Zeina,
Oh, I am sure it is an arduous, unprevisible task, I would not imagine it any other way! But I think it is still worth it in the end, because even if the kids do not reach the proficiency level the parents had in mind, the things they learned are still valuable, and the whole learning process will have been helpful too!
Have a great conference!
Sabrina
Merci beaucoup pour votre réponse et votre encouragement à élever un enfant multilingue. Incroyable de lire votre histoire inspirante. Personnellement, je n’appellerais pas notre approche académique. Nous essayons simplement d’utiliser notre langue maternelle lorsque nous parlons à l’enfant. Assez facile, mais il a besoin de cohérence.
I think it’s amazing that Lebanese schools have 3 languages simultaneously! Especially mixing in Arabic is great, since it is so far from the English/French pair. Learning these without even noticing why they’re young is so valuable, and the time they save later in life without having to learn these languages, they can use to study something they are really passionate about, whether it’s science, arts, or anything else.
Good luck in everything. You are doing great!
Thank you Sabrina!! I wish you the same 
Merci à vous Ron!
Wishing you the best of luck for your language journey!
Zeina
It indeed is. Thank you so much for your reply. I will be attending your talk on the subject.
Could you please let me know what the session(s) will be called?
Zeina
Genial! @Zeina-AR-DE-FR-EN c’est tres impressionnant le situation linguistique au Liban…tous les enfants sortent de le jardin d’enfants comme des génies linguistiques 
L’une des plus grandes difficultés aux États-Unis est qu’il est très rare de trouver des espaces où l’anglais n’est pas la langue par défaut. J’ai essayé de créer cet environnement, mais avec peu de succès.
Merci beaucoup pour les recommendations de abcmouse et Radio Garden, je vais les examiner!
Thank you. You gave me a lot to think about.
And the wish to visit Lebanon some day 
De rien @Hank! Je suis d’accord avec vous et je pense aussi que les États-Unis n’offrent pas beaucoup d’espace pour cultiver les langues étrangères. L’anglais est partout et c’est une distraction. Et si les parents créent l’environnement isolé nécessaire pour favoriser les langues étrangères, cela ne fonctionne pas toujours.
Cependant, n’abandonnez pas d’essayer enseigner des langues étrangères à vos enfants. Il n’est pas nécessaire que ce soit parfait tous les jours. Si vous n’avez pas le temps, créez simplement un horaire qui correspond le mieux à votre vie. Un ou deux jours par semaine, c’est beaucoup mieux que rien du tout.
Merci pour votre temps et votre inspiration! Continuez votre bon travail!
Zeina
I am grateful for your participation. I learned a lot from you Anita-Lean!
You have had quite a bit to share as well, and it is imperative that we can talk about this topic openly, in order for us to find the answers we are looking for.
And a visit to Lebanon would have been very enjoyable before the Beirut explosion, Covid, and other current chaos there. I hope one day Beirut will be back holding its title as the Paris of the Middle East. Then it will be definitely worth your trip
Zeina
Hi Hank! Our kids are almost the same age (1.5 and 3 here). We’re raising them mostly in Polish in the U.S. so they’re hearing English from my side of the family and friends. I’m trying to introduce more French to them, but I definitely need to make myself a schedule or routine and stick to it. Good luck with getting your kiddos exposed to more languages!
Hi all. We are raising our two kids (3 and 1.5 yo) in Polish and English, but I’m trying to speak more French with them. We’re hoping to move to Quebec/near Quebec next year and I don’t want them to be completely lost. They know some basic and sing some songs, but should I work on completely switching over to speaking French with them? I stay at home with them while Dad works so they’d get enough exposure. Right now, we speak Polish at home and English when with my family or non-Polish-speaking friends. Does anyone have any experience switching the language they speak to their children?
Merci !
Heather
Hi Zeina, I love the three languages in Lebanon! I would have loved to be raised at least bilingually, but I could give this possibility to my kids. I’m German, my husband is Hungarian, and we live in Hungary. I only spoke German with the kids, my husband only Hungarian. Over time, our eldest child developed a third language, which was basically German with a few Hungarian words in each sentence. Her German was more fluent than her Hungarian, but the Hungarian words came from kindergarten and later school. She even invented how to form tenses, for example ich hab mondani (or to make it more understandable, using English and French “I have dire”, meaning I’ve said). The two younger ones adopted this mix language, they formed the past tense in the same way. But living in a Hungarian environment, German wasn’t really interesting for them, they don’t have that enthusiasm for languages I have. Now they are around 20. All of them are perfect in Hungarian, but the two younger ones are better in English than in German (thanks to school and mostly internet), the eldest one spent some time in Germany and is fluent in German, but with a foreign accent.
