Photo Credit: Kate Williams
The Blogging Carnival on Bilingualism is in my neck of the woods this month and I am ready to party! Don your best multicultural costume (which represents all of your cultures), pick out the most colorful mask (which speaks to all of your languages) and let the bilingual blogging carnival festivities begin!
I am so very honored to be a part of this group of fantastic bilingual bloggers. As I read through each post in preparation for this carnival, I got teary-eyed and laughed out loud more times than I can count. I called my German husband over again and again to read out passages to him from posts.
I saw myself and my family portrayed in the words and images of these wonderful writers and couldn’t help but say to myself: This is where I belong. These are my people. This is my tribe. Multilingualism will forever be in our souls and there is nothing we can do about it. We are united by this common bond.
Thus, without further ado, I would like to introduce 21 individuals of a fantastic global bilingual-blogging-tribe! Drum roll please…
Quandaries
Let’s start with some quandaries. We all have them. Sometimes big ones, sometimes small ones. If we didn’t, then we’d be drinking a martini next to the pool reflecting on our financial portfolio rather than deliberating on our children’s bilingualism.
- Rea has a complex. She is no linguist but she figures there must be some valid reason as to why her son has decided that the words “vulture” and “taxi” are essential vocabulary while “Mommy” hasn’t even made it on the list yet. Find out what her son calls her instead of Mommy in her touching yet hilarious post Mysteries Of The Toddler Mind and The Otro Papi Complex.
- Mamapoekie, on the other hand, is focusing less on vocabulary and more on which French accent her daughter will end up adopting: Ivorian? Camaroon? Congolese? She shares what is really the most important when it all comes down to it in her post titled Accents.
- As she explains in Does Leyla Say Any Words?, Jenny has barely started her bilingual adventure with her 15 month old but the discouraging comments she gets from others aren’t helping her endeavor. Add that to an older daughter who would rather learn German than speak Spanish and you have many quandaries and one big challenge!
Is it Enough?
Who doesn’t wonder if it is enough? Is it enough language exposure? Do we have enough quality materials? Is it enough human interaction? Will we ever stop wondering if we are doing enough for our bilingual children or does that just come with bilingual family territory?
- Lulu wonders how she can possibly know if what she is doing is enough. Will her son’s English suffer based on what she does or doesn’t do right now? Her post, Road to bilingualism…, is a wonderful encapsulation of what is on the minds of many of us and the comments that follow her post are as wonderfully insightful.
- In her post Teaching Elliot Spanish — Making it Up as I Go Along, Lynn shares with us her realization that only speaking Spanish a quarter of the time is better than nothing! Each time her son speaks a word in Spanish, she feels gratified knowing that the effort is so very worth it.
- Lalou used to wonder how she was going to juggle both French and German at home with her sons. How could she make sure that they had enough exposure to each language? In The story behind Laloulah, she shares her fantastic solution which even got her sons excited and motivated.
- For a fantastic outline of just how one mom is going about increasing more German language exposure, read Cartside’s post 6 Step Plan to Boost the Minority Language! Now that is what I call an organized approach! It is sure to have a wonderful outcome.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for pulling together all these posts, Corey! This is so exciting and inspirational.
So glad to be a part of this with you, Sarah! This was such a ton of fun – I can’t believe how many fantastic posts there were. I loved them all!
Thank you for putting together the carnival this time Corey. I was honored to be a part of it.
I look forward to reading through the rest of the submissions.
I am so glad that you joined in the fun, Lulu! It was so great to be able to do this with you. I so enjoyed your post and all of the fantastic comments that came with it. What a great group of people we are a part of!
These posts are just when I need. I’m teaching Spanish for Kids and your website is such a fantastic resource! Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed the post, Gemma! And thank you for your praise of of Multilingual Living – being part of this great community makes it all worth it!
It must have taken forever to put it together, well done it looks great. I have already started reading my way through it and will come back later with a cup of coffee to make sure I don’t miss any of these wonderful posts. Thanks for including me:)
Hah, yes, it did take a while but I enjoyed every minute of it! Definitely get a cup of coffee – it makes reading the post so much more enjoyable, don’t you think? So nice to be a part of this with you – thanks for the great post!!
Ha ha! Going through all these fabulous posts felt like «having coffee with the girls». Thanks to all, I really enjoyed it!
I so agree! It totally felt like that for me as well. I felt an amazing connection with this community of bloggers after doing this carnival. I had no idea I would feel that way, like I know everyone on a first-name basis now!
Wow, what a fabulous collection of posts! This must be the largest bilingual carnival so far, thanks for pulling it all together!
Isn’t it a great group of posts? I enjoyed every, single one of them! Thank you for making this all happen and still joining in the fun!
Hi Corey,
Thanks for including me in your Blogging Carnival. I agree about the ‘tribe’ feeling you have. It is exciting to find a community of people who have the same interests as you. I also enjoyed your article on ‘Multilingual Envy’. It really does raise its head when you least expect it. Maybe it signifies that you are ready to go deeper with your language skills? I’m thinking of getting a tutor for myself. Imagine that: one hour with a teacher whose sole focus is YOU. Heavenly! Lalou
Yes, the more I am involved with Multilingual Living, the more it feels like I have found my “tribe.” What a fantastic feeling that is!
You are so right about the Multilingual Envy post. I definitely need to work on my German. I’m getting ready to start a new “challenge” at Multilingual Living to focus on just that. Maybe you will join in it? I love the tutor idea – just need to figure out WHEN I’d have the time!
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