Question on bilingual language acquisition from non-native speaker

[Lourdes Ortega]

Dear Kristin,
It is doable, and if your friend feels it is important to her and her family, it should and can be done. 
 
I would recommend for your friend the following two good references, which synthesize the best research evidence available on this topic and are written specifically for parents:
 
Baker, C. (2000). A parents' and teachers' guide to bilingualism (2nd ed.). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.

King, K., & Mackey, A. (2007). The bilingual edge: The ultimate guide to how, when and why to teach your child a second language. New York: HarperCollins.

And since you describe your friend as a "non-native speaker of a language with fairly high competency," the following book --although written for a research audience-- would help her  explore her own late bilingualism and how it may influence her bilingual parenting approaches:

Piller, I. (2002). Bilingual couples talk: The discursive construction of hybridity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
 
Basically, your friend will find from these three references that success (however defined) is feasible but is never guaranteed, because many other factors besides nativeness of either parent inextricably contribute to the likelihood of success.
 
The two most important sources of variability in outcomes are probably: 
--the status of the additional language (Is it a minority or even stigmatized language with respect to the societal language, e.g., Turkish in Germany, Navajo in Arizona, Spanish in Texas? Is it a language of prestige, e.g., French or English in many European countries?...)
--the availability of the additional language in the surrounding (real and virtual) environment beyond one or even both parents (things like  schools offering instruction in or even better through that language, peers to play with occassionally, TV channels in that language, bookstores carrying books in that language, money in the family to travel to a geography where the language is spoken with some regularity, and so on...)

Best regards,
Lourdes Ortega

**************************************************** 
Lourdes Ortega, Ph.D. 
Associate Professor, Department of Second Language Studies 
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa 
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~lortega/ 




----- Original Message -----
From: Isenthia <kristinborjesson at yahoo.de>
Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 1:05 am
Subject: Question on bilingual language acquisition from non-native speaker
To: Info-CHILDES <info-childes at googlegroups.com>

> 
> Dear All,
> 
> I'm not entirely sure whether this is the right place to pose my
> question. However, a friend of mine suggested I'd try here to 
> get some
> information on the following issue.
> 
> I'd like to know whether there are any studies investigating the
> question of whether or not a non-native speaker of a language (with
> fairly high competency) should try and raise his child bilingually
> nevertheless. I'm simply interested in views on that question.
> 
> I'd be very happy if you could help me with suggestions or references
> on this.
> 
> Thanks a lot.
> 
> Best,
> Kristin
> > 

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