What does the future hold for Multilingual Living and your work in this field?Īh, this is a good question. I hope that Multilingual Living can help us all find what we need for where we are at this moment and not make us feel that we are doing something wrong by not following someone else’s plan.ģ. Stick with one plan for a while and then change it if it isn’t working for you. I hope families out there will understand that this is the way it is meant to be: Test the waters and find out what works for you and your family right now. I guess it is possible that we might end up more of an OPOL family down the road and I need to be okay with this (unless I want to do some intensive German practice to up my language skills which doesn’t seem to be happening). However, I am also learning to morph things in our family’s language landscape based on what works best for all of us and makes the most sense. This makes me sad since I would have hoped that I could communicate with my children in German on all topics forever. However, in the last few years I have noticed that I speak more and more English with my children simply because I lack the vocabulary in German to express what I have to say. One family may practice the One-Person-One-Language (OPOL) method with great success, another will try it and it doesn’t work at all.įor example, in my family we practice what could be termed the Minority-Language-At-Home method since both my husband and I speak German with our children at home. What works for one family may not work for another. There is no one, specific recipe for us all to follow. I also want Multilingual Living to help families and individuals know that each of our family’s multilingualism is unique. The more we feel supported in our efforts, the more we can feel motivated. One way of helping this happen is to provide research, information, real-life stories and support. I see Multilingual Living as a place for people to become inspired and motivated. How would you describe Multilingual Living? In what ways can it help parents seeking to raise bilingual/multilingual children? “There is no one, specific recipe for us all to follow.”Ģ. I wanted to help establish an online community where families could connect, share their experiences and learn about multilingualism in the process. I wanted to help dispel the ridiculous myths circulating about raising children bilingually so that families everywhere could do what they deep down knew was right for their families. My goal with Multilingual Living was to change that landscape: to help create a source of information and resources for families around the world raising children in more than one language. There were a few books out there, which were extremely helpful, but other than that, bilingual/multilingual families were pretty much on their own. Could you share the background behind Multilingual Living? What motivated you to create the site?Īlthough it may seem unbelievable now, back in 2001, when my first child was born, there were really no online resources for families raising children in more than one language, let alone communities focused on this topic. Thank you, Corey, for giving us all this insightful look at your life and your work.ġ. In this candid interview, conducted via email, she offers a personal glimpse of her own bilingual journey as well as a wealth of wise advice for parents. Today I’m delighted to share an inspiring, in-depth interview with Corey Heller, the founder of Multilingual Living, “a place where families can find support, information and motivation in raising multilingual and multicultural children.” Corey, an American, lives with her German husband in Seattle, Washington where they raise and homeschool their three children, ages 12, 10, and 8, in German and English.Ĭorey has been an important trailblazer in providing support to families seeking to raise multilingual children and I greatly admire the efforts she has made over the years.
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