Top 10 Challenges to Overcome While Raising a Bilingual Child in French

Raising bilingual children comes with both benefits and challenges. Let’s look at 10 common problems to overcome while teaching your bilingual child in French and some tips for parents.

Lack of French educational resources

Because parents cannot discover early learning tools in French, the initial step can be tough. Finding multilingual educational resources in bilingual French can be difficult, especially for non-native parents. There are over 2 billion search results for "teach French," making it difficult to find the best resources for your students. If you are looking for categorized resources, check out Language Learning Marketplace for French. Hundreds of learning resources to teach French are organized in different product categories and learning levels. 

Grammar: Choosing the gender

Unlike other languages, learners have to remember the gender of each different object.  After hours of trying to figure out why “cheveux” (hair) is masculine and “chaise” (chair) feminine, learners come to the inevitable conclusion that the gender of French nouns was randomly chosen by linguists. This might make your kids frustrated. One tip to overcome this is doing something fun instead of learning by heart. For example, parents can stick these French language learner stickers which are color-coded for different gender around their house to help their kids naturally pick up new words.

Speaking

Even after your kids have learned a lot of new vocabulary words, it is still not easy to speak French fluently for kids. One difficulty is determining what word to use for which occasion. There are multiple variations of nouns and syntaxes according to what part of the French-speaking world you are learning. Frequently speaking to native speakers is the best way. however, not everyone can move to a native-speaking country. 

Using online French education is the best alternative. You can find several online resources on our Language Learning Directory. Various educational resources are categorized based on language, location, or age to help parents find the most suitable materials for their kids.

Language Fluency Delay

One of the most prevalent problems in teaching your kids to speak French is speech delay. According to a study, bilingualism does not cause speech delays, but it may take certain children longer to become fluent in both or all languages. While this isn't true for all children, it's understandable given that your youngsters are eating two languages. One suggestion for dealing with this scenario is to involve your children in a variety of educational activities. Even if your children appear to be uninterested in the activities, consistent exposure to languages can be really beneficial. Parents can choose educational games in French to make their kids enjoy the learning process.

Lack of French immersion

One of the most typical issues is that parents are their children's only source of language input. Because most bilingual children are unable to reside in places where French is spoken, they can only acquire the language through their parents' daily conversations. Creating a French zone in your home would greatly assist your children in enjoying the learning process and naturally learning French. Check out our recommendations to create French immersion at home for your kids.

Preference for one language over the other

For a variety of reasons, bilingual children frequently have a favorite language to speak. It may be because it is the dominant language and they are most exposed to it, or there is a simpler language for them to learn. To encourage your children to speak in both languages, choosing bilingual activities is an ideal option. You can start with familiar activities such as French flashcards which are designed bilingually or reading French bilingual books with your children. 

Mixing two languages

Frequently, children will start a phrase in one language and end it in another. Children use whatever words they know or are more familiar with to express themselves. For children learning two languages, however, code-mixing is usually a short-term phase. This is very normal and common! Mixing is not a sign of linguistic ambiguity. Your children, on the other hand, appear to be able to discriminate between their two languages from the outset. As a result, parents should not be confused or put off their language instruction; instead, they should proceed with a strategy to immerse their children in both languages.

Outside support

Even if parents have established French immersion in their homes, their children must participate in language activities outside of the home. However, finding multilingual events in your neighborhood is not always easy. Language schools, cultural centers, after-school programs, and day camps can be found in the Learning Language Directory. You can narrow down the results by language, region, and the types of activities your children desire to do.

Parents’ commitment

It's not always simple to maintain consistency, especially in households where only one parent speaks the target language. It's really difficult to maintain a continual stream of French. Because that's how they communicate best, it's sometimes just easier to let someone react in the opposite language. Perhaps parents are too preoccupied to incorporate more language learning activities to their schedules. Language acquisition is most effective when it is interwoven into our busy daily routines and numerous activities. Cooking a French-style meal and conversing with your children about food in French, switching to bilingual books for bedtime reading, or replacing old decorations with French posters are all fantastic options that don't take much time.

Starting too late

Language learning is thought to be easier for younger children. It is, however, never too late to begin! You can begin parenting bilingual children right now by starting with simple activities or increasing your children's exposure to French. If you're not sure where to begin, have a look at our starter kits for your kids to learn French.

Hope that our recommendation can help parents while raising French bilingual children. You can also check out Language Learning Marketplace to find more Arabic language learning resources.