Parents of multilingual children worry the most if their children will be able to keep up with all the languages and have a sufficient knowledge, proficiency, academically speaking, once they go to school. Schools do regular language and literacy assessments and even international schools tend to assess the school language only or at least also the dominant language – […]
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Can SEN children become bilingual?
One of the biggest myths when it comes to bilingualism is that it causes language delay in children. I understand that if a child is a “late speaker” or has some speech issues, teachers and parents often think that the reason for this is because the child is overwhelmed by all the languages. The first thought is, […]
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Dutch and German: what do they have in common?
Learning a new language is always very exciting. Especially when the new language we’re learning is similar to one we already know. These similarities can be at different levels (phonetical, lexical, syntactical etc.). The Dutch language belongs to the West-German branch of the Indoeuropean languages and is actually close to German (and Swissgerman). [The simplified […]
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When you end up talking another language with your child…
Many internationals end up talking another language with their child than the one they chose at the beginning. There are different reasons for this: – They live in a country where their mother tongue is not recognized as an important (= prestigious enough…) language, i.e. it is not supported by the school and society, and […]
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Mother tongue, first language, native language or dominant language?
Get an overview of several terms that refer to the first languages we acquire or learn, those we use to a high level of proficiency etc.
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