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Ezinne Kwubiri, Head of Diversity & Inclusion for H&M North America, will be one of the keynote speakers at FIGT’s 2020 Annual Conference in Bangkok this March.

Ezinne Kwubiri is a change agent, diversity leader, innovator, and ally. Her professional career began in the financial services industry, though she quickly set her sights to the media and entertainment industries. During her 11-year tenure at Viacom Media Networks (MTV), Ezinne served in various roles in auditing, compliance, project management, change management, diversity and inclusion, and employee engagement. 

This thought leader is now using her talents in the fashion industry to drive inclusion and diversity in H&M’s North America market, the first of its kind in the role. 

[ Watch Ezinne talk about her background and work, and share her excitement about meeting the FIGT community. ]

Ezinne’s proven track record for executing with excellence, driving innovative results, and championing for progressive change, speak for themselves. She uses her experience and network to support organizations that empower young girls and service underrepresented communities. Her world view is one that upholds the values that mandate equality, access, and opportunity for all humanity.

ALSO: See our full lineup of FIGT2020 Keynote Speakers.

Look out for more details of Ezinne’s keynote coming soon. FIGT2020 Embracing & Bridging Differences will take place in Bangkok, March 13-15. For more information and to register, visit https://www.figt.org/Annual_Conference.

Also read more about “diversity and inclusion,” FIGT's theme for January/February 2020.

For some expat pairs, it's a reality that one partner is frequently away on travel while the other is left to hold the fort. FIGT2020 presenter Rhoda Bangerter knows firsthand what that lifestyle entails. She shares some practical tips for couples to help maintain their ties.

Interview with Rhoda Bangerter

First, please tell us a bit about yourself.

My husband and I are going on fourteen years of marriage. He is Swiss and I am part Middle-Eastern, British, and French. We are currently living in two different countries as he works in a non-family posting. I am a missionary kid and a cross-cultural kid, a mom of TCKs, a wife of a traveling spouse, and a life coach. 

Why does expat partners and frequent travel interest you? 

My husband has traveled for work over most of our time as a couple: sometimes into dangerous situations, sometimes to very nice places. There have even been times when we arrived in a posting and he was already off on a work trip. 

Meantime, I found a home, transitioned the kids into a new school, and settled in. Or the other way around: he went on to his new job, while I sold the house, organized the goodbyes and shipped us all off to our new destination. 

Don’t get me wrong, I was ok with doing it, although it was hard sometimes. 

I have had enough conversations with fellow globally mobile families over the years to know that often, a big part of a posting includes a traveling spouse. Indeed, I appreciate my friends with whom I can compare notes. 

Can you give any practical tips for spouses who are in this situation?

Over the years, this is what I have learned helps.

As a couple

1. Saying goodnight and good morning every day. At the moment, we have a three-and-a-half-hour time difference between us so I text good morning to him when I get up and he texts good night to me when he goes to bed. Our neighbors have breakfast with each other every morning on Skype.

2. Remaining friends. Any couple needs to find time to remain friends but even more so when often in different contexts. We enjoy reading a book at the same time and comparing notes after completing a chapter. A friend regularly plays a complete game of scrabble with her husband online.

3. Creating one narrative out of two realities. We can’t always fully understand what our spouse is experiencing but taking time to share helps create one compound reality. 

With family

1. Return rituals. This could be a special meal you eat or a game you play that re-includes the traveling parent home. Asking each other Re-entry Questions can also help. This is ours: I will ask him what he needs/wants to do while he is home. After a day or two, I will ask him if he feels included. He will ask me what he can be involved with and what has been planned. 

2. Creating a country profile of wherever the parent is traveling to. This helps give the children a window into the reality their parents will be seeing. 

3. Keeping a home diary with kids’ quotes, photos of school work, anything new that has been bought, to show with the traveling spouse on their return. 

For yourself

1. Pace yourself: this lifestyle is not a sprint, it is a marathon. Enjoy the times of rest when you can.

2. Ask for help: living abroad often means that the network of close friends and family lives far. Help in the home may be part of some postings, but in others, the support with day to day life may be missing. Not having brought in help is the biggest regret I hear from people. 

