Bilingual children

[salinea]

A question for a friend of mine :

She and her husband are Japanese living in Denmark, and they are raising a lovely little girl (1yr old or so). She's also pregnant of another little girl. They're looking for good information and guide about raising a bilingual child.

I trust my cosmopolitain flist to solve this conundrum. Anyone knows of any good books to rec, or of good websites on the subject, or have any general advice?

Comments

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

I know several kids (and not-really-kids anymore) who were raised bilingual, either Spanish-Italian or Spanish-German. As far as I know, the parents didn't follow books/websites. If both parents are European, they speak their native language at home and Spanish everywhere else (or when Spanish-speaking people visit them, of course). It gets more complicated when only one of the parents speaks the foreign language; in the cases I know, they aren't very organized about it. ^_^U

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Well, one of the question she's wondering was whether they were talking too much Japanese at home. I don't know how much her little girl (Rie) is getting exposed to Danish.

[icemannorth.livejournal.com]

See Harum's post below, but generally as both parents are Japanese they should speak that at home. As long as the girl plays with Danish children, and go to a nursery home like most other Danish children, there shouldn't be any problem.