The best way to learn Dutch is to fully immerse into the language and join the worldwide 23 million native speakers in the Netherlands, Flanders, Suriname, or the 4 million people who speak Dutch as a second or foreign language. You can also start with listening to a local radio (online), watch local TV, get in contact […]
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Home Language Maintenance with Teenagers
[update May 2023] If you have teenagers whose school language is not one of the home languages it might be difficult to make them read, write and “immerse” into the home languages. If they don’t get any formal education in those languages it is very difficult to maintain them at home. The switching to the […]
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The Third Language Model
Audio The Third Language Model How do multilinguals preceive, experience their languages? How do their languages influence the way they perceive themselves, their identity and sense of belonging? We know that multilinguals are not a combination of multiple monolinguals in one, but a unique combination and sum of their languages that they have acquired and […]
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Code-switching, what to do, when should I worry?
This is one of the questions I get asked frequently: When should I worry when my children do code-switching? First of all, the term code-switching is widely used as an umbrella term for using different languages in the same sentence, alternating them to some extent. It is not to be confused with borrowing, where a […]
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Multilingual Assessment in the Netherlands
Some international families send their children to international schools, especially if they move frequently this seems to be the best option as the curriculum of international schools is expected to be similar all over the world. Unfortunately this is not the case. There are sometimes major differences even within the same kind of “international” school […]
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