This is a guest post by Eve Bodeux. Eve is mother of two boys, married to a Frenchman. She lives in the Denver, Colorado USA area and blogs at bloggingonbilingualism.com

Parents the globe over have bilingualism (or multilingualism) as a goal for their children as they realize the value this advantage provides in our ever-smaller world. Mixing traditional approaches with modern supplemental activities allows enthusiastic parents to encourage their children in learning a second language. Here are my five top tips for success!

1. Start early

Introduce your child to his or her second language as soon as possible. Immediately after birth is not too soon! Don’t be discouraged, though, if you are introducing your child to a bilingual environment at a later age. Any linguistic input you are able to provide your child in a second language will propel him or her on the path to successful communication and contribute to his or her enthusiasm for learning about the world as a larger global community.

2. Encourage regular conversation

Have your child engage in conversation often with a native or proficient non-native speaker. This can be one or both parents, but if you do not speak the language you are targeting, this could be a relative, a good friend or a visitor from abroad for the summer, for example. The more time a child spends in exposure to the language, the more fluent he or she will become.

3. Take advantage of new technologies…

Nothing replaces human interaction, but use the tools at your disposal in today’s fast paced world. Does your son love his Nintendo DS? Then buy him games in Spanish to teach him new vocabulary without him even noticing as he zaps the bad guy. Does your daughter love her iPod? Download hip songs in Italian or German-language videos from the iTunes store or YouTube to watch on the go. DVDs used wisely can teach children new phrases and vocabulary as well as exposing them to cultural information that goes hand-in-hand with their second language.

4. …but don’t forget about books

Books are key to your child’s success in becoming fluent. They provide rich vocabulary input as well as develop literacy. For children just being introduced to a new language, feel free to use dual language texts side by side to encourage your child’s growing confidence. However, do not underestimate your child’s ability to learn quickly and, especially if your child is not reading yet, go for full immersion. Acquire monolingual books in your target language and your child will quickly begin to recognize new words, concepts and grammatical structures.

5. Demonstrate practical benefits

Show your child the practical side of the language. No one wants to learn a skill that isn’t used for anything. Does learning Italian help him to communicate with his Grandmother in Rome on Skype? Does understanding French let her be an email pen pal with the cute exchange student from last summer? Consistently use your second language when participating in a special activity with your child such as skiing or cooking.

Know that bilingualism is a journey and there will be highs and lows, but stick with it and you and your child will reap the long-term benefits. In addition to the obvious linguistic benefits, bilingualism encourages problem-solving skills and contributes to making your child a true world citizen.

What are your experiences with raising bilingual children? Do you have any tips to add to the list?

Read more:
A truly Spanglish couple: learning Spanish in Cancun, Mexico
Bilingualism in expat couples
Resources for multi-cultural families

Where are you from?

Özlem: I’m Turkish and Javier is Spanish

Where did you meet?

We met in Bursa (in Turkey) in a dinner organized by a mutual friend.

What language do you speak at home?

At the beginning we were speaking in English. Later I started to learn Spanish and for me to practice it we started to speak in Spanish. After, we moved to Barcelona, then in order that Javier does not lose his Turkish now we speak in Turkish.

Do you try to cook food from each other’s countries?

We don’t have a preference about the country, both of us like each other’s cuisine but normally Javier cooks Spanish Food and me Turkish. The food is quite similar but in general Spanish dishes include more seafood and Turkish dishes more meat.

Can you explain one part of your partner’s culture that you found surprising?

Özlem: The most surprising thing in Spanish culture for me is that they have dinner very late, around 10 o’clock in the night. In Turkey normally we have dinner lately at 7 o’clock. Oh my god, it is very difficult to keep until that hour and later to sleep properly. I will never be able to get used to it!

Javier: One of the things that surprises me about the Turkish culture is the huge sense of hospitality, they meet you today and tomorrow you are at their home having dinner and finally it happens like me…. you get married!!!

What’s the best thing about being in a cross-cultural relationship?

