Raising Children Bi- and Plurilingually a Study of Parents´ Reasoning, Strategies and Attitudes

Raising children bi- and plurilingually A study of parents´ reasoning, strategies and attitudes

Master Thesis

Student: Kim Amberg Wildbachstrasse 8 8400 Winterthur

Submitted on September 5th, 2016

Mentor: Co-Mentor:

Prof. Dr. Lukas Bleichenbacher Michael Wirrer

English English didactics

Abstract Nowadays more and more children in Switzerland are raised bi- or even plurilingually. While many studies have had a closer look at the bilingual child itself, this study focuses more on the parents. The choices, strategies and ideas of parents who raise their children bi- or plurilingually are explored with a qualitative, discourse-analytical approach.

For this, I conducted eight interviews with parents living in the Winterthur area (whenever possible, both mother and father). To assess whether different languages had any impact on the parents’ attitude towards bilingualism, families with different backgrounds were chosen. The following languages are represented by the families: Swiss German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, Polish, Italian, English.

The analysis showed that most families follow a strategy that is a mix of different strategies much rather than one which fits the textbook. Much more important for their reasoning is the parents´ comfortability with the language and their abilities in both languages. There was no strong connection between the languages spoken and their reasoning.

Further it can be shown that the perceived advantages and disadvantages of bilingualism are very similar to those described by Baker (2000). Even the amount of positive and negative aspects mentioned were similar.

Overall, the parents showed a very positive attitude towards bilingualism. When talking about potential negative aspects their opinions were stated with less conviction.

Note of thanks

I would like to say thank you to both my mentor Lukas Bleichenbacher and my Co- Mentor for helping me work on this study. They supported me throughout the last one and a half years and helped me to structure my ideas.

Further I would like to thank all of the eight families who took part in this study and made it possible. They opened up their homes to give me a glimpse into their lives and answered my questions very openly.

In addition, I would like to thank Chris Donlon who was there to give me feedback and helped me to get the language right.

At last, I would like to thank my family and friends who were there to support me throughout this process.

