bilingual – Fake Flamenco

Paraguay’s 2 Official Languages

Paraguay is one of three countries in the Americas that name one or more indigenous languages as official, alongside Spanish. Interestingly, it is also the country where the most non-indigenous people are bilingual in an indigenous language, in this case Guaraní. Over 5 million people in Paraguay speak it. The 2012 census determined that 64% […]

5 Tips for Raising a Bilingual Child

You took a lot of German in college, or you studied a year abroad in Mexico City. How do you pass the benefits of your hard work onto your kids? Here are my thoughts on bilingual parenting, after ten years as a Spanish- and English-speaking mom. Growing up, I studied Spanish for 12 years. That’s […]

Spanish Culture and Language

Baby Steps en Español

We’ve stuck to our plan and spoken Spanish every Tuesday dinner this month! The three of us were game to try it. Thirty minutes a week was the investment. Here’s how it went and the results we’ve noticed. The conversations felt a little awkward at first. Evan and I usually speak English together. His Spanish […]

bilingual, Spanish Culture and Language

Papa Bear Says Sí

It’s just dinner, Tuesdays, from now on. The bilingual experiment is lagging a bit, lost its novelty I suppose. Yet, I’ve noticed when our child hears Spanish from Dad, the reaction is amazement and delight. My husband’s stealth Spanish competency is rarely revealed. Ho hum, mom’s daily Spanish is mundane and hardly attracts attention. But […]

bilingual, Spanish Culture and Language

3 Tips: How to Nudge a Child into Taking Ownership of a New Habit

Sunday morning we had a watershed event in our kitchen. At breakfast, I spoke to our child in Spanish, as I do each day and received answers in English. I work to counter feeling disheartened when my daily hints to reply in kind rarely work for more than a sentence. Everything was the same until, […]

Spanish, Spanish Culture and Language, Study Abroad, The Americas

4 Fake Flamenco Favorites

Four personal favorites from 2018; posts about coming of age across the pond, traveling in Guatemala, passing the bilingual torch to the next generation and celebrating Mexican culture. Hope you enjoy reading them as much as I liked writing them. Being Braver Travel leads to self-knowledge. Self-knowledge allows us to envision and live our […]