You do not stop learning things about each other’s culture and this makes you more open-minded.

What’s the hardest thing about being in a cross-cultural relationship?

Sometimes it is difficult to explain some feelings but on the other hand it is nice because it makes you learn more about those feelings.

For instance the way that we feel when we listen to a song in Turkish or Spanish is different because of the difference of the languages and cultures.

Do you have any advice for other cross-cultural couples?

It is very helpful to learn each other’s language. Also we hope for more cross-cultural couples to help work towards… WORLDWIDE PEACE!!!

Over to you - tell us in the comments what questions you would like to ask the next couples. And if you’d like to be interviewed, sign up here

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Read more stories of cross-cultural relationships

Kelly (Canada) and Jorge (Mexico)

When I arrived in Mexico five years ago, I spoke nary a word of Spanish, “cerveza, baño, cenicero, cigaro” and the all important “por favor” and “gracias” were about all I had learned for my “vacation”. I met Hubby on the beach after only a couple of weeks in Mexico, not realizing that he would be the reason for me to stay. Hubby spoke English well and that is how we communicated, there was no need for us to speak Spanish to each other. In fact, there was no need to speak Spanish at all on Cozumel, everyone I met spoke English and that was the language of the community we played and worked in. My first six months in Mexico didn’t require me to study at all, though I certainly picked up phrases as I went along.

When we moved to Cancun, things did change. We were now in the big city and living downtown, if I was going to survive I needed to be able to communicate in Spanish. Hubby was working all day and I was on my own to take care of grocery shopping, etc., so I was forced to really begin sucking in the language. And suck in the language I did, I was terrible! Hubby certainly didn’t make things any easier, he is not the most patient man in the world so having him try to teach me was not working out. Often my attempts at the language were mocked, he still reminds me to this day of the funny mistakes I made that caused his ribs to hurt with laughter.

So, I was alone in the city, no money for Spanish classes, no computer for internet lessons, nothing but a dictionary and newspapers. I would sit with a paper and the dictionary and do my best to try to understand what was happening in the world. This was valuable, until I tried to pronounce the words, they all came out with French pronunciations! I realized that all my years of French in school in Canada was both a detriment and an advantage. I could understand the meaning of the words as they were often quite similar, but the pronunciation was a disaster, French and Spanish are quite different and my “Frespañol” was quite ugly. And so our relationship continued in English.

Over the years I have learned a lot from taxi drivers, co-workers, students and web sites like www.studyspanish.com, but still haven’t had a formal class. My Spanish has improved immensely and I am able to not only survive but I can discuss politics, tell a joke, deal with household service providers, etc., etc.. In the last few days I’ve been listening to our conversations in the house more closely to see what we really use with each other. I realize that we are truly a Spanglish couple. It’s really mixed up, I’ll throw Spanish words into English sentences, ask him a question in English and he’ll reply in Spanish or vice versa, we very rarely have a conversation that is solely in one language, though English certainly is still the prevalent tongue in the house. He still laughs at my Spanish, but I’ve built up a tough layer of skin so I can laugh along with him now.

The one place that we do not mix is with Max. When Max was born we read a lot about raising a bilingual child and we decided to use the “OPOL” (one parent, one language) method. I only speak English with Max and Hubby only speaks Spanish. This method is working wonders, Max’s language skills surprise me everyday. He never, ever speaks Spanish to me and he won’t speak English to Hubby, no matter what language we are speaking to each other. If I do speak Spanish to him, he really doesn’t like it and he says “English mommy, English” and the same is true with his Daddy. He thinks it’s pretty funny when Daddy speaks English to him, it just doesn’t fit his world even though he knows that Daddy is bilingual and he usually only responds in Spanish.