3. Counseling or coaching can bring the professional resources that you need and enable you to share personal details you may not want to share with a friend. They can also help maintain stability for yourself as your situation may be in continuous flux.

Where can we learn more about this topic?

I am currently collecting wisdom from globally mobile families where one spouse travels for work and the other is home, whether for a season or until the children are older, with the aim of publishing a book on the topic in 2021. 

I will be presenting the initial results of my research in a concurrent session at FIGT2020, so please find me there, or contact me if this theme has struck a chord with you and if you would like to share your tips and experience. 

Add your voice. Share your strategies and experience by completing this survey!

You can also find me via my website www.amulticulturallife.com, where I blog about identity, cultural dynamics in multicultural families and global mobility. 

Join Rhoda at FIGT2020, where you can discuss this topic directly with her...not to mention meet and engage with the welcoming FIGT community!

The FIGT blog welcomes submissions from our small business/corporate members. We seek to support members to share their knowledge and to connect, particularly on lesser-known topics. For details, contact blogeditor@figt.org. 

Families in Global Transition is pleased to announce that SENIA International joins us as a first-time Silver Sponsor. 

SENIA International is the Special Education Network & Inclusion Association, a global organization of educators, professionals, and parents whose mission is to advocate for and provide resources and support for differently abled individuals. 

“Our vision,” according to Lori Boll, Conference and Associations Coordinator for SENIA, “is to live in an inclusive world where every individual is supported, resources are accessible, potential is maximized, and action is inspired.”

Lori also runs International School Bangkok’s new Intensive Needs Program. She is particularly pleased that FIGT2020 will be held March 13–15th at the ISB campus, and welcomes the conference theme of Embracing and Bridging Differences. 

“SENIA has known about FIGT for years. We are interested in sponsoring as we would like to bridge together families who are moving overseas to inclusive schools in their countries. Moving countries is difficult, and moving countries with a child with special learning needs is incredibly hard. SENIA can help support these families.”

Like FIGT, SENIA holds an annual conference — this year, early December in Korea — and would like to spread the word to interested parties.  

“I have not attended an FIGT conference yet,” Lori said, “and I’m excited about it. I’m excited to network with experts in this field. I hope people will reach out to SENIA for support and resources.” 

FIGT shares that excitement as well. We appreciate that SENIA International is partnering with us, and look forward to seeing them in March at FIGT2020!

FIGT is grateful to have incredible sponsors who understand the experiences and needs of the globally mobile community. For more information about sponsorship opportunities, please visit our sponsorship page.

Creating an inclusive and safe space for all is at the heart of FIGT’s work. But we also recognize that we can all carry unconscious bias and that there are underrepresented voices within our community. This month, we explore “diversity and inclusion,” starting with these resources.

One of FIGT’s goals is to make our community as inclusive and welcoming as possible, creating a safe space for all those who are globally mobile to share their experiences and stories. 

We are a diverse community, spanning the globe, but we also recognize that there are voices we are not hearing or representing enough in our work. We also appreciate that we can all carry unconscious bias. That’s one of the reasons that we will be focusing on diversity and inclusion over the next few weeks. 

In addition, our commitment to recognizing and exploring differences is at the heart of our 2020 Annual Conference.

Global mobility offers a realm of differences. Some we may expect — people, place, language, culture, religion. Some we may not — differences in education, work styles, employment, relationship, health and economic status, leisure opportunities, and life stages. 

How we embrace and bridge those differences not only impacts our personal and professional lives and well-being, but also those who surround us. 

We cannot possibly include every voice in just a few short weeks of videos and blogs but we can try.

And we would like ask for what FIGT2019’s Lightning Speaker Jerry Jones calls a mercy umbrella as we try to explore our community’s wonderful diversity.

To access the content: Please join us on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Video content will be available for the month and then archived to the members’ only section of this website.

(Items with * require FIGT member log-in.)

