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Few people would consider mastering more than one language a bad idea. Consequently, parents who speak different languages from each other are generally keen for their children to learn both. They understand that the family setting they create is central to this, and seek ways to ensure their children thrive bilingually. One of the best-known approaches is the 'one-parent-one-language' strategy (OPOL). Each parent uses their native language when communicating with their children, so the children learn both simultaneously. OPOL emphasises consistency - each parent sticking to one language - as key to its approach. But this creates the myth that mixing languages should always be avoided. My recent study, part of a new wave of multilingualism studies, would suggest that this received wisdom is just that: a myth. My research looked at Japanese-British families living in the UK with pre- and early school-age children who were following a more-or-less strict OPOL language policy. I was particularly interested in examining the impact of OPOL in the family home - how does this unique language environment affect the way children use languages?
Most of the Japanese mothers who participated were fluent in Japanese and English, while the fathers possessed merely an elementary grasp of Japanese. This made English the primary language of communication between the parents and outside the home. For this reason, the mothers were careful to carve out additional space for more sustained Japanese language learning with their children. In other words, this dedicated space for communicating in Japanese was time the children spent exclusively with their mother. This seemed to create a connection between `Japanese language' and 'motherhood' in the children's perception. This link became apparent in the way the children used Japanese as a means of emotional bonding with their mother. In addition, they adopted a broader behavioural repertoire than that which is usually associated with a language. For example, switching to Japanese could sometimes serve as a method to appease Mum when she seemed unhappy. At other times, refusing to communicate in Japanese was a useful means of defiance, even when the dispute was not related to language.
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