After we made a conscious decision to be a bilingual family, I began to search for information on raising bilingual children as I had many concerns. For example, what are the results of research concerning bilingual children? Which method is best? Would learning two languages simultaneously be too difficult or “confusing”? Would peers see them as “different” and tease them?

My initial research revealed that children raised in bilingual or multilingual families have not been studied in numbers great enough to predict how certain conditions will or will not affect language acquisition. But despite what may seem to be an obvious assumption, I have found no research to back up the idea that “if language learning is difficult, learning more than one language must be even more difficult.” Researchers still do not know how to predict later outcome with monolingual toddlers, much less bilingual or multilingual youngsters.

The research that has been done on the subject does indicate that bilingual and biliterate children outperform their monolingual peers on standardized tests. Bilingual children also seem to possess better conceptual abilities because they are exposed to a greater number of concepts (i.e., concepts existing in one language and not in the other, or vice versa).

There are many different methods of raising a bilingual child. A very popular method is known as "One Parent, One Language" (OPOL) in which one parent speaks exclusively to the child in the minority language, while the other uses only the local or majority language. Another popular method is “minority language at home“—using the minority language exclusively within the family with the idea that the child will learn the majority language by living in the country. My personal advice to couples would be to decide early on what your goals for your child and your family are. Should the child be completely bilingual or just possess a passive knowledge of the minority language? A spouse who does not understand the minority language may not be too happy or supportive of the endeavor. The family should make a conscious decision to be a bilingual family, as I strongly believe consistency is the key to successfully raising bilingual children. However you choose to communicate with your child, I believe it is important that the interaction be pleasant and natural for everyone involved.

Be prepared to face difficulties and problems. The majority language is almost always dominant and it takes some courage to insist on speaking a foreign language when no one else in the outside environment understands you, and especially if the child does not seem to need this language in his/her daily life. I would suggest starting as early as possible (right at birth is best!) and to have faith in your own instincts and gut feelings. Don't jump to conclusions when problems arise. Many professionals, doctors, and therapists have good advice to offer but some may not have been deeply involved in the area of bilingualism. Of course you should listen to the advice of doctors or professionals—especially if speech disorders or chromosomal disorders are diagnosed—but keep in mind that you as a parent are also a specialist. Parents are the only people in the world who know their child best. It is unfair to make sweeping generalizations about language ability based on a few children. No two children are exactly alike and the range of outcomes varies. Studies have shown that two sets of families can use the OPOL method in the same way and yet the children of one family are better at simultaneous language learning than the children of another family. But isn't that also true of children learning a first, single language?