The European multilingualism expert who raised her children in five languages (one of which is Catalan)

BarcelonaAnna Solé Mena has lived in Belgium for 25 years and has worked at the European Commission for almost the same amount of time. In 2010, she published Multilingual from the cradle (UOC), a book in which she offered recommendations for raising children in multiple languages, something she has successfully practiced with her own family. Language, which was an interest parallel to her professional career, has finally converged within it: for the past three years, she has been the multilingualism expert for the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission. At a time of great social diversity and great complexity for Catalan, she advocates for the preservation of mother tongues and also for learning the community languages.

What language should be spoken to children?

— We recommend that families speak their native language. I spoke Catalan to my children in Brussels, and my husband, Flemish. The immigrants who arrive in Catalonia should be aware that their children need to learn Catalan and should try to facilitate their exposure to the language, but they themselves are not the ones who should do this work, because they may not speak it or may speak it poorly.

Who has to do this job?

— The community. School is important, but it's true that depending on where you live in Catalonia, Catalan is insufficiently taught, because you don't have enough exposure in the playground or outside of school. It's necessary for the community to facilitate activities in Catalan and, above all, make them accessible to all. If parents feel welcomed into the community, they will also try to strengthen their children's ties with activities in that community. What we see is that the more you appreciate linguistic diversity, the more reciprocity there is: you respect my language, I understand that this is important, and I respect yours.

What are the keys to educating in multilingualism?

— A family's attitude toward any language will change a child's motivation: if the family tells you that Catalan is important, that you'll make friends, have better jobs, and more opportunities, children will rise by valuing it. We often recommend that schools be highly inclusive and that, when there is cultural and linguistic diversity, all should be respected and find a place. Because children whose culture is recognized typically perform better academically. Another essential element is exposure: making them need the language.

In your case, your children speak five languages. Where do they come from?

— I've spoken to them in Catalan, and we've tried to socialize in Catalan at the Casal Català so they could hear more Catalan than mine. His father and school have taught them Flemish, the majority language in Belgium, but not in Brussels, where French is much more important. Therefore, French is present in the community—it's like Spanish in Catalonia—and they'll learn it on their own. The school also took great care of English. The fifth language is perhaps their weakest, Spanish. What I did was look for activities they could do in that language. You wouldn't believe what it was like to fit all the activities in all languages and with the multimedia content in the original version!

Why was it important to have so many languages?

— It was important for me to speak my mother tongue, Catalan. Spanish is my mother's mother tongue. And all the other languages are very present in my life. Working at the European Commission, I have friends from all over the world. Of course, you can't learn them all at the same level.

How does it work?

— Multilingual people are not symmetrical multilingual. For example, if you cook with your mother in Catalan, you'll know the cooking words in Catalan. This shouldn't worry us too much, because when you have to use one of your non-primary languages, you'll pick it up quickly if you have a broad base. Specialized vocabulary is acquired very easily when there's interest or need. It also doesn't mean that all languages remain the same throughout life; it's very flexible.

How many mother tongues can you have?

— At most, three. My children have two, their maternal and paternal languages, because each has always spoken a different language to them, and they change languages depending on who they're speaking to, because we all understand everything. "One parent, one language" is a technique that works very well, especially when they're young. When they're older and speak languages fairly well, you can be more flexible depending on the environment. It's true that in adolescence, you lose control because you can't impose certain activities on them. Whatever strategy the parents have, they must be able to implement it; it can't be too artificial. If the family is immigrant and has a difficult financial situation, you can't ask for things that are too complex, but you can ask for motivation.

How can we tell families that it's important for our community and our language to learn Catalan without losing their own family language?

— It's a bit the opposite of what we might think about "the more Catalan at home, the better." The more Catalan the better, yes, but this will not come from the Urdu father. If the Urdu father takes Catalan lessons and speaks Catalan with the neighbors, that is fantastic because the child sees that it is the way, and he must learn it faster and better than him, but with the father he must speak Urdu, the home language. You can't be a linguistic model in a language you don't master well and, moreover, on an emotional level you would lose your linguistic identity.

But in second and third generations, there are people who do change languages, which favors Catalan, as a minority and declining language.

— Yes, the second generation, if they've already mastered both languages, will be able to choose. If you're highly motivated—for ideological, economic, emotional, or political reasons—you might prioritize changing languages. My mother was Aragonese; she married a Catalan, and she raised me in Catalan because my mother realized that, for Catalan families, it was very important for their children to speak Catalan. One strategy is to speak the minority language at home, because you'll encounter the other language on the street.

The main problem is the idea of monolingualism?

— It's terrible and ridiculous. The majority of the planet's inhabitants are multilingual. It's strange to be monolingual! Think of Asia, Africa, and even Europe... A lot of research has been done in English-speaking countries where they say, "We'll observe bilinguals," but they're the ones who should be studied! Our brain can manage many languages: if your children have no problem, they should know Catalan, Spanish, and a couple of other languages. The goal of European policy is for children to leave secondary school speaking the language of schooling and two others, and appreciating all linguistic diversity. Any language is part of one's self-esteem. Every language is important.