http://ask.metafilter.com/tags/polylingual Questions tagged with 'polylingual' at Ask MetaFilter. Sat, 06 May 2006 23:24:42 -0800 Sat, 06 May 2006 23:24:42 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://ask.metafilter.com/37704/How%2Dmany%2Dlanguages%2Dshould%2Dmy%2Dkid%2Dhave%2Dto%2Dlearn Polylingualkidsfilter: (Hypothetical) I'm a Fluent English/French speaker and my wife is a fluent English/Mandarin speaker. Living in an English-speaking country (Australia), in what language should we speak to our kids? We're both of the opinion that knowledge of a second language is a wonderful skill that no one should be without. In this environment, we curious as to whether our kid(s) would benefit from speaking a LOTE (Language Other Than English) at home and English at school. <br> <br> Unfortunately, I don't speak a word of Mandarin, nor does she speak a word of French. Could we realistically speak to our kids in our respective foreign languages and would it be beneficial for them, or quite the opposite? Would speaking to your father in French, your mother in Mandarin and your friends in English give you an incredible advantage over your peers, or would it only serve to confuse you and would you end up with less-than-stellar literacy in all three languages?<br> <br> Thank you for all your input, Mefites. :-) tag:ask.metafilter.com,2006:site.37704 Sat, 06 May 2006 23:24:42 -0800 bilingual education kids parents polylingual trilingual PuGZ