Create the need to use the minority language

To get children to speak the minority language, it is important to create the need for them to use that language. This is a particular challenge for parents who are bilingual themselves. For example, in our household in New Jersey, I speak German with our daughter while my husband speaks English (OPOL). My husband and I speak English with one another. So our daughter hears English more than German. Additionally, she knows that I speak both German and English. So she oftentimes takes the easy way out and simply responds to me in English. Why bother to speak German when mommy understands English, right? 

As a bilingual parent, I have to consistently encourage her to use the minority language and create the need for her to use German. Creating the need includes more concerted efforts such as interactions with other native speakers (ideally those that do not speak the majority language), but it also means that you have to encourage the use of German in your child’s daily communication at home. 

So when our daughter speaks English to me, I use a number of strategies to encourage her to speak German: 

1. 1. 1. 1. I repeat what she said in German. That way, she hears it and oftentimes also repeats the German (e.g., Du möchtest noch eine Scheibe Brot?) 
         2. I comply with her requests only if she makes them in German. For example, if we are sitting at the breakfast table and she asks for more bread, I only give her more bread if she asks for it in German. At least for now it still works to pretend that I don’t understand. 
         3. I try to foster an awareness for the different languages by asking her “Wie sagt man “bread” auf deutsch? Or when pointing to the bread, I ask “Was sagt Mama dazu?”  

Overall, creating the need for children to speak the minority language means that you have to be quite proactive and put them in situations that require them to speak it. Additionally, it means that as bilingual parents we have to consistently be alert and tune in to what our little ones are saying as well as how they are saying it. So we can provide consistent encouragement.