Watch your language, Mom ! A Guide to Multilingualism

Growing up with several languages can still be considered as very difficult and impossible in our Western world, even if the majority of the people around the world are plurilingual. Written in a pleasant style by Dr Karin Martin, this guide to Multilingualism is an extremely pleasant book to read. Mixing research with real life experience, we really enter the manner in which bilinguals and multilinguals navigate their language.

Born in Italy, Dr Karin Martin is a language consultant who has travelled the world. Using her experience when she met families to guide them in their linguistic choices, Karin Martin is drawing the pictures of various families navigating their heritage languages with the local language. With those concrete example, she explains how families can use their languages, how multilingualism is lived in the families.

Karin Martin uses research in her book to present some facts which helps her develop the point that she is presenting. The wide reange of experience and language combination makes her book really fascinating. She does not just look at the languages expats are using when living in another country or marrying a foreigner, she also look at the migrant experience where the language used could be considered as less valuable - but are they? Through all the stories which she tells us, Dr Karin Martin defines multilingualism, its complexity. She looks at language acquisition and answers the questions you may have yourself if you are raising your children with several languages. Do you have to plan? Do you need a "Family Language Policy"? You will find the answer in reading the great book which I do hightly recommend.

At the end of exh section, you can find a QR code which sends you to recorded interviews which Dr Karin Martin had. Those interviews are the possibility for the reader to go deeper into the topic developed. It is a very interesting addition to the reading.

The book ends first a checklist with a quiz on what the reader discovered in the book as well as some useful resources. This is a very interesting manner of looking at multilingualism and the resources as always very useful. Then we find a glossary of words surrounding the multilingual world and which also refer to the way she as been using them throughout her book.

To conclude, I would say that I highly recommend reading : "Watch your Language, Mom!", in particular if you are rasing your children with several languages.