From this month's social media

• Same, Same, but Different: The Challenges of Relocating as a Same-sex Couple (Scott Cowcher)
• Twice-Exceptionality: A Bridge to Embracing Differences in International Schools (Sue Prior)
• Interview videos*
• • Telling the Untold Stories (Maddie White)
  • The Power of Latina Expats (Flor Garcia)
  • What Do We Mean by Diversity and Inclusion? (Trisha Carter and Dawn Bryan)
  • The Male Expat and Loneliness (Phil McAuliffe)
  • Expats and Neurodiversity (Nikki Moffitt)

From the FIGT archives

• “Unlikely Connections,” Cath Brew and Jerry Jones, (Lightning Presentation, FIGT2019)

• “Taking a Special Needs Child Overseas,” Rebecca Grappo (FIGT members can also watch her webinar: “Taking Your Child with Special Needs Overseas: What to Know Before You Go”*)

• “The ‘Other’ Expats: Diverse Voices from Dubai and How Race, Class and Privilege Affect our Mobility Experience,”* Mariam Ottimofiore (FIGT2018)

• “World Borderlanders And The Global Citizen Continuum,”* Kathleen Fairbanks Rubin (FIGT2008)

 

From the FIGT Bookstore

FIGT Bookstore features publications written or recommended by FIGT members. Purchasing through the affiliate links below supports the David C. Pollock Scholarship at no extra cost to you. (Descriptions are from Amazon.)

• A Family Just Like Mine, by Barbara-Anne Puren. “Gemma, an inquisitive, adopted child, travels the world looking for a family like her own.”

• Differently Wired: Raising an Exceptional Child in a Conventional World, by Deborah Reber. “A how-to, a manifesto, and a reassuring companion for parents who can so often feel that they have no place to turn.”

• Intercultural Marriage: Promises and Pitfalls, by Dugan Romano. The author “examines the impact of cultural differences in marriage and offers practical guidelines on how to deal with the complexities they bring to a partnership.”

• Kids Like Me: Voices of the Immigrant Experience, by Judith M. Blohm and Terri Lapinsky. “26 personal narratives celebrate the experience of young people making a new home in a strange community.”

If you would like to add your voice to this conversation, please contact Sarah at social-lead@figt.org. Small business and corporate members can also submit up to three blog posts a year — submit your article here or get in touch with blogeditor@figt.org.

Interested in learning more about multilingualism for yourself and your family? As part of our month focusing on multilingualism, FIGT Member and family language coach Rita Rosenback shares with us a list of resources to get you started.

(Edited on 15 January 2020)

What does “multilingualism” mean for you? Perhaps you grew up with multiple languages and incorporated (or are incorporating) those into your identity, or you are raising children multilingually and wondering how to do it or what it will mean for them. Or maybe you are learning new language(s) as globally mobile adults and appreciating the difference it makes to life in a new country or wondering whether you’ll ever “get it.” 

Within such a diverse group as serviced by FIGT, the answers are bound to be myriad. But we know that language is entwined with questions of culture and identity.

Online and off, a smorgasbord of resources are available on the many facets of “multilingualism,”—which can be somewhat bewildering. FIGT Member and former Vice President, family language coach, author, and founder of Multilingual Parenting Rita Rosenback shares with us some resources to get you started.

Benefits of multilingualism

Research has suggested that speaking more than one language delays dementia and enhances a child’s working memory. It makes you smarter, better at multitasking, open-minded, and less easily distracted, among other things. Here are two collections of some of the best studies and articles out there.

• Bilingual is better: the advantages of speaking more than one language (Multilingual Parenting): Rita summarizes key benefits and provides links to the studies.

• Multilingual advantage (The Piri-Piri Lexicon): Linguist and expat mom Annabelle Humanes shares her list of links to studies and articles, and various infographics presenting the advantages of being multilingual.

Learning a language as an adult

We know that learning a language is a great way to adapt to and get to know other cultures. But it can be challenging. Can adults still attain fluency? 

• ‘Learning Russian has given me a whole new life’ (Russia Beyond): English writer and translator Mary Hobson started learning Russian when she was 56, completing a PhD when she was 74 and showing that it’s never too late to learn.

