Customer Reviews

Raising a Bilingual Child (Living Language)

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3 star:		(4)
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Chapter Two on Learning a First Language is the best thing I have read on First Language Acquisition and I plan to tell the professors where I work that this is the text they should use for their courses on First and Second Language Acquisition (which I have taught for four years). The information is presented in a concise and easy to understand manner so that scholars and parents alike will find it useful and interesting. I think any parent or scholar would find this a useful resource whether they are looking to understand their child's development or trying to find research to back their claims on the benefits of bilingualism. This book is a gold mine of information backed in research. There is nothing that I have read so far on the market that explains all this in such detail and in such a easy way to understand. This is a must as a textbook for a class on language acquisition or as a manual for parents to use as a reference.

A SIGH OF RELIEF FOR ATTEMPTING TO BE BILINGUAL AT HOME
After reading the introduction and the first chapter on The benefits of Childhood Bilingualism, I breathed a sigh of relief. I did not know until reading this book that there were so many other parents like myself who did not grow up speaking another language, yet they are teaching a second language to their children. The book discusses the phenomenon of so many Americans in this generation having the opportunity to travel and experience other languages and cultures. This has created a niche of people in the U.S. who are raising their children with the values and languages they acquired abroad. I live in an English-Only state with everyone questioning my reasons for bringing up my daughter in the two languages of Spanish and English. It is nice to find a home for my feelings and know there is a larger community of people out there who are following in the same footsteps towards bilingualism. Thank you for giving me hope and appreciation for what I am attempting to do by publishing this book.

This book is an excellent tool for anybody who wants to know about bilingual families and bilingual upbringing. The book explains in a very friendly way how language is acquired and the benefits as well as the misconceptions of children raised in bilingual environments. What makes this book unique is that the recommendations are based on research. A must have for anybody interested in language!

My husband and I speak different languages and we are expecting our first child. She is also my parents' first grandchild and they are crazy about her. Unfortunately, my parents do not speak English, and my in-laws do not speak Spanish. For us it is very important that our child has the best of both cultures and that she grows up as an independent child that is able to express herself.

We found this book interesting, very informative and easy to read. It is a great educational tool for parents who believe in spending time with their children rather than sitting them in front of the TV.

I bought this book because the other reviews were so positive. I appreciate its academic value. But as a mom of two children under 3 who is raising her children billingual, I have not found it as parent-friendly and applicable as I need. I tend to fall asleep every time I try to read it.

I found this book helpful in getting my husband and I started on a path to bilingualism. The author discusses different approaches. I bought this book because it had a whole section on OPOL (One Parent One Language), which is what we are trying.
The reason I only gave it 3 stars is because I found myself reading (or as I interpreted) many justifications as to why bilingualism works/ is important. I felt the author was trying to sell me on educating my child to be bilingual...I bought the book for a reason - obviously I believe in bilingualism, don't try to then sell me on it in every chapter.
The book was very informative and the author has done lots of research. The book in itself is very helpful.

The author has done so much research, yet refuses to make objective observations. Failed attempts have nearly no representation, so the later 2/3rds of the book is simply a collection of we-tried-this-and-it-was-so-so stories. You could choose to follow the example of a case study in the book and never know it fails for three out of four kids.

I have plenty of adult friends who failed to become fluent let alone native-level bilinguals despite their general academic strength and their parents efforts, so it's not a trivial issue.

I'll be looking for another book on the topic.

I have one major warning for people considering purchasing this book, if you are monolingual STAY AWAY! The author claims that even parents who can't speak a foreign language can find loads of great advice for raising their children to become bilingual - this just isn't the case. If you or your spouse can speak your child's target language then you have found a decent book (although really most of the advice is simply "speak to your child in the minority language"). If you cannot speak enough of whichever language you want to have your child learn, this book is less than useless.

In the Spanish music and movement program for young children that
I direct, I recommend Barbara Pearson's book to all the parents, whether they come from monolingual or multilingual homes.

I find the book very encouraging. My husband and I (both native
speakers of English) are raising our three children bilingually. I re-read parts of the book when I want to be re-energized, sometimes to find what our next steps are, sometimes just to be reminded why we're doing it. With young children in the house, it took me a little while to get around to reading the sections with background information about bilinguals, but when I did, I found them fascinating and accessible.

I don't understand how someone can think this book is not
objective. Pearson addresses so many different scenarios and types of bilingual households that it's easy to find yourself in the book. I feel she bends over backwards to include as many different perspectives as possible, including people who tried to raise a bilingual child, but let it go. She is practical and realistic. She lets you know that bilingualism doesn't just happen unless someone helps it happen. It takes commitment and a certain amount of outside help, which isn't always available.

I keep a couple of copies on hand, and lend them to people when they have questions I can't answer. I am thrilled that it's just been published in Spanish - Hijo Bilingüe - so now I can recommend the book to my Spanish speaking families as well.

As other readers have already noted, Barbara Zurer Pearson's book is much more than a simple how-to guide. Rather, Zurer Pearson brings her ample experience as a linguist specialized in bilingualism and her broad knowledge of the literature in the field to her book to present a comprehensive introduction to both the issues surrounding bilingualism and children and the different methods parents can use to achieve it. Her writing style is fun and easy to read even when referencing technical studies, and she breaks down the findings in an engaging way for experts and laypeople alike.

The book begins with a general discussion of bilingualism, in which Zurer Pearson offers compelling, research-grounded arguments for the wealth of benefits of growing up bi- or multilingual. In addition to references to the literature on such things as bilingualism's effect on wider language abilities, mental flexibility, etc., arguments include personal accounts from parents and people who grew up bilingual themselves. It continues with an enlightening exploration of the language-acquisition process, in terms of both the biology involved (how do our brains work) and environmental factors (exposure to languages, etc.). Chapter 4 addresses how to establish a bilingual environment for your child, based on your goals, resources, etc. To this end, it identifies the key factors (e.g., exposure, attitude, etc.) and introduces the four major strategies that families most often use. It moreover includes a helpful section in the form of answers to common questions that parents who aspire to raise their children bilingually might have, as well as a short trouble-shooting section for parents whose kids need extra encouragement to use their second (or third) languages. Chapter 5 offers a wide variety of case studies (36!) of families that have pursued different methods (from classic "one parent, one language" approaches to cases of parents who do not speak the second language they wish to teach natively and even cases of families seeking to give their children a trilingual upbringing). This is particularly helpful, as each family's situation is different and no single strategy is "best" in every case. The case studies thus offer a helpful window onto efforts that have met with varying degrees of success, which families can use as additional tales of triumph or caution to fine-tune their own individualized strategies at home. The book concludes with sections on possible language impairments, research comparing monolinguals and bilinguals, and bilingual identity, as well as a list of helpful resources for anyone interested in additional information. There is likewise an extensive reference section at the end for further reading.

In short, this is an excellent book for parents interested in the exciting challenge of bringing up their children bi- or multilingually, particularly those who do not have the privilege of living in bi- or multilingual societies.

As a specialist in bilingual and world languages education, I am always on the look for good resources to recommend to parents. Zurer Pearson's book is a solid, well-researched, practical and easy-to-read tool for all those interested in raising their children in more than one language. I particularly like the author's encouragement words and recommendations for parents who are not native speakers of the second language of their choice. This book would make an excellent gift for expecting and new parents. The earlier, the better!