Multilingual family. - Letunk, Novisaad (Sarbia)

Abstract

Mother tongue, first language or native language? In English these are the terminologies used for the Hungarian word “anayanyelv”. In Hungarian, mother tongue, first language and native language describe the same thing in most cases. In a multilingual family the languages can characterize both the father’s and mother’s country. Through a language one can study the culture and tradition of a nation, as well as his or her own family. A child who knows both the father’s and mother’s languages may have two “motherlands’. This can expand his or her understanding of the world and their international social interactions, especially in situations where the parents come from different continents. In this article we assess a Ghanaian-Hungarian family where the children can speak three languages paying attention to the advantage and disadvantages of multilingualism in such families. We also stress on the efforts needed to raise children in multilingual families.