Growing Up with Two Languages [antikvár]

Preface For those hke ourselves, who grew up using a single language except during foreign language lessons at school, it is a new experience to live great chunks of life through the medium of another language and culture. Even if the second language involved is one that was learned at school, its daily use involves new challenges and rewards. All sorts of issues must be addressed depending on the circumstances, such as the choice of language to be spoken to which people in which situation, and how those involved will acquire reasonable facility in their second language, and what relationship they will have to the non-native culture. This book is intended for parents who find their everyday life involves two or more languages. The readers we have in mind are not generally part of an established bilingual community in a country, but rather individuals or families who have uprooted and resettled in another linguistic environment, or their partners or children. This raises fascinating issues, such as the question of what it is not to be a native speaker of a language, with full access to the associated culture, and how best to hold your own as a non-native. We will not try to tell you how best to learn a second language, but rather what the effects of dealing with two languages may be for you or your children. There are so many of us in the same boat. Let us leam from each other! This book is the second edition of a book originally published in 1999. The parts of the text that refer to our own children have been updated, and the sections relating to older children and teenagers have been extended to reflect our experiences. The appendix dealing with Internet resources has, of course, been thoroughly revamped. In the years that have passed since the first edition was published the main thing that has changed is that our children have grown older. Leif is now 17, Anders is 15, Pat is 11 and Lisa is 10. This means that we are better able to see how