considers Swedish her strongest language. She came to Greece with her Greek husband Manos 10 years ago and both Melina and Georgios were born there. Marina speaks Swedish with the children, Manos speaks Greek, and together the spouses speak English, although Marina has learned Greek after moving there.
- For me it is very important that my children learn Swedish; I want to be able to have discussions with them in Swedish and for them to be able to communicate with their relatives back in Sweden, she says.
Having herself been brought up to learn a minority language (Finnish in Sweden) she draws from her childhood experiences in succeeding to instill the same abilities in her children.
Since the family lives in Greece, the children’s dominant language is Greek, but Marina has employed a host of resources to teach her children Swedish, although she confesses it has not always been easy.
- I have been very consistent about speaking only in Swedish with Melina, even in Greek company, whether in the store or at the dinner table. I will not let other people interrupt us. Melina and I have lived like Robinson and Friday here in Greece. During eight years we have been to Sweden for a total of eight weeks. We have not had any contact with other Swedish-speaking families, neither here nor in Sweden. Melina has heard Swedish from my sister who usually comes down during the summers; otherwise she was not exposed to Swedish outside the home until she was 6 years old. Then she began taking Swedish classes on Saturdays, and now we are acquainted with a few other Swedish-speaking children here.
Since the family have not spent much time with other Swedish-speaking people on a regular basis, Marina has had to work extra hard to provide sufficient exposure to Swedish to her children.
- I have talked and sung to my children non-stop from the day they were born. When one of the children would want something I would translate it into words. Later, when they knew some words I would incorporate them into sentences and tirelessly ask question after question to incite a conversation or simply a “yes” or a “no.”
Marina does not like when people say that her children are blessed to learn Swedish “automatically.” Introducing two languages to the children involved a lot more work than Marina imagined.
- It is not automatic! Teaching my children Swedish has taken an incredible amount of time and involvement on my part. Parents should be aware of that, and decide already during pregnancy if they have the time and strength to teach the child a minority language.
For Marina it has been worth the effort it has cost her to teach her children Swedish.
- Knowing a secret language has proven helpful on many occasions. For example, if Melina and her friend ask if Melina can stay overnight at the friend’s place, I can ask Melina in Swedish if she really wants to, and if she says no, I can tell them that another time would be better, and still save Melina’s face.
Marina feels like she has reached her goal in teaching her children about the Swedish culture and language.
- Melina is as Greek as any of her friends, but she also has a country “of her own” to display. She knows a lot about Sweden and often tells her friends about the country. Her Swedish is not perfect; she often uses Greek sentence structure and sometimes inserts a Greek word in her sentences. But after having lived her for 10 years, so do I, so in some ways we have created our own language, with funny endings and other peculiarities to spice it up! Most importantly, Melina can converse with her grandparents and others over the telephone. They tell me that her accent is so cute, but she is always understood. I think that is a great evaluation.

2. The Schneeberger Family, Bad Gastein, Austria

Family Members:
Hermann 47 years old
Ingmari 38 years old
Oscar 12 years old
Victor 11 years old
Ellen 5 years old

Ingmari moved to her husband’s homeland Austria in 1991 when her oldest son was born, and for her it was never a question of what language to speak to her children.
- When I moved to Austria I did not know German, so speaking Swedish to my children was a natural choice. Also, during the first three years I lived both in Austria and Sweden, so my children
were exposed to Swedish during our Swedish stays. Only our 5 year-old, Ellen, was born in Austria.
Ingmari wants her children to know that she has a cultural history before becoming a mother in Austria, and it is important to her that her children would feel a part of that heritage.
- Certainly I want my children to be able to communicate with friends and relatives from Sweden, but more than that, I want them to feel a part of the Swedish traditions and the culture, and make it possible for them to live in Sweden some day in the future if they would like.
All her children started speaking about six months later than the monolingual children in their surroundings, but that did not worry Ingmari.
- It took them longer to begin speaking, but when they did, they spoke in two languages at once! They also used to frequently mix the languages when they were younger, but at around the age of three they had figured out what language to use with what people.
Now that Ingmari has learned German, she does not always speak Swedish with her children, but she tries to make up for it in other ways.
- When the children were small and learning both languages, I would say everything twice, in German and Swedish. Also when we had German-speaking guests I would repeat myself in the other language so everyone present would understand. When the boys were smaller we had au pair girls from Sweden. That really helped their development of Swedish. Now we have a German au pair, but we are thinking of changing to a Swedish one, because we notice that Ellen is not picking up Swedish like the boys did. Of course we also buy a lot of videos and books in Swedish for the children to take part of, and grandmother in Sweden sends recorded TV-programs from Sweden for the children to see.
Ingmari also takes advantage of her family in Sweden who is willing to host her children for long periods of time in the summer.
-Both Oscar and Victor are old enough to travel to Sweden alone in the summer. They both go for four weeks to stay with my parents, but not during the same time. My mother makes sure that they spend time with other children of the same age to learn the language of the younger generation. Our five-year-old, Ellen, is too young to travel to Sweden alone, and that has affected her Swedish negatively. She understands Swedish, but does not speak it so much.
Since the boys started school, Ingmari has noticed that their German is becoming more dominant and they do not initiate speaking Swedish with her.
- If I ask them a question in Swedish they often answer me in German nowadays. But I know that they have a basic knowledge of Swedish, because they can read postcards from Swedish friends, although they do it somewhat reluctantly; it is a real effort to them. I also hear them speak Swedish with the tourists in the winter. Bad Gastein is a ski resort, and during the winter months there are quite a lot of Swedes here.
Ingmari sees only benefits of knowing two languages from birth. Knowing Swedish has given her and her children a secret language in situations when they wish to discuss something private in a public setting.
- Knowing two languages is also good for my children. They are proud to be a part of two cultures.

