Dear Madalena
We are a bilingual (Japanese-English) family living in Tokyo raising our three boys age 3 years old, and 4 months old twins. Our children were all born in Tokyo. We use OPOL at home and I speak to my children in English, but as my three year old attends Japanese daycare from 9:00 – 4:30 daily, his speaking is almost all in Japanese for now.
We are planning to relocate back to New Zealand (my country) in around 18 months time. At that time I feel there is a real risk that my son could eventually stop speaking Japanese as there will be little Japanese language input in his life other than from my husband, plus he will start school in English.
For that reason, I am considering switching to the minority language at home method, since I am a fluent Japanese speaker.
I was wondering if there are any problems with changing the language spoken to one’s children in this way? My older son will be around four and a half by the time we relocate.
While we are thinking of making Japanese our “home language”, there are certain things that I am not willing to give up in English – eg. story reading, and I plan to speak English when I am around other English speakers, just as I currently speak to my son in Japanese when there are others present who don’t speak English.
I would appreciate any advice!
Rachel
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Hi,
I’ve had folks change languages all the time while growing up. I’ve had no problems to this day…. in fact, it’s done me wonderful things… hmmm… I think…
well, why don’t you check it out for yourself at:
http://language-tetsu.blogspot.com/2010/11/pentalingual-ramblings-1-introduction.html
…and see if you like what could be awaiting for your children if you simply give them as much exposure to various languages while they’re young?
Hopefully you like it, because I can’t thank my parents enough for what they’ve done for me, and I am sure that your children will also feel that way later!
Best wishes.
tetsu´s last [type] ..Pentalingual ramblings 1 – Introduction
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