Table of Contents 1. Introduction ...... 6

Introduction to the subject matter ...... 6

Relevance ...... 7

Research questions ...... 9

2. Theory ...... 10

2.1. Bilingualism ...... 10

2.1.1. Societal bilingualism ...... 11

2.1.1. Individual bilingualism ...... 12

2.1.2. Multilingualism in Switzerland ...... 16

Language strategies ...... 19

2.1.1. One Person – One Language (OPOL) ...... 19

2.1.2. Home language – outside language ...... 20

2.1.3. Gradual introduction ...... 20

2.1.4. Interchangeable use ...... 20

2.1.5. Language time ...... 20

2.1.6. Code-switching ...... 20

2.2. Code-switching ...... 21

2.3. Code-mixing ...... 22

2.4. Culture ...... 23

3. Method ...... 24

3.1. OPOL Questionnaire ...... 24

3.1.1. Language biographies ...... 25

3.2. Sampling ...... 27

3.2.1. Sampling strategy ...... 27

3.2.2. Sampling Unit ...... 28

3.2.3. Family A ...... 30

3.2.4. Family B ...... 31 3

3.2.5. Family C ...... 31

3.2.6. Family D ...... 32

3.2.7. Family E ...... 32

3.2.8. Family F ...... 33

3.2.9. Family G ...... 33

3.2.10. Family H ...... 34

3.3. Qualitative content analysis ...... 35

3.3.1. Category ...... 35

3.3.2. Coding ...... 36

3.3.3. Sequence of coding ...... 36

3.3.4. Sequence of analysis ...... 38

3.3.5. Topics ...... 39

3.4. Critique of methodology ...... 41

3.4.1. Interviews as a scientific method ...... 41

3.4.2. Sampling ...... 41

3.4.3. Extent of a master thesis ...... 41

4. Analysis ...... 42

5.1. Parents´ attitude towards bi- and multilingualism ...... 42

5.1.1. Positive attitudes or experiences ...... 42

5.1.2. Sceptical attitudes or experiences ...... 47

5.1.3. Own experiences with bi- and multilingualism ...... 50

5.1.4. Reasoning for raising children bi- and multilingually ...... 53

5.2. Language strategy ...... 56

5.2.1. Reasoning for strategy/Reasoning for language choice ...... 56

5.2.2. Language of the parents ...... 66

5.2.3. Family language ...... 69

5.2.4. Maintenance of minority language ...... 71

5.3. Changes in language behaviour ...... 74 4

5.4. Code-switching ...... 76

5.4.1. Parents code-switching themselves ...... 77

5.4.2. Parents reaction to code-switching/code-mixing ...... 79

5.5. Negotiating languages ...... 81

5.5.1. Competence in and attitudes towards partner´s language ...... 82

5.5.2. Positive feelings towards language ...... 85

5.5.3. Negative feelings towards language ...... 86

5.6. Culture ...... 87

5.6.1. Multiculturalism ...... 87

5.6.2. Importance of passing on one´s culture ...... 88

5.6.3. Cultural influences ...... 92

5.6.4. Thoughts on Swiss culture ...... 100

6. Conclusion ...... 102

7. Future Research Possibilities ...... 103

8. Bibliography ...... 104

9. Figures ...... 108

1. Introduction Introduction to the subject matter There are many reasons as to why a person can become bilingual. Grosjean says that “movements of people, nationalism and political federalism, intermarriage, the plurality of linguistic groups within a region, urbanization and education” are all factors that lead to bilingualism (1982, p. 170). Nowadays many people are bilingual or even plurilingual in Switzerland. This can be seen in the statistics released by the Swiss government. Not only has the number of people whose main language is not one of the four official ones (Swiss-German, French, Italian and Romansh) risen by 18% over the last 43 years but there are now people who state they have more than one main language. However, it has to be mentioned that before 2010 it was not possible to name more than one language as your main language. This study shows several things. First of all, Switzerland, is a quadrilingual country that is becoming even more multilingual. Secondly, more people acknowledge that they have more than one main language and use the possibility to indicate this. Last but not least, having the possibility to name more than one language shows an increasing awareness and understanding for multilingualism, also from official authorities (Bundesamt für Statistik, 2015).

Bilingualism in Switzerland seems to be on the rise when looking at these numbers. More and more teachers are confronted with students who grow up with different languages, and may require assistance with learning the local language. In addition, children start to learn foreign languages at a young age in school. This all leads to large degrees of multilingual communication, not only in classrooms but also in the working space, where in Switzerland English and Portuguese are the two non-official languages most used (Bundesamt für Statistik, 2015).

Plurilingualism and multilingualism are also intensively discussed in the media. At the beginning of June 2015, a new parliamentary group was formed whose goal is to research the meaning and uniqueness of Switzerland´s multilingualism (Presseportal, 2015). It is also being discussed whether children should have to learn German before entering the school system. Ursula Schneider, a member of the parliament and of the Social Democratic party, wants the federal government to pay for courses in order to give migrant children the same chances as Swiss children have (Büchi,

2015). A politician from the right-wing SVP stated that this should not be the government´s duty but the parents´. These might only be two examples in a debate has been going on for a long time.

While a lot of the research that has been done on the topic of bilingualism focuses on bilingual or plurilingual language acquisition, especially by bilingual children, less attention has been paid to other peopleinvolved, especially the parents. However, parents play a huge role in the child´s language acquisition. Thus, it should be known how the parents feel about raising their children multilingual, what might be obstacles and also positive aspects they encounter.

This master thesis will explore the choices, strategies and ideas of parents who raise their children bi- or plurilingually by means of a qualitative approach. Eight interviews were conducted in order to explore parents´ reasoning and the strategies they use in order for their children to become plurilingual. One part as to why a child is bi- or plurilingual is due to the family constellation (parents from two different language backgrounds) or the place of living. However, there are big differences as to how families handle it. In his book, “Life with Two Languages” Grosjean mentions several strategies, which will be listed below in addition to another strategy discussed by King:

• One Person – One Language • Home language – outside language • First one language, a few years later the other language • Use them interchangeably • Language time (Grosjean, 1982, pp. 173-174) • Code-Switching (King K. , 2006, p. 223)

The One Person – One Language Strategy is the strategy most advertised in guides, including Barron-Hauwaert´s “Language Strategies for Bilingual Families” (2004). The strategies listed above will be further explained in the thesis in order to help analyse the interviews.

Relevance Linguists such as Suzanne Romaine have done extensive research in the field of bilingualism and bilingual people. There is still a lot of research focusing on children, such as the paper of Michael Shany and Esther Geva who looked at Ethiopian children who migrated to Israel (2012). 7

Little research has been done which focuses on the parents of bilingual children. One paper published in 1996 looked at Latino parents´ rationales and their strategies for raising their children bilingually. The paper´s aim was to be the starting point to more profound research, which would be more inclusive for example regarding the language selection. The researchers wanted to add to the understanding of the relationship between how families speak and how bilingualism is developed. They thought that this knowledge could be “used to develop and sustain community-home-school collaborative efforts, efforts which, if successful, both complement the agenda of formal schooling and lead to improvement of school outcomes for language minority students (Schecter, Sharken-Taboada, & Bayley, 1996)”. King and Fogle looked at how parents raise their children bilingual (Spanish and English) and how they back their decisions. They found that parents use the advice from experts selectively and will ignore other expert advice. In the end, they seem to depend on their own experiences (King & Fogle, 2006; Chevalier, 2006).

