When we speak about literacy development in multilingual families, we often picture clear, parallel progress across all languages: a child learns to read in one language, then transfers those skills into the next. However, real multilingual development unfolds in waves, sometimes accelerating in one language while temporarily pausing in another. The pattern of literacy development
Across the world, multilingual families are navigating rapidly changing linguistic landscapes. Children grow up in multicultural societies, in homes where several languages coexist, and in classrooms that reflect a global mosaic.
A persistent myth about bilingualism is that adults cannot properly learn new languages. On the contrary, research shows that adults are capable of achieving fluency, even when starting later in life (Garraffa, Sorace & Vender, 2020). What differentiates adults from children is not exactly their capacity to learn, but the mechanisms and emotional attitudes involved
When families move to a new country, parents often carry a big dream: they want their children to learn the local language for school and community life, but they also hope to keep their home language alive. After all, language is more than words; it’s a connection to grandparents, culture, memories, and identity.
When you raise your children away from your homeland, you quickly realize that the task is not only to keep a language alive. For many of us, it is about passing on a whole world of feelings and identity.
For multilingual families it is natural for adults to blend words or phrases from multiple languages. This “mixing the languages”, or code-mixing, is very normal in multilingual communication. However, it is not advisable to use it consistently when speaking to and with young children, i.e. babies and toddlers in one-on-one situations.
As the school year wraps up, many parents feel a mix of pride, relief, and exhaustion. But if you’re raising multilingual children abroad, this moment carries an extra layer, one that often goes unnoticed.
Neurodivergence is a widely discussed topic today, and efforts are underway to adapt social and educational environments – traditionally designed for neurotypical children – to be more inclusive. One of the key goals of inclusive education is to adjust tasks and activities so that neurodivergent children can fully participate. However, embracing neurodiversity goes beyond accommodation; it means accepting, celebrating, and supporting neurodivergent children as they are. Their differences are part of natural human variation and do not need to be fixed or changed.
Multilingualism is often celebrated or emphasized as a gift or a superpower. Such descriptions emphasize the advantages of using multiple languages, they can also mislead people to falsely assume and expect it to be easy.