ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on what expectant parents can do to prepare for raising their child to speak more than one language. One issue is to think carefully about aspirations for the child’s linguistic development in the short and mid-term, and what is reasonable to expect in terms of the child’s eventual proficiency in the languages involved. Parents need to talk together about what languages they envisage their child speaking at the age of 5 or 10. This means that they need to think about where the family will likely live during these years. Parents are encouraged to think through how they will each speak to the child, to meet the need for children to hear and interact extensively in each language they are expected to learn. Additionally, the chapter discusses parental aspirations regarding the child’s cultural development and where they will be taught to feel at home. The choice of the child’s name is relevant to this issue. Another consideration is the expectation that the child will be able to communicate freely with their extended family and the common apprehension of distant grandparents about not being able to talk with their grandchildren.
