The Future is Bilingual

Episode 35 - In this episode, I talk with Yoshito, a fellow French and Spanish teacher and multilingual parent.  Yoshito, who is half French and half Japanese, is raising two multilingual boys with his Korean wife in the UK.  We discuss how he learned and uses his various languages, how he became a teacher, and what the linguistic situation looks like in his house and community.

--- Yoshito has written a book for parents of multilingual children to help make learning to read and write in their home languages more fun.  If you are interested in reading the first chapter of his book, please write to Yoshito on Instagram @Multilingual_Dad or by email at [email protected]  The book is due to be released in early May 2021.

--- A virtual book release party is happening Friday, April 30th, 2021 at 6:00 P.M. UK time.  Please contact Yoshito for information about how to sign up.

--- Follow me on Instagram @TheFutureIsBilingual or write to me at [email protected]

--- If you enjoy this podcast, please share it on your social media page and leave a rating and review.  It really helps other people find out about the show.  Click here to rate the show.  Thank you so much!

Episode 34 - Today's Multilingual Motivation is all about social media - one of my favorite topics!  If you have a social media account (FB, IG, Snapchat, TikTok, etc.), you know how addicting they can be.  That's good news for us because we are going to take advantage of the time we're already spending on social media to engage more with content in our target language(s).  Listen to hear the 5 easy steps you should take to practice your target language more through social media.

--- During the episode, I mentioned @yoonssam_kr

--- Follow me @TheFutureIsBilingual or write to me at

Episode 33 - Today's interview is with Lera, a multilingual mom, linguist, and investment banker.  Lera and I cover a wide range of topics during our talk.  We start with how she learned her many languages (Russian, English, German, Korean, Polish and Dutch) and touch on some similarities and differences between languages that we've noticed.  We also dive into her family's goals and plans for their multilingual and multicultural children, and why their plan has changed.  Lera is full of linguistic knowledge and answers some burning questions that many multilingual parents have such as:

- Is code-switching a good idea?

- Should I speak the minority language out in public?

- What percentage of input needs to be in the minority language to raise a bilingual child?

- What is the difference between active and passive engagement with a language?

Immigration, assimilation and white privilege come up during our talk (we recorded this episode right after the killing of 8 people in Atlanta, GA).  Lera shares with us how she keeps their minority language alive and strong as well as some common phrases you'd hear in her house in Russian and Dutch.

--- You can follow Lera on Instagram @growing_up_inbetween as well as @futurelingual

Stay tuned for an exciting project she's been working on which should launch in May 2021.

--- Follow @TheFutureIsBilingual on Instagram and be sure to tag us if you share this or any episode.  We really appreciate your support

Episode 32 - This week, we dive into identity and growth mindset. How do you see yourself as a language learner? What words do you identify with?  Do you have a growth or a fixed mindset? Tune in to find out!

--- Sources:

https://www.mindsetworks.com/science/

https://sites.dartmouth.edu/learning/2017/05/18/understanding-the-growth-mindset/

Episode 31 - Week two of Multilingual Motivation is all about music!  Do you listen to music in your target language?  Whether you already do or you don't yet, you will find useful tips to actively engage with music in your target language and improve your skills.  ---  Please share this episode as well as any songs, groups, playlists, etc. that you find on social media and tag @TheFutureIsBilingual  ---  You can also write to Heather at [email protected]

Episode 30 - Welcome to the first episode of Multilingual Motivation!  In these short episodes, Heather will talk about a resource or idea you can use to increase your exposure to your target language(s) during the week. This first episode is special as it's coming out on the Monday before International Day of Multilingualism, which takes place on March 27th. You will learn more about this day and how you can get involved in the celebration.  If you decide to take part and post on social media, please remember to use the hashtags #MultilingualIsNormal , #MultilingualismDay , #MultilingualMonday , #MultilingualMotivation , #TheFutureIsBilingual and #TheFutureIsMultilingual .  You can follow the podcast on Instagram @TheFutureIsBilingual or write to Heather at [email protected] --- International Day of Multilingualism Website --- Richard Simcott's blog post and video interview with Thomas Bak --- Richard Simcott's Instagram @SpeakingFluently --- Thomas Bak's Twitter @thbaketal --- Thomas Bak's Instagram @thbaketal

Episode 29 - Do you have a goal you'd like to make into a habit?  In this episode, Heather gives you the 5 steps you need to take if you want to instill a new habit into your life.  She offers multiple examples from her own life and explains how she finds time to study and maintain her languages while being a busy mom of two toddlers.  You can follow Heather and the podcast on Instagram @thefutureisbilingual or write her an email at [email protected] --- In this episode, Heather mentions Kendra Adachi's podcast The Lazy Genius (Kenda's book is also a New York Times bestseller), the Routines and Things podcast by Ashely Brown, and the classes she takes with Polski Daily. You can also find Kendra, Ashley, and Paulina on Instagram.

Episode 28 - Marissa is a Polish-American polyglot whose latest project is relearning her native language.  We talk about learning languages at school vs. on your own, making your target language part of your everyday life, and maintaining multiple languages.  Immigration and questions about identity come up before we dive deep into heritage languages and what it means to be a heritage language speaker.  Marissa is an expert at summing up all the scholarly articles and making them understandable so you don't want to miss this explanation.  She also shares her language learning tip and her favorite Catalan expression, plus a bonus book recommendation if you're learning Polish or would like to.

--- Want to know more?  Check out Marissa's blog post about the 9 Most Asked Questions about Heritage Languages

--- Follow Marissa's journey on her website Relearn A Language, on her YouTube channel Relearn A Language, and on Instagram @multilingualmarissa

--- You can follow us on Instagram @thefutureisbilingual and write to us at [email protected]

--- If you enjoy this podcast, please leave us a rating and a review!  It would really help us grow our community and reach more people.

Episode 27 - Marcin and Heather bring you a wealth of different terms of endearment from around the world in celebration of Valentine's Day this weekend. While this is in no way an extensive list, we hope you will learn something new and laugh along with us (not at us!)  We do want to apologize for any mispronunciations or misrepresentations.  Thank you so much Etai (@justetai), Yoshito (@multilingual_dad), Eliza (@eli.kutty) and Arjun for contributing to this episode.  We really appreciate the time and effort you took to send us those messages.  ---  Follow the podcast on Instagram @thefutureisbilingual or email us at [email protected]

Episode 26 - My guest, Mali, is a French-Lao mom of three who has been living in Spain for over twenty years. We talk about how she is raising her three children to speak three languages fluently. She gives us a lot of practical tips and things we can start implementing today to support our children's minority language(s). We talk about being a multicultural family and how to blend traditions. We touch on her journey learning languages, and go on a few tangets related to our experiences in the classroom as both the teacher and a student. We hope you will walk away from this episode more inspired to speak, play, and read with your children in their minority language(s). We encourage you to join a group of multilingual parents for support and ideas. You can find many on Facebook and Instagram. --- If you enjoy this podcast, a rating is the best compliemnt you can give us as it helps others find the podcast. Please share the podcast with your friends and on your social media accounts and make sure to tag me. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any epsiodes! --- You can follow Mali on Instagram @malichanh and @ludolingua and find her Lindolingua group on Facebook. You can follow me @thefutureisbilingual on Instagram and write to us at [email protected]. We love to hear from you!