Language has certainly caused some problems in our house, misunderstandings, miscommunication and even jealousy. The phrase “te quiero mucho” has been a source of angst for a long time. It means “I love you a lot”, for me a phrase reserved for my romantic partner, letting them know that they are special and different from everyone else. Hubby will use that phrase with others and it makes me very angry, I no longer feel special and I feel that it’s inappropriate for him to say that to friends (particularly female friends). He insists that the phrase can be used for both friends and romantic partners, no matter how often I tell him that it bothers me. I guess you can’t change old habits. I wish there were an equivalent to “love ya” in Spanish, I use that phrase with non-romantic friends, “I love you” feels too strong for me and doesn’t fit a friendly relation. I’ve asked Hubby to try to use “Te amo” with me, it also means “I love you” but it would make me feel that I was different than the friends he so casually uses “te quiero” with. Of course, being a man, he used it a couple of times and forgot so I am relegated to “TQM” once again. I’ll take it, being told “I love you” in any way should make you feel good, I’ve got to get over it I guess. As Hubby says, “Es tu pedo”, “it’s your fart”, meaning deal with your own issues!

I’m looking forward to the next few years to see how our language relationship develops. I have noticed that more and more Spanish is making its way into our home, in chat and text messages and in conversation as well. I don’t know if it will ever be the main language of the house, I think after five years of being primarily English speakers, we’re probably set in our ways. I do wish we had a secret language, something we can use to speak when we don’t want Max to know what we are saying, the spelling game just gets confusing for both of us! “Don’t give Max any more “C A N D Y”". “Que dijiste?” “C A N D Y”. “QUE?” “D U L C E S”. “Oh, candy!”. Great, Max heard that one, sigh, give him the damn chocolate bar……

Kelly writes about life with her bi-cultural family in Cancun, Mexico on her blog A Canuck in Cancun. This story was originally published on her blog here.

Most multi-cultural couples seem to have their own unique take on the language they speak between them.

Many end up speaking a mixture of languages depending on how they feel at the time. Some start sentences in one language and finish in another, other couples stick mainly to one language but throw in the odd word of another. Some couples even use three languages to communicate!

This topic was the inspiration for a group blogging project started by Fned - a Mexican / American married to a French / Romanian husband - on her blog Fned’s blog.

In ‘bilingualism in expat couples’ a group of multicultural couples write about their experiences and experiments with different languages. Read Fned’s story and find links to the rest of the posts here.

Read More:
Articles about languages from Topics of the World
How cross-cultural relationships play an important role in breaking down prejudice

I’m going off-topic a bit for this post, but I wanted to point out some updates we’ve made to the Links section of the blogroll for My Partner is a Foreigner.

The purpose of My Partner is a Foreigner is to be a place to learn about other cultures and share cross-cultural experiences, especially involving relationships. Many of our visitors so far are living or thinking about cross-cultural experiences so I hope those of you will find something interesting in these sites.

Take a look and see what you think, and if you have any more to suggest please drop me a line, either in the comments or by email.

Bilingual / Bicultural family network
A network of families around the world who are raising children in a multl-cultural and multi-lingual environment. The website has loads of resources and they also publish a quarterly magazine with more stories and practical help for multi-cultural families.

Expat Blog
An online expatriate community. Blogs, destination guides and forums by expats all over the world.

Expat Women
Help for all women living overseas - advice on all kinds of expat experiences and how to make them sucessful. Articles cover business, relationships, having a baby abroad and there is also a directory of blogs written by expat women.

Intermix
A UK site which provides support to mixed-race families, individuals and anyone who feels they have a multiracial identity. The site contains a lot of information about many aspects of mixed-race experiences and there are forums to meet and discuss with people in similar situations.

EastdatesWest
Started by an Indian-American and Italian-American couple, eastdateswest has stories and other information mainly aimed at cross-cultural relationships involving Indians, many of which can also apply to multi-cultural relationships in general.

Internations
A social network for ‘expatriates and global minds’. Offers everything you would expect from a social network, plus local groups all over the world which organise meetups with other internationally-minded people living nearby.

As always, if you want to write and share your cross-cultural experiences we’d love to hear from you. All stories will of course be credited with a link back to your site if you have one.