How to raise a bilingual child who loves both cultures

Many parents in the diaspora today share the same fear: will my child lose our language?

But I think an even more important question is how to make a child love both cultures without feeling they have to choose. Bilingualism is not a problem — it is an enormous richness.

Of course, it is not always easy. Children very quickly start using the language of their surroundings, because they hear it at school, among friends, and on the internet, and they spend most of their day in it. So it is completely normal for parents to sometimes feel that their own language is slowly being reduced to just a few sentences at home.

However, pressure is not the way to build a love of language. On the contrary, it can push a child away from their mother tongue. Try a different way.

Through music, films, time spent with grandparents, through stories, through events where a child sees that this language lives outside their home too — a love of the mother tongue develops spontaneously and lastingly.

That is why I am especially glad when I see families with children at HELSE children's events. When the little ones hear a live concert for the first time, or watch a play in the language of their parents, that language suddenly takes on a new role and a new meaning. The child may not yet understand every word, but they feel the atmosphere — and it is precisely through emotion that connection is created.

I think children should not have to choose between two cultures — instead, they should be shown that they can carry both. That is exactly what can one day make them more confident, more open, and richer people.

— Evica