• Language acquisition versus language learning (Ute’s International Lounge): Ute Limacher-Riebold explains the difference between language “acquisition” (“a subconscious process during which [children] are unaware of grammatical rules”) and language “learning” (“the result of direct instruction on the rules of language”), and how different brain areas are involved. She also gives some tips on learning a new language as an adult.

Language, culture, and identity

• How to pass on not only the heritage language, but also the culture to the next generation? (Multilingual Parenting): Language doesn’t stand on its own; it is inextricably linked to culture. In this Q&A, Rita and her daughter address one parent’s concern that they aren’t able to pass on the “pure” culture to their children. (And here’s another article on “Language and culture — integral parts of a bilingual child’s identity.”)

• Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds (3rd edition, 2017): The classic book on TCKs by David C. Pollock and Ruth van Reken (now with co-author Michael V. Pollock) includes an updated discussion on language skills.

Raising multilingual children

Each family needs to find the approach that works for them, but if you’re trying to raise your children to be multilingual, here are some places to start you off.

Approaches to raising a multilingual child

Here are some of the most popular approaches that many families use and adapt: 

• One parent, one language – OPOL is dead, long live OPOL!

• Minority language at home – mL@H: use it if you can!

• Time and place - T&P as a family language strategy

• Two parents, two languages – 2P2L, double the benefits of OPOL?

The language environment

The right language environment can make it easier for children to learn more than one language.

• Family language strategy - a must-have when raising bilingual children? (Multilingual Parenting): While some families find it helpful to have a family plan, there are some conditions that — if met — can facilitate your child’s language learning, even without a concrete plan.

• How to keep our languages alive while living abroad (Ute’s International Lounge): For global nomads, it’s not only about passing on a heritage language to a child, but doing so while moving to different countries. Ute talked about “the languages we collect during our life, and how we can keep them alive while living abroad, in different countries” at FIGT2018.
  

• Are 3 (or more) languages too many for a child? Preparing for baby's arrival (The Piri-Piri Lexicon): One linguist expat mom shares her experience in preparing for baby’s arrival and her advice to other families.

Common myths

There are an incredible number of debunked myths still making their rounds. Don’t get caught up in them; know what the latest research shows and know when to say “yes, yes” to (usually) well-meaning but misguided advice and continue to do your own thing.

• Early Bilingual Language Development: Facts and Fictions! [guest post] (Multilingual Parenting)

• Can you lose your native language? (BBC)

• Bilingualism and dementia: how some patients lose their second language and rediscover their first (The Conversation)

• Can SEN children become bilingual? (Ute’s International Lounge): Children who have special needs can also learn multiple languages.

Resources and support for parenting multilingual kids

Books and other reading

• 15 books for parents and educators of bilingual children: Rita’s recommended list of books from her library.

• Life as a Bilingual (Psychology Today): Articles by François Grosjean, Ph.D., emeritus professor of psycholinguistics at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and author of Bilingual: Life and Reality, among other books.

FIGT member websites

• Multilingual Families: by Ute Limacher-Riebold  (see also her YouTube channel)

• Multilingual Parenting: by Rita Rosenback

Facebook groups

If you are on Facebook, there are several groups that parents of multilingual children can join to get support and advice.

• Raising Bilingual/Multilingual Children: the biggest FB group on the topic

• Multilingual Parenting: run by Rita Rosenback

• Multilingual Families: run by Ute Limacher-Riebold

• Multilingual Family Life: run by Annabelle Humanes of the Piri-Piri Lexicon

Thank you, Rita, for sharing these resources!

If you find any of these useful or want to suggest others, please leave a comment. Rita and Ute also look at some of the challenges, opportunities, and concerns of being a multilingual family on the move; you can watch the video from the links below.

To access this month’s content: Please join us on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Video content will be available for the month and then archived to the members’ only section of this website.

[Prepared by Ema Naito]

Anthropologist, author & TCK, Danau Tanu, PhD will be one of the keynote speakers at FIGT’s 2020 Annual Conference in Bangkok this March.

