Raising a baby bilingually: 5 tips from Rebeca Imberg

Hello Rebeca. Thank you for taking the time for our interview. I'm pleased that we will be talking together today about the topic of "Multilingualism in parenting and everyday family life," and we are already super excited about the 5 tips you have brought with you today. To start, could you just introduce yourself briefly? Who are you and what exactly do you do?

Hello Paul and Lori, and thank you for the invitation to this interview! I am delighted to be here today. My name is Rebeca Imberg, and I am a trained linguist from the University of Bochum with a focus on childhood multilingualism and Family Language Policy. I am originally from Costa Rica, but I have been living here in Germany for over 12 years now. I am a mother of two children growing up bilingual and bicultural, so I am also personally right in the middle of this exciting topic. My daughter is already six years old, and my son recently turned six months old.

What does "Family Language Policy" mean to you?

Family Language Policy is the regulation of language use within the family. Just as the politics of a country determine the official language and how official communication by state authorities is handled from a linguistic perspective, Family Language Policy regulates language use at the micro-level within the family. What do families think about languages? How do they organize languages? Who speaks which language to whom? What rules exist in the family regarding language use? Or what adjustments do families make depending on the child's developmental stage and changes in family dynamics?

How did you come to get involved with the topic of "Family Language Policy"?

I have been intensively involved with the topic of multilingualism in the family and raising children bilingually since my Master's thesis. Partly because I already had a bilingual child myself at the time, I became very interested in the subject and researched childhood multilingualism extensively for my thesis. I quickly noticed that many bilingual children understand both their languages perfectly but usually only speak one language actively. During my research, I came across the theory of Family Language Policy and was immediately captivated by the various approaches to family language policy.

For whom might it be interesting to raise their baby bilingually?

Generally, early childhood bilingualism is particularly important for three types of families. First, for families where one parent has a different native language than the language of the surrounding environment. My own family falls into this category, as I am from Costa Rica and my native language is Spanish, while my husband was born in Germany and speaks German. It is important to both my husband and me that our children grow up bilingual and master both languages later on. The second family group that starts focusing on the topic of childhood bilingualism in the first years of life includes families with a migration background. Here, perhaps both parents were born and raised in Germany, but they would like to pass on their linguistic and cultural heritage to their children. The third family group includes parents who would like to raise their child bilingually from birth, even though they themselves are not native speakers of the target language. This last family type must be analyzed individually, as many linguists and speech therapists advise against this type of bilingual upbringing. Personally, however, I believe that with a method and strategy suited to the individual situation, a multilingual upbringing is possible in this case as well.

Photo: Linguist Rebeca Imberg shares her experiences

5 tips for multilingualism in the family from Rebeca Imberg

What are your five tips for parents who would like to raise their own baby bilingually?

The first years of life form the foundation for a successful bilingual upbringing for children. This does not mean that it is impossible to start later or that children cannot become multilingual as teenagers, just that it is easier for your child to learn two languages if you start in the very first years. Incidentally, scientists have discovered that babies can perceive their mother's language even in the womb and react positively to the familiar voice just hours after birth. The learning process therefore begins even before birth. If you get into the habit of communicating with your baby from birth in a specific target language that is NOT your surrounding language, then your child has the best foundation for actively using this target language in the future.

Interaction is the best way for babies to acquire languages. Sometimes parents come to me for advice to ensure they can raise their children multilingually. Language is ubiquitous. We encounter it in almost every everyday situation, and thus numerous opportunities arise to give our children conscious linguistic input. This natural form of everyday integrated multilingualism is excellent for babies. Everything we experience during the day, such as changing diapers, feeding, bathing, playing, or going for walks, can be described or commented on by us as parents and thus offers us an excellent opportunity for interaction. When we talk to our babies, we notice how they react and communicate with us in their own way; with a smile, with noises, or just by the way they marvel at us and follow our lips. These first linguistic skills provide the foundation for verbal production. An important step on the way to multilingualism!

