accidento bizarro

Bringing up a bilingual child

The second in my vanishingly-rare series of language/ linguistics podcasts. Prompted by a conversation with @festinagirl and @broomwagonblog on twitter this morning, I ramble on fairly non-technically for a bit about bilingualism (my first love and erstwhile research obsession), and general factors that support or hinder child bilingualism. I do try to keep it brief.

Download podcast: Bringing up a bilingual child

Here’s a bit of information about the linguist who spoke Klingon to his son for three years.

Further reading

Baker, C. 2000. A parents’ and teachers’ guide to bilingualism. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.

(Readable, non-technical introduction in a Q&A format. Mostly focuses on elite bilingualism but some other contexts are covered too.)

Pearson, B. Z. 2008. Raising a bilingual child. New York: Living Language.

(A kind of how-to manual, also non-technical in nature. Again, the main focus is on an elite bilingual context but Pearson brings in a good deal of the wider research into bilingual communities.)

Hoffmann, C. 1991. An introduction to bilingualism. London: Longman.

(Oldie but goodie. More academic in tone but still readable, a good general introduction to bilingualism with a useful chapter on bilingual families of all sorts.)

Romaine, S. 1995. Bilingualism. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

(Again, a bit old now, but I keep coming back to it. An academic textbook; I used this with second year undergraduates. Comprehensive discussion of many aspects of bilingualism, thoroughly referenced.)

The now-defunct Bilingual Family Newsletter archive is good for a browse, too.