Danau is the author of Growing Up in Transit: The Politics of Belonging at an International School, which is based on her doctoral research. Currently, she is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia and an editor of Inside Indonesia.

Danau has published in-depth, ethnographic studies on Third Culture Kids (TCKs), international schools and mixed-race identities among other topics. Her research is driven by a desire to uncover the hidden voices among TCKs while trying to understand her own experiences of being born in Canada with Chinese Indonesian and Japanese heritage and growing up in several countries. 

[Listen to Danau talk about her TCK background and how she picked her Ph.D. topic.]

In 2019, out of her passion for making research on TCKs accessible to the public and exploring the diversity of the TCK experience, she joined Isabelle Min and several others whom she met at FIGT 2019 to start an online forum called, ‘TCKs of Asia’. 

ALSO: See our full lineup of FIGT2020 Keynote Speakers.

Look out for more details of Danau’s keynote and an interview with her coming soon. FIGT2020 Embracing & Bridging Differences will take place in Bangkok, March 13-15. For more information and to register, visit the Conference page.

Families in Global Transition is thrilled to announce that its longtime sponsor, CrossBorder Living Institute, has renewed again at the Gold level. 

“It is hard to imagine us as being anything other than a sponsor of FIGT,” says Jennifer Patterson, co-founder of CrossBorder Living Institute. “We are deeply committed to the globally mobile community, and while we believe that sponsorship helps demonstrate this, more importantly, our renewal is truly about helping to increase FIGT’s impact.”

“We know that working together, specifically through providing funding via a renewal of the CrossBorder Living Institute’s commitment at the gold level, FIGT is in a better position to continue providing leadership, bringing forth various voices and important issues and ideas, and reaching as many families, individuals and organizations as possible.”

Jennifer, who has lived abroad more than half her life, and her dual-national husband Jeff, have raised two tri-national children while working for their own advisory firm for international clients, Patterson Partners. 

They know firsthand the stresses and challenges that can accompany the globally mobile life, and have dedicated their lives to helping those living and working across cultures to gain the financial information and services they require and to find regulated financial firms able to provide that.

To do the latter, they created CrossBorder Living Institute, which teaches cross-border technical and practice-related topics to financial practitioners. The Institute also provides events and training for the globally mobile to create, grow and manage their financial assets — regardless of how much or how little they might be — in a way that best supports how they want to live.

“We love the FIGT2020 theme, Embracing and Bridging Differences, and are truly excited, on so many levels, that it was chosen to kick off the decade we’re entering,” explains Jennifer.

“Philosophically, we believe the most effective strategy for moving through the complications that come with different cultural and familial imprints — some of which have a far-reaching impact on how we make key life and financial decisions — is when each of us is well served by considering our individual differences, seeking to find where we might already have alignment, and identifying a way to bridge areas where we don’t immediately align.”

Many thanks to Jennifer, Jeff, and CrossBorder Living Institute for their continued Gold Sponsorship of FIGT!

FIGT is grateful to have incredible sponsors who understand the experiences and needs of the globally mobile community. For more information about sponsorship opportunities, please visit our sponsorship page.

We kick off the new year by talking to the 2020 Pollock Scholars. First up is international educator Jacob Daniel Huff, who realized he was a TCK long after he became one. He tells us how it fed his passion to support children growing up in an international environment.

2020 Pollock Scholar Jacob Daniel Huff is an international educator who as a child grew up across three different US states and then moved to Vietnam. As an adult, he has lived in four different countries with his Korean-born American wife and their daughter. Jacob is fascinated by how students develop a sense of identity in an international context.

Now Elementary Principal at Oasis International School, Kuala Lumpur, he is working on his doctorate in curriculum and instruction and plans to focus his dissertation on multigenerational TCKs.

How did you hear about FIGT and what inspired you to apply for the Scholarship?

I first heard about Families and Global Transition when I was researching Third Culture Kids for my doctoral studies—I believe it was when I was reading Dr. Anastasia Lijadi’s work on place identity construction, just before the 2019 conference. Looking at the sessions, I decided that I would try to attend the 2020 conference. When I found out about the David C. Pollock scholarship, I put it on my calendar to apply.

