Parents think carefully: Should the child grow up multilingual?

This situation also occurs in schools. In interviews with various teachers, multilingualism is often seen as a resource; especially if the second language corresponds to a national language or is English. This is not always the case for Albanian, Turkish, Bosnian, Tamil or Arabic, to name just a few.

Some multilingual parents are also aware of this by thinking about which languages ​​they would like to speak in their family. But more importantly, how comfortable and at home they felt in the native language of their childhood, the language of their parents who immigrated to Switzerland.

Multilingualism – spoiled for choice

“Parents should talk to their children in the language they feel most comfortable with,” says Trösch. Emotions are conveyed, among other things, through language. The fact that parents speak to their children in the language in which they can best express themselves also affects the quality of parents’ relationships with their children.

If the family language is other than German, children are introduced to another culture. Senada Mehović (44), mother of five-year-old Saiid, can express herself more tactfully in German and Swiss German, but she and her husband still choose Bosnian as the family language. “Since most of our family lives abroad, I ensure that my son gets to know Bosnian culture in this way.”

His son also gets acquainted with another language family, Slavic, through Bosnian. It is structurally different from Latin languages. “This is how he learns to find his way between different language families.” Mehović says his son’s Bosnian vocabulary has also become more diverse and broader since he spoke his parents’ language. Because it is important for him to express himself in various ways in Bosnian when talking to him.

Carla Ferreira (32) decided differently. She is a new mother and speaks Swiss German, which she speaks to her husband as well as her daughter. Both of their native languages ​​are Portuguese, but in practice they only speak it with their parents and relatives abroad. “I can express myself best and most naturally in Swiss German,” says Ferreira.

The fact that her grandparents looked after her grandchild two days a week made it easier for her parents to decide not to pass on their language to their daughter. “I’m lucky that he was able to learn Portuguese properly through his grandparents,” says Ferreira.

While Ferreira and Mehović ensure that their children learn the language of their grandparents, this is not always the case, as developmental psychologist Trösch knows: The devaluation of a language is often followed by the devaluation of the culture associated with it. To avoid discrimination, it is also possible for people with a “supposedly less valuable” native language to avoid it altogether. “This is truly a shame,” says Trösch.

Languages ​​not only provide valuable access to different cultures, but also improve communication skills. “Children who grow up with several languages ​​develop a feel for different grammatical structures,” explains the expert. That’s why it’s easier for them to learn new languages.

Incorporate linguistic diversity into daily life

While Ferreira’s daughter is learning Swiss German at home, Saiid has been learning Swiss German at the nursery she has been attending since she was seven months old. “It is definitely an advantage to establish language contact with German as early as possible,” says Trösch.

Language learning does not only happen by speaking; Reading books out loud, radio plays or music should not be taken lightly and can be easily incorporated into daily life at home. This allows children to develop a feel for the language. “Then we have a very good chance of learning German quickly in kindergarten.” If a child is introduced to German for the first time in kindergarten, he has a higher risk of falling behind his classmates because he will have to learn the language from scratch.

Since his son started kindergarten, Rusovik has noticed that Saiid is using Bosnian and German simultaneously more and more often. “This is no problem,” says Trösch. If the child begins to use the second language more on his own, you can begin to incorporate it into daily life at home. One rule: Parents should not use more than one language in a single sentence when talking to their children.