DON’T MISS
IamExpat FairIamExpat Job BoardIamExpat Webinars
Newsletters
EXPAT INFO
CAREER
HOUSING
EDUCATION
LIFESTYLE
EXPAT SERVICES
NEWS & ARTICLES
Home
Education
Dutch news & articles
Bilingual children: what parents need to know
Never miss a thing!Sign up for our weekly newsletters with important news stories, expat events and special offers.
Keep me updated with exclusive offers from partner companies
By signing up, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with our privacy policy



Related Stories

Dutch primary education: Jenaplan & SteinerDutch primary education: Jenaplan & Steiner
Dutch primary education: Montessori & The Dalton PlanDutch primary education: Montessori & The Dalton Plan
An Overview of the Dutch School System: Part 2An Overview of the Dutch School System: Part 2
An Overview of the Dutch School System: Part 1An Overview of the Dutch School System: Part 1
Vaderdag: A history of Father’s Day in the Netherlands and abroadVaderdag: A history of Father’s Day in the Netherlands and abroad
9 child-friendly day trips to enjoy as a family in the Netherlands9 child-friendly day trips to enjoy as a family in the Netherlands
Dutch ancestry and genealogy: Finding your Dutch ancestors, friends, and relativesDutch ancestry and genealogy: Finding your Dutch ancestors, friends, and relatives
Mother's Day (Moederdag) in the Netherlands and abroad: A historyMother's Day (Moederdag) in the Netherlands and abroad: A history
For expats of all colours, shapes and sizes

Explore
Expat infoCareerHousingEducationLifestyleExpat servicesNews & articles
About us
IamExpat MediaAdvertisePost a jobContact usSitemap
More IamExpat
IamExpat Job BoardIamExpat HousingIamExpat FairsWebinarsNewsletters
Privacy
Terms of usePrivacy policyCookiesAvoiding scams

Never miss a thing!Sign up for expat events, news & offers, delivered once a week.
Keep me updated with exclusive offers from partner companies
By signing up, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with our privacy policy


© 2025 IamExpat Media B.V.
© 2025 IamExpat Media B.V.
Marja-Ilona Koski
I am a theoretical Computer Scientist turned into a Computer Science teacher. I have taught in primary and secondary schools in Finland, I have been working in the field of student assessment and I have corrected Finnish Math and Science questions in the PISA exams. After five years of research at the Technical University of Delft, I received my PhD in primary Science and Technology education in May 2014. Soon after that I co-founded NewTechKids where I'm the Lead teacher and Head of Curriculum. Read more

Bilingual children: what parents need to know

Jun 12, 2014

Expat parents often approach me with questions about how they should help their children with their Dutch language skills when they speak another language to them at home.

Categories of expat parents

There are three categories of parents in the expat community:

  • Most common is where one parent is a Dutch native speaker and the other is not
  • Second most common is where both parents come from another country
  • Thirdly, there are those parents who both have a different mother tongue and neither is Dutch

Types of bilingualism

There are two types of bilingualism, additive and subtractive.

Additive bilingualism

Additive bilingualism means knowing a language and then adding knowledge of another language to your repertoire. This type of bilingualism has positive cognitive, academic, social and professional consequences.

Here in the Netherlands, an additive form of bilingualism would be if the parents spoke Dutch (language one or L1) at home and the child went to an English-language (language two or L2) school.

Subtractive bilingualism

However, expat parents are often faced with the subtractive form of bilingualism. Subtractive bilingualism happens when learning another language interferes with the normal development of the other language.

This leads to language loss, attrition or incomplete acquisition and bilingualism then becomes a liability, a deficit or even a source of shame.

Raising a bilingual / multilingual child

There are a few things to bear in mind when raising a bilingual (or multilingual) child. The rules are the same, regardless of the number of languages spoken to a child. The following two sections focus on the type of bilingualism where the home language (L1) is not the majority language of the country.

Teaching bilingual children

  1. Teachers should encourage families to keep using the L1 at home or in other social situations. They should additionally encourage parents to read to the child in their L1.
     
  2. Teachers should never tell the parents to stop using the L1 at home so that the child can make better progress in the L2 at school. Children will eventually prefer the language of the society because it’s what their friends speak.
     
  3. Teachers should also allow children to talk about their different cultural background and show to their classmates how they can speak another language.

Parenting bilingual children

  1. Parents should continue using the home language even if the child doesn't want to use it.
     
  2. Often bilingual children are illiterate in the language that is not taught at school. Thus, they speak and understand the L1 but can't read or write it. Parents should be patient. When a child learns how to read and write at school, these skills can be transferred to the other language as well.
     
  3. Parents can start teaching reading and writing in the home language a few years after the child has learned the skills. What is important to realise is that without support, the skills that are practised at school will decline in the home language.
     
  4. Speaking the language at home is not enough for the child to gain language proficiency. Parents need to find opportunities for their child to use the language outside their home. It is important that children know that other children speak the language as well.
     
  5. Parents should remember that there can be great differences between siblings. Usually older ones are more proficient than younger ones. Siblings may use different methods to learn and parents should support each child in using the method most suitable for him / her.
     
  6. If a young child mixes languages there is no need to worry. A young child may know certain words only in one language. Once he / she learns them in the other, he / she will use them correctly. Also, multilingualism is not harder than bilingualism.
     
  7. Whenever a child uses the minor language, parents should remember to praise him / her.
     
  8. Starting to teach a second language after puberty goes against what is known about the role of age in L2 acquisition. Childhood is the best time to learn (and lose) a language.

But above all, parents need to emphasise the value of the other or home language. They should use the language at home as much as possible, read to the child and help him / her to learn words in the home language. It is good to keep in mind that even a little bit is better than nothing.

This article uses facts about bilingualism from a lecture by Professor of Linguistics Silvina Montrul at the University of Illinois.

By Marja-Ilona Koski