What are your areas of interest/expertise related to global mobility?

I am the principal of an international elementary school, so I am serving the needs of TCKs every day. I am also doing my doctoral work on international teacher understanding and practices in regard to identity development in TCKs. I am about to begin work on case studies of multigenerational TCK families. Each story will be different, but they will all focus on the development of identity in these families.

How did you get into this field? Why are you passionate about it/why is it important to you?

When I was a teenager, I moved with my family to Vietnam and though at the time I did not know what a TCK was, I became one. After I became an international educator and learned the term, I not only saw that this group existed and recognized the importance of meeting these students’ needs, but I realized I had had many of the struggles often associated with TCKs.

The field of TCK research is important to me personally because I am an ATCK; as an international educator, because TCKs are the population I serve; and as a father, because I am raising a TCK.

What do you look forward to at FIGT2020 in Bangkok?

I am looking forward to the sessions, particularly those by Dr. Lijadi and Ruth E. Van Reken. I am also looking forward to meeting old friends and new people who care deeply about TCK issues, sharing stories, and learning people’s backgrounds.

Finally: Can you share a random piece of info about yourself, please?

Whenever I am traveling or whenever I move to a new country, one of my favorite things is to explore the street food. I can pretty much guarantee that I will enjoy any country with a vibrant, delicious street-food culture. When I spend an extended period of time in the US, street food is the thing that I miss the most. What I love about street food are the smells, the simplicity, the bold flavors, the communal nature of it, and the way that it is soaked in the culture of the place.

ALSO: Read Jacob's full bio and learn about all the 2020 Scholars

Every year, the David C. Pollock Scholarship brings new voices to the FIGT conference and it's kept alive with your support. If you will be at FIGT2020, we hope many of you will participate in the 2020 Lucky Draw!

We are also happily accepting donations such as books, coaching sessions, and workshops. The Lucky Draw provides a great platform for people to hear about your services and raises funds to continue the Pollock Scholar Legacy. Please contact Matilda Criel-Ewoldt, Scholarship Chair, for further information at scholarship@figt.org.

Last but not least among the new 2019-2020 Board members we've interviewed is Tanya Crossman, who has a big job ahead preparing for FIGT 2020 as Logistics Director. 

Can you please describe your FIGT role?

I am FIGT’s Logistics Director. I am responsible for coordinating logistics for the annual FIGT conference — venue, catering, registration, and all the other bits and pieces involved in event planning and coordination. I coordinate with an event manager at the venue and lead a committee of FIGT members who volunteer their time and talents to the smooth running of the conference. 

What inspired you to stand for this particular office?

I had a somewhat unconventional path to the board. I served as co-director for much of 2019 while the previous director, Kate Berger, was on maternity leave. Although I had only been to one FIGT conference (in 2017), I was very excited that FIGT was coming to Asia, where I live. I have a lot of experience with event logistics, so I volunteered to join the new Logistics Committee. A couple of months later I was unexpectedly "promoted" when I was asked to coordinate the event logistics in Kate’s place. 

The experience of collaborating and contributing was really special, and I decided to apply to join the board in my own right. 

Logistics is a skill I can offer, but for me, joining the board is about having a voice in how FIGT grows and develops as an organization. I believe in what FIGT is and does, so much so that I not only want to give my time and talents to it, but I want a seat at the table.

I was also inspired by the board members themselves. In my interim role, I joined their meetings and was blown away by their passion, commitment, and support for one another. 

Anything you particularly hope to accomplish this year? What do you look forward to?

I will be continuing the work Kate began, growing the Logistics Committee and strengthening long-term strategic planning. I hope to oversee moving the conference again, and setting up a system to facilitate rotating the FIGT conference around the world. 

Your favorite thing about FIGT / being a part of FIGT?

Walking into a room full of people who GET IT because they’ve experienced some of the same things — there’s so much you don’t have to explain! And being part of a global community that is committed to being relational and supporting one another, through resources and advice and encouragement.

