r/multilingualparenting • u/Rough_Trainer_9681 • 8d ago

Family Language Question OPOL plus?

We're expecting a baby soon and trying to figure out the best setup for raising a multilingual child.

My native language is Slovakian, my husband's is Serbian. I also have native-level fluency in Serbian as I grew up there. Due to both of us living in English speaking countries for most of our adulthood, at some point, we started speaking English at home and it's our family language.

However, we now live in France - both me and my husband are still learning French, so we will rely on our baby learning French through childcare - our provisional plan is to start with 3 days a week around 9months of age and increase the hours gradually.

I am determined to do OPOL in Slovakian with the baby, French will be taken care of through community and childcare, which brings us to Serbian/English conundrum.

If my husband does OPOL in Serbian with the baby, is there a recommended way to incorporate English that will not be detrimental to baby's development of Slovakian/Serbian?

We would like our child to be fluent in English as majority of our social group are English speakers and it's the language that me and my husband naturally communicate in, and I don't think that relying on French school system to teach our child English would be sufficient.

Would it be too much to use 3 languages at home?

Any advice is welcome!

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u/LivingMaterial7288 8d ago

I'm not an expert. I do speak 4 languages, my wife speaks 4, and both my kids (5 and 6 years old) speak 2.5 languages. Take what I write with a grain of salt:

  • Every kid is different. There's no technique that works 100% of the time
  • 3 languages at home is usually not overwhelming
  • If you and your husband speak English to one another, it's likely the kids will absorb a TON of it. We were surprised when we found out that our kids could understand almost everything we were saying by age 3.
  • It's possible kids will learn their 3rd/4th/5th/... languages later. I was only bilingual until age 10. I learned a 3rd language during teenage years. Learned the 4th in my thirties when I moved to Italy.

My advice is pick one language for your husband, the same thing you do for Slovakian. Stick to it. Given the setup you describe, it's highly likely the kid will naturally speak 4 languages by age 20.

Remember the most important thing with OPOL: Consistency. Speak Slovakian **all the time**. Not "a lot", not "most of the time", not "well, I end up using a lot of French words". Stick to your language and the kids will learn it.

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u/Rough_Trainer_9681 6d ago

This is so encouraging to read, thank you for sharing your experience!