Advising Parents on Bilingual Education of Their Children

Abstract

Experts in intercultural communication may be asked to give advice about raising children bilingually. Everyday life provides massive evidence that children can easily cope with two or more languages. Yet, when the decision has to be taken about their own offspring, parents are in doubt: “Will two languages confuse my child?”, “Will my child have a language delay?” Research in the last two decades has shown that learning two languages does not jeopardize children’s cognitive and linguistic development (Serratrice, 2012). However, parental concern about this issue is multi-layered. It is the intercultural communication expert’s task to address these concerns one by one, offering research-based information, providing parents with the knowledge they need to take their own decisions. This chapter presents a consultancy case study that specifically addresses the linguistic aspects of intercultural society: it concerns children growing up with two languages. This case clearly shows the relevant competencies of an intercultural expert and the way in which these can be employed to improve intercultural communication.