Structure in a multilingual family is very important. Technically, we call this "Language Practices." Which method will the family use? What are my goals for the different languages? Do I want my children to be able to understand, speak, read, and write in all languages, or is it enough for me that they understand the other family members? In science, there are four common methods for raising babies multilingually. I will briefly describe them for you below.

One Parent - One Language (OPOL)
One parent - one language

In this method, each parent speaks their own native language to the child. The OPOL method is the most well-known, although it does not necessarily have to be considered the best or only method. The advantage of "One Parent - One Language" is that the parents only focus on their own language, and the child relatively quickly knows which language to speak with whom. The disadvantage, however, is that the input in the minority language—that is, the language not spoken in society—receives little exposure, and children can very quickly tend to answer ONLY in the surrounding language.

Minority Language at Home (ML@H)
Minority language at home

With the ML@H method, all family members speak the minority language as the family language. This method is frequently used when both parents have the same native language but live in a different country. Many parents are afraid that their children will not perfectly master the surrounding language in society later on and that the child could be disadvantaged, but this is considered one of the biggest myths in multilingualism. In fact, it is actually a very successful method for raising actively bilingual children. For example, in my own family, we focused on the OPOL method with my first daughter, but upon the birth of my little son, we switched to the ML@H method and now only speak Spanish at home, even my German husband. Why? Because I know how difficult it is for the second child to actively speak the minority language as well, especially when the older sibling is already in school.

Time and Place
Time and place

With the "Time and Place" method, the family can choose a specific location or a specific time to use one language or the other. For example, if parents are bilingual themselves, one language can be spoken in the morning and only the other language in the afternoon. That might sound strange to you at first, but when the child understands over time that Mom always speaks language X outside the home, or during certain routines, it knows exactly which language should be used in that specific situation. 

Mixed Language Families
2 parents - 2 languages

In the "2 parents - 2 languages" method, both parents speak to each other and to the child in both languages in a natural way. This can be a good strategy if the family lives in a bilingual society itself, such as in Brussels, Quebec, Miami, etc., and is thus regularly confronted with both languages in everyday life. However, I recommend this method the least, as parents usually live in a monolingual society like Germany or Austria and thus find very few opportunities for an automatic switch to the minority language. Over time, this could lead to the child not using that language, or using it much less often, and therefore not actively speaking it themselves in the future.

Don't be afraid that you are overwhelming your child or that they might have disadvantages compared to monolingual children later on due to multilingualism. Numerous studies have shown that bilingual children develop just as quickly as monolingual ones. They reach the same milestones at the same pace, it's just that they have two language systems and in the first years of life still use words from both languages every now and then. It is important for you to find a Family Language Plan and a structure that best suits you and your individual needs.

The best thing we can do to accompany and support our children in learning multiple languages is to inform ourselves well about the topic of "multilingualism in family life and parenting." For many young parents, however, this topic will be completely new within the family, and questions may repeatedly arise from grandma, grandpa, relatives, or friends, especially if they have not yet had any experience with multilingualism in the family. It is actually like everything in life: The more you inform yourself about the topic, the more understandable this topic will be for your friends and family as well. They will surely be happy to hear your tips!

Further information on Rebeca Imberg can be found here:

Website: www.bilikids.de
Facebook: Bilikids Deutschland
Instagram: @bilikids_de
LinkedIn: Rebeca Imberg

Piller, Ingrid. (2001): Private language planning: the best of both worlds? Estudios de Sociolingüística 2. Pp. 61-81

King, K. A., Fogle, L. (2006): Bilingual parenting as good parenting: Parents’ perspectives on family language policy for additive bilingualism. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 33, pp. 167-184.

Grosjean, Francois. (1982): Life with two languages: An introduction to bilingualism. Harvard University Press.

De Houwer A. (1999): Environmental factors in early bilingual development: The role of parental beliefs and attitudes. En G. Extra & L. Verhoeven (eds.). Bilingualism and migration, 75-96.

Mouton de Gruyter. Berlin & New York De Houwer A. (2009): Bilingual first language acquisition. Clevendon: Multilingual Matters (Western Sidney University in Australia, 2016)

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