Can you share a random piece of info about yourself, please?

I’m fairly fluent in Mandarin Chinese (both written and spoken). After my first 10 years in China, I spent a few years living in my native Australia, and I discovered that the Chinese side of my brain would get bored if not exercised regularly. If I went a couple of weeks without a conversation in Chinese, I would start unconsciously inserting Mandarin sentences into my English conversations, utterly confusing my Australian friends!

A few of them started to play along — guessing at what I said and making a joke of it. I loved it! They couldn’t share the Chinese language with me, but their acknowledgment of my bilingual self meant the world to me.

Please share some words of wisdom for globally mobile people.

One of the hardest experiences in life is isolation — to feel alone in a group of people, to feel no one understands your experience. FIGT is a great space for alleviating the isolation around international life and transition.

You are not the first or only person to experience what you’re going through. There are people with advice and resources to share — and people who need the advice and resources you can offer them! When we connect and communicate in the relational community that FIGT provides, we all make each other stronger.

Come talk with Tanya at FIGT2020, where she’ll be presenting a Morning Forum “Support During University Transition” with Aleka Bilan, Jason Coates, and Karla Fraser! You can learn more about Tanya in the board member bios section and members can also listen to her talk, “Third Culture Kids 101.”

Language is a gift. There are myriad benefits in learning to communicate across different languages. FIGT kicks off this month’s theme “multilingualism.”

Nelson Mandela said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

There are myriad benefits in learning to communicate across different languages. Language is not only a means for communication but a link to culture and identity, especially for those growing up in a cross-cultural environment or raising multilingual children.

Whatever your motivation for living multilingually, the rewards can be vast; yet, it’s not always easy.

Here are some ways to approach the broad subject of multilingualism:

Benefits of multilingualism

Apart from the usefulness of being able to bargain at a local market, what other benefits does being bi-/multilingual bring? (An interesting read: “The amazing benefits of being bilingual,” BBC.com, 13 August 2016.)

Learning a language as an adult

We know that learning a language is a great way to adapt to and get to know other cultures. But it can be challenging. Can adults still attain fluency? What are some tips to help adult learners? What are the differences between learning a language as an adult vs as a child? (A hopeful read: “MIT Scientists prove adults learn language to fluency nearly as well as children,” Medium.com, 4 May 2018.)

Language, culture, and identity

How does language interact with culture and identity? When children reach adolescence and start to form their identities, the languages they speak may form a part of their answer to the question “Who am I?” What about those who learn new languages as adults? What do we know about the language-identity link, and what does it mean for globally mobile families, TCKs, and CCKs, and their cultural heritage and connections with extended family? What should family members, teachers, and other adults know? (Language apparently matters most when people define national identity: “What It Takes to Truly Be ‘One of Us,’” Pew Research, 1 February 2017.) 

Raising multilingual children

Each family needs to find the strategy that works for them, but what are some common approaches to raising multilingual children? Is it true that multilingualism can cause speech delays? Can it ever be too late for a child to learn a language?

There are so many questions, and there are also many resources and support out there, but here are two places you might start:

• 10 Steps to Keep Our Children Bilingual, by Virginie Raguenaud, from our blog. (FIGT members can also log in and access her webinar: Raising Bilingual Children)
• 12 things parents raising bilingual children need to know, by Rita Rosenback (FIGT Member and former Vice President, family language coach, author, and founder of Multilingual Parenting)

ALSO: We asked FIGT Member and family language coach Rita Rosenback to share some resources on multilingualism to help us make sense of the plethora of information online.

To access this month’s content: Please join us on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Video content will be available for the month and then archived to the members’ only section of this website.

(Items with * require FIGT member log-in.)

From this month's social media

• Resources on “Multilingualism” (Rita Rosenback)
• Interview videos*
• • Multilingual Families on the Move (Rita Rosenback and Ute Limacher-Riebold)
  • Multilingualism and Development (Erin Long)
  • Learning New Languages as an Adult - the Joys and Challenges