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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Multilingualism is good for the economy
Multilingualism is not only good for our brain, our overall flexibility and open mindedness, it is also good for the economy. That countries like the UK with relatively “poor language skills” loses “the equivalent of 3,5% of its GDP every year” for exactly this reason whereas Switzerland, with its four national languages (German, French, Italian […]
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When the home language is not the dominant language
If you are a multilingual, is your home language your most dominant language? Something that surprises me when I read about language policies in schools and elsewhere is, that it is always assumed that people – children and adults – are most proficient, i.e. most fluent, in their home language. This might be correct for […]
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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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Multilingual Parenting Fatigue
If you have done everything you could possibly do to keep your home language alive, but your preteen or teenager doesn’t respond in your home language, or overtly states that “the home language is not cool” or “too difficult”, you may experience multilingual parenting fatigue. Yes, I gave it a name! I was the multilingual […]
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