3. The Torras/Törnqvist Family, Costa Rica

Family Members:
Ricardo 38 years old
Charlotte 33 years old
Cristian 8 years old
Veronica 6 years old
Mattias 2 years old

In the Torras/Törnqvist family, living in Costa Rica, Spanish is the main language. Ricardo, who is Costa Rican, does not know the native language of his Swedish wife Charlotte. Charlotte tries to speak Swedish with the children, but it does not always happen.
- My goal is that the children would be able to speak Swedish, so they can communicate with their Swedish non-Spanish speaking relatives. That is important to me. I believe that if I manage to give them this basic knowledge, they can later develop their Swedish skills themselves through education in Sweden or some sort of language camps or courses.
Charlotte has no Swedish acquaintances in Costa Rica, so she feels quite alone in the endeavor of introducing Swedish to her children.
- I try to be consistent in speaking Swedish to my children, but it is difficult, because Spanish is more natural to me nowadays. I often find myself speaking Spanish to the kids, even when we are on our own! Veronica, our six-year-old refuses to speak Swedish to me, and shows anger when I try to speak it with her. I think it is because she feels insecure; she is not proficient enough in Swedish to feel comfortable with it. Cristian, who is eight, will answer in Spanish when I speak Swedish with him, but he understands most of what I say. When he is around Swedes that do not speak Spanish he will try to speak Swedish with them.
Charlotte exposes her children to Swedish in several different ways.
- We have a lot of books in Swedish at home, and we sing many Swedish songs. I have also bought games, both board games and computer games in Swedish, and let the children watch Swedish DVD’s. I also always keep our door open for Swedish visitors in our home—even those who are not direct friends of mine—for shorter or longer periods. We have had Swedish people stay with us for up to 3 months.
Charlotte also mentions the importance of taking trips to Sweden with her children.
- We try to have each child go to Sweden at least once a year, and as they get older we will definitely make an effort to let them spend as much time as possible in Sweden, at least one month a year. We also would like them to participate in summer camps where they will meet other Swedish children. Last year, Cristian flew to Sweden on his own to stay with his grandmother for 3 weeks. That really helped to develop his Swedish language kills.
Charlotte shares about three specific problems she is facing in her endeavor to teach her children a minority language.
- Since we do not have any Swedish friends close by—and with my husband not knowing Swedish—I feel really alone in this language teaching effort. Another dilemma I face is that I feel very uncomfortable and rude speaking Swedish in the presence of others who do not understand what I say. This really limits the times when I feel free to speak Swedish to my children. Lastly I carry a great deal of guilt because I feel I have failed in making my children fully bilingual.
But there are also highlights in the bilingual venture.
- Cristian has a sense of pride and an enthusiasm about learning because of his knowledge of a second language. I also see that he has a greater understanding of our global world, and can appreciate differences in languages and cultures. Giving one’s child a second language is a special gift a parent can give, and hearing my son speak Swedish is a real reward to me.

Work Cited
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Folktinget. “Ge Ditt Barn en Gåva.” Avaliable online: ttp://www.folktinget.fi/docs/gedittbarnengava2004.pdf

Genesee, Fred. “Bilingual Acquisition.” Available online: http://www.earlychildhood.com/Articles/index.cfm?FuseAction=Article&A=38&PrintVersion=59

“How Bilingual Ability Puts Kids on the Fast-Track to Reading.” Available at Kidlanguages: www.kidlanguages.com

Kandolf, Cindy. The Bilingual Families Web Page. Available online: http://www.nethelp.no/cindy/biling-fam.html

Lindberg, Inger. “Myter om tvåspråkighet.” Svenska Språknämnden / The Swedish Language Department/ Last updated 23 January 2003. Available online:www.spraknamnden.se/sprakvard/innehallsforteckning/4_02/lindberg_4_02.htm

Loulaki, Marina. Personal Email Interview. 15 April 2004.

Marcos, Kathleen. “Second Language Learning: Everyone Can Benefit.” Article available at Kidlangugaes Website: www.kidlanguages.com

Myers, David G. Psychology. Worth Publishers, New York: 1998.

Rosenberg, Marsha. “Raising Bilingual Children.” Reprinted from: The Ambassador, Alumni & Community Magazine, Spring 1996. Available online: http://iteslj.org/Articles/Rosenberg-Bilingual.html

Schneeberger, Ingmari. Personal Email Interview. 16 April, 2004.