So I’d say it was very easy for us to create the bilingual environment, but it depends on the kids whether they want to make use of it. We had German books (the two older ones loved reading and read excessively in Hungarian, but didn’t want to read in German) and German videos, but they preferred the Hungarian ones.
Now I’d do the same thing again, I’d give a kid the chance of a bilingual environment (but maybe only if it’s natural, I wouldn’t talk to a kid in a language that is neither my nor the kid’s mother tongue), but I wouldn’t force him or her to speak in that language. I had to accept that my kids had other interests than learning languages. But of course their German background made it much easier for them at school to learn English. And if they happen to go to Germany, they’ll get along much better than without that background knowledge.
Heather,
Thank you for sharing your story with us! It’s very interesting that you plan to involve your children in more languages.
I personally think you’re kids are so young that no matter what language you introduce to them, they will be able to grasp at least its basics. A child’s brain is like a sponge. It absorbs languages very quickly and adapts to linguistic changes very easily. The younger a child is, the less likely they will face difficulties adapting to different languages.
I was only 4 when we moved to a Greek-speaking country. I spoke only Arabic back then. A year later I became fluent in Greek (which I sadly forgot over the years now). Then after another year we moved to Germany, where I became fluent in German. A decade later, we moved back to Lebanon, where I became fluent in English and French.
I believe from personal experience from my youth and from teaching my children, that it’s not only easy for kids to adapt to new languages, but in fact, studies have proven that.
It is actually recommended that children be raised multilingual because they are born with a linguistic ability that helps them learn their native language while still in the womb. Any other language after they are born will be acquired depending on how often the child is exposed to it and at what age.
With that being said, I kindly urge to do your own research and decide what is best to do for your children based on that. I might know few things here and there but I am not an expert.
I hope that helps though!!
Zeina
Hallo Heidi!
Ich habe meinen Kindern auch Deutsch beigebracht. Natürlich war es nicht so einfach, aber es lief besser als ich dachte.
Ich stimme auch zu, dass Kinder viel mit dem Sprachenlernen zu tun haben. Natürlich können wir ihnen keine neuen Sprachen beibringen, wenn unsere Kinder nicht lernen wollen. Aber es ist sehr wichtig, es immer zu versuchen. Und Sie waren dabei sehr erfolgreich!
Es ist wunderbar, dass Ihre Kinder andere Sprachen sprechen und wenn sie sich wirklich für diese Sprachen interessieren, können sie diese Sprachen immer alleine üben oder vielleicht auch weiter lernen.
Viele Grüße,
Zeina
Hallo Zeina, da bin ich ganz einverstanden, und von mir aus können wir uns gern duzen
Ja ich natürlich auch!
Zeine
My session title is:
Skillful Management of Children’s Emotions is Key to Raising Multilingual Kids Successfully
Enjoy!
Wonderful! Thank you so much!
Zeina
Hi everyone,
I am also raising my son with three languages: Spanish, German, and English. He is 8 now.
We have two different native languages at home, Spanish and German. Since we live in Spain, Spanish is the dominant language. In general, we simply try and speak our own languages, but I must admit that I am not half as consistent as I should be. So, Spanish is spoken a lot more than German. My son still got a decent exposure to German since he was born. English is fairly easy to bring in as a third language because it’s spoken by a lot of people, usually taught in schools, there are many resources (movies, TV shows), we have English speaking friends etc. In general, we bring English into the mix by using it at certain times, usually during specific activities or events. For example, I used to sing songs with him when he was a baby, later it was certain games, we’d always speak English when English speakers came over, and nowadays I have little computer gaming sessions with him.
Since he was 3, we also had people through Workaway (kind of like au-pairs) stay with us over the summer. One year we had someone from Germany and the other years from the US. Whenever they were around, we’d all speak the respective language. That helped a lot.
However, the most effective tool were always those things that really piqued his interest. His English really took off when he started to get excited about TV shows in English. I’m not saying you should let the TV educate your child, but it has been one of the best additions to his language learning. He sort of adopted our mentality when it comes to dubbing (don’t use it). Now English is the language the fun cartoon characters speak.
He also has some German TV shows he likes. But the best motivation was sending him to a Kindergarten in Germany for a month during the summer and then doing that again the next year. That’s when German became the language that the fun kids at Kindergarten speak. We also usually do a lot of fun things when in Germany (because it’s vacation time), so he associates all those great activities with German.
He can communicate in all three languages quite well and even switches to English or German by himself whenever he feels like it. However, he’s only completely native in Spanish. I am still hopeful that he will improve the other two over time, though.
I guess, going to another country is not always an option, but my recommendation would be to try and find something in each language that they are really excited about and look forward to. TV shows, games, having certain activities or days to speak the language, and having au-pairs or native speakers visit (even if for short periods of time) are great ways to include the language into their daily routines.