Customer Reviews

Growing Up with Two Languages: A Practical Guide 2nd Edition

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book gives lots of examples of bilingual / bicultural parents doing raising their kids in different ways and how these different approaches work. The examples are taken from around the world (although the authors are Swedish / Irish, so many examples are from their own family.) But what I really like about the book is the emphasis they give to all of the 'related issues' of raising a bilingual child--not just what's the best way to get children to speak, read and write two languages (although that's part of what the book covers), but also issues like: how do you deal with a situation where you always speak to your child in a language your spouse or parents-in-law don't understand, and not make them feel left out? What about when your child has to take foreign language classes at school for a language he's already fluent in (and maybe speaks better than the teacher, or at least thinks he does)? If you're the parent who speaks the minority language, how do you maintain your fluency in that language when no one else near you speaks it? And does it bother you that when you speak to your child in a minority language when you're out in public, that you attract attention, or that other people perceive you as a foreigner who can't speak the majority language properly? How do you deal with cultural differences in "bringing up children properly" (British people may expect children to play quietly, Scandianvian children are expected to take off their shoes when they come into someone's home, in some cultures physical proximity is much less and people hug and stand close in a way that might be uncomfortable for other cultures, etc.) How do you change the rules of what's 'good behaviour' when you travel? What about when grandparents are visiting? Growing up in a family where the parents come from different countries or cultures is a whole lot more than learning to speak two languages, and this book explores a lot of those areas. The book doesn't tell you what to do--just makes you aware of a number of different issues that can come up and describes some of the things that other people have done in those situations.

I am raising my daughter in Germany. She will be growing up with two languages too. This book was informative. Among the topics were mixed language families and intercultural marriage, developing a language system, language development,advantages and disadvantages of two languages, practical parenting in a bilingual home, problems and motivation. This book also has an internet resources list too. I have this book and also "The Bilingual Family: A Handbook for Parents" in my library. Which I would recommend to all families going bilingual.

I have to agree with the last reviewer, that this book is a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps that is due more to my expectations of the book than the actual content. What I was looking for was concrete techniques to assist in raising children bilingually, with information backed up by research from the field. There is a large amount of research on the topic of bilingualism, and it would be nice to find it summarized in a single volume. However, this is a series of excerpts taken from various parents in bilingual situations together with reasonably obvious statements, with little relation to linguistic research. While the various opinions from parents were interesting, this could be found online at a bilingual forum. The rest, you will probably already know by instinct.

I expected far more substantial explanation and real-world advice. What I got was a collection of anecdotes that yielded more common sense conclusions than expert insight.

And as a parent raising bilingual, bi-racial, bi-cultural children, I really disagree with restricting the native speaking parent to their own language. To create a family bond in all directions, IMO, it has worked best for both parents to model both languages, with emphasis (of course) at home on the language not experienced in everyday life. Our child quickly-- by age two-- could easily distinguish between the two and perform his own translations when prompted.

As an expectant mother of bi-cultural, bi-racial, and hopefuly bi-lingual child, I am reading any kind of books which might help me. On the contrary to many praises, this book was a big dissapointment for me. The authors keep repeating the same thing chapter after chapter, and failed to give any concrete evidence to explain why. If you just want to read many bits and pieces opinions from bilingual children's parents, this may be the right book for you. I rather recommend "The Bilingual Family."

I'm parent of three bilingual boys. I have read different books on education of bilingual babys. This one is perfect in my opinion. Is simple but complete. Is full of examples and, above all, is full of "common sense": I mean, the book present the bilinguism explaining also its problems and the differences among different babys; it helps you to understand that certain limits and situations are completely normal.

For obvious reasons this book should be easy to read. Unfortunately it isn't, especially not if you're not English (and due to the theme of the book, at least one of two readers could be expected to be non English). The book is full of incredibly long sentences and woolly language and the constant use of terms like 'minority language' and 'majority language' is very confusing.
So far for the style. Now the content. Contrary to the subtitle it's not practical at all. One parent should speak one language, the other should speak the other, both should be consistent - that's the message that is repeated over and over again, and it's about the only practical advice you'll find here. The rest is a heap of possible situations without really valuable tips. Most of the comments from bilingual parents you'll read in this book seem out of context and are therefore not useful.
Why a 2 stars rating and not 1? The book was written with honest intentions and I think the authors did their best. But, Mr. Publisher, where was your editor?

I don't find this book to resemble a practical guide so much as one family's account of their experience. Furthermore, their experience isn't representative enough of typical bilingual families to serve many readers much good. I quickly grew tired of their personal examples and wished for more neutral guidance. As a result, I found myself struggling to bother past the first few chapters and ultimately feel I was mislead by the title and therefore selected the wrong book.

My husband and I found this book to be a useful guide to build an action an action plan for how to attempt to raise a bilingual child, which is yet to be born. Most of our bicultural friends have attempted to raise a bilingual or multilingual child in the United States but have failed in the attempt. We read the book in order to help us build an action plan and prepare for what seems to be a challenging but hopefully doable goal. The book provides results based on research as well as parents sharing their experiences. It is a practical guide although a bit repetitive and could be written more swiftly. Skim through the beginning, but dont give up. It does eventually start giving concrete examples of different methods that can be adopted in the household and how to deal with critical situations. It helped us answer questions such as: 1) will the child pick up the accent of the parent if he or she speaks to them in a language that is not their first lagunage. 2) is one methold better than another? 3) what are the key success factors 4)what factors play a role in helping a child be multilingual.

This is a wonderful resource for anyone who is raising a child with more than one language. There's a good mix of scientific research, information on language development, practical advice, and anecdotes from parents around the world -- highly recommended.