trilingual mother, monolingual father, how to OPOL exactly??

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Forums > Your Questions — General > trilingual mother, monolingual father, how to OPOL exactly??

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HELGA HATOLI

Posted 03/19/13	Reply with quote #1

Hello, I have a 3 1/2 years old boy, who is trilingual, i am the mom, half Italian-half Greek with a 3rd acquired language, English, so, of what i read, a type2 trilingual. The father is monolingual: Greek. We live in Greece, as also do my parents who are very involved in my son’s upbringing, they only speak Italian to the boy. The nanny of my son, who has been caring for him since he was 6months old, speaks exclusively English to him. My son speaks very fluently in Greek and understands well both English and Italian, although still doesn’t make whole sentences in either of the 2 languages, in fact he will either respond in Greek, or with single Italian or English words respectively. However the problem doesn’t seam to be my son’s trilingual abilities at this moment, rather my “trilingual-ism”. The teachers at school, the pediatrician, child psychologists I’ve spoken with, tell me i should address my child in one language only, they suggest for me to choose amongst the three, the one I feel more comfortable with, but i don’t think i have one. I think in all three languages, have strengths of some sort in one, and others in the other 2. I really don’t know what to do. Is it so essential to do the OPOL? Generally all the literature i’ve found and red through concerns parents with 1 mother language each, what if that’s not the case? Is there something that might facilitate trilingual parents in the upbringing of trilingual children? Thank you for your time Helga

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