Raising Kids Bilingual

About

The purpose of RaisingKidsBilingual.com is to give parents direction, better resources and sound advice when raising their kids to be bilingual or multilingual.

"I've met far too many parents who didn't pass on their native language to their children because they just didn't know the best approach."

"Language is a tool to get something done. If there is no task to complete, there's no need for the tool."

Marcus Hudson started this site as a resource for other parents, especially friends who ask him how to raise children speaking two or more languages. Marcus studied linguistics at Brigham Young University along with majors in Russian and German. He dove into second language acquisition among children during his studies. He spent over 10 years in Russia involved in teaching English and in 2019 his family moved to Germany. He and his wife speak English, Russian and German. He speaks English to his children, his wife speaks Russian and German is supported mostly by school and interactions outside the home.

Marcus grew up in a German-American family in the USA and by 8 years old, his family spoke almost exclusively English. There were the occasional conversations in German with relatives. Although Marcus was at one point bilingual (English & German), he “lost” much of his German language skills over time due to lack of practice. Visits to relatives in Germany as a teenager and later college courses helped him maintain his German, but he never really felt completely bilingual. He committed to helping his children learn multiple languages and speak them proficiently. Having lived in three countries and maintaining three languages at home as well as having taught English as a second language in Russia, he has the personal and professional experience to share what works and what does not. Now, Marcus is responsible for growing Joy School English, an English teaching app, in Russia.