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By Christine Holt
With reference to your article on the above subject in the June-July
edition of the Reporter, you might be interested to hear of my
experience with bringing up bilingual children. As soon as my children
were born, I spoke nothing but English to them, whereas my husband
(Italian) always spoke Italian.
In spite of hearing two languages from the start, my elder son
started to speak before he was a year old. When he was just 3, we went
to live in Zaire, where he soon picked up French as a third language at
nursery school.
My younger son was only 6 months old when we moved to Africa
and therefore heard, not only English from me and Italian from my
husband, but also French which was the lingua franca among the
children, and Lingala from the domestic staff. Probably as a result of
this, although he understood all four languages, he did not speak until
he was 3 years old - and then with a stammer! However in no time at
all, the stammer disappeared and he was able to express himself in all
these languages.
Both my sons went to English elementary school, first in Africa
and later in England, and then to Italian secondary school (a "language
lycée" where they were able to keep up both their English and French,
and to learn Spanish as well). My elder son was the only child who was
not 100% Italian in his class and, as you mentioned in your article,
hated being "different" and being spoken to in English in public. My
younger son, on the other hand, was one of several 'half-and-halfs" in
the class, and did not feel any different from the others. In spite of
the fact that one somewhat blinkered teacher suggested that my sons
might get on better at school if I spoke Italian to them rather than
English (to which I replied that it was better for me to speak 100%
fluent English with an English accent, than sometimes incorrect Italian
with an English accent!), I persevered. As a result, my two sons are
absolutely fluent in both "mother-tongues" and are now continuing their
studies in English with great success at foreign Universities (one
American, one English) here in Rome, where they obviously have the
upper-hand over their Italian fellow-students. In addition, because of
their multi-lingual upbringing and the fact that my husband and I work
with a United Nations organization and have friends of diverse
nationalities, they are able to converse with ease with guests or
answer the phone in several languages.
In contrast to this, I have several English friends who also
married Italians, but who only spoke Italian to their children, for
fear of confusing them when they were young. The result is that these
children, now adult, STILL speak English with an Italian accent and do
not have the same grasp of English colloquial expressions as my sons!
I therefore encourage any foreign girls who marry Italians to
make sure that they speak their own language with their children. Not
only is it a missed opportunity if such children are not brought up to
be bilingual, but it also means that they are losing a large part of
their cultural heritage.
© Christine Holt
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Language and Learning 
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