Other studies often focus on one language combination (e.g. (Ang-Tschachtli, 2005): German and English). This master thesis, on the other hand, focuses on different language combinations. Including language combinations other than German/English is what differentiates this thesis from other studies. This way it will allow a broader outlook on bilingualism and should not be influenced by the languages spoken. Fur- ther, it allows for us to see whether the languages spoken might have an influence on the parents´ attitude.

While the main focus of my research is of general interest for sociolinguistics, it also has concrete relevance for the domain of languages at school. Hopefully, this master thesis can help to sensitise teachers and help them to give advice to parents who raise their children plurilingually and might reach out to the teachers for help. This is also connected to the Lehrplan 21, which is currently highly discussed. In it, it is stated that multilingualism is not only a big part of Swiss culture, but that multilingualism and multiculturalism also contribute to cultural variety. This however also comes with dif- ficulties, and the Lehrplan 21 suggests to help ease these problems with DaZ (Ger- man as a second language) courses, as well as courses in which children are taught about their heritage language and culture. As education is not simply a matter between the school and the students but also the parents, this master thesis aims to

8 help teachers understand the parents better and thus help the children (D-EDK, 2015).

Qualitative research can help to find new insights, which then can be further looked into with quantitative research. Thus, I have decided to do a qualitative research. My focus will be on interviews. With the help of these interviews, I will investigate three areas. The first one is the attitudes of the parents toward raising a child bilingually, the second area looks at the concrete language strategies in families, while the third area is the family´s culture. The interviews will take place either with one, or ideally with both parents. I planned to do five to ten interviews lasting approximately one hour. Ideally, the interviews will be done at the families´ homes in order to make them feel comfortable and relaxed.

Research questions 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages for their children, according to the parents? Do they match up with what researchers say? 2. How do the parents speak about raising their children bilingually? Do they use more positive or negative words? 3. What are the parents´ reasonings and are there any differences and can these differences be connected with the languages spoken in the family? Which factors play into their rationales? These factors might include education, family, cultural affiliation, the social status of the parents‘ languages. 4. Which strategies do the eight families follow? 5. Have there been stages in the family´s life when their language use needed to be “renegotiated”? This might happen when a child starts kindergarten and meets a lot of children and makes new friends. 6. How do the couples communicate? 7. How do parents feel when their child is speaking their partner´s language? How do they feel in situations in which they cannot understand their partner´s family? 8. Do they practice the first language at home? In what ways do they maintain the minority language in the home? 9. How do the parents react to their child when he/she code-switches? Do the parents code-switch themselves?

10. How do the children handle living with two or even more cultures in the same household? How do families describe their culture? Which aspects of culture do they talk about? Do they foster their child´s knowledge not only about the language but also the culture? E.g. Heimatsprachliche Kurse (HSK). Which parts of the minority culture do they wish to pass on?

2. Theory 2.1. Bilingualism In this chapter I will have a look at a general definition of what bilingualism is before going more into depth by describing societal bilingualism and then in comparison look at individual bilingualism. At last, we then will look at Switzerland and the case of multilingualism we can encounter in this country, which is important to understand the circumstances of the families who were interviewed.

Bilingualism has, according to Grosjean, existed since the beginning of human language and it can be found in most countries. He goes as far as saying that it might be almost impossible to find a country which is one hundred percent monolingual (1982, p. 1). Whereas some countries are officially bilingual such as Canada, which has two official languages; French and English (Yule, 2010, p. 244), since 1867 and has pronounced them equal with the Official Languages Act in 1969 (Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, 2016) other countries like Italy might seem clearly monolingual, however their bilingualism is simply better hidden (European Union, 2016). Interestingly, there are many different Albanian dialects represented in Italy, especially in the southern regions such as Sicily and Calabria, thus showing that even though Italy is officially monolingual, in reality the situation is very different (Ethnologue Languages of the World, 2016).

A very simple definition of what bilingualism entails according to Yule is “the state of having two languages” (2010, p. 284). Other definitions say that bilingual people “pos- sess or can speak two languages (Field, 2011, p. 16)”. The problem with these definitions lies in the fact that they are not very clear. Having two languages can be very different things and does not state how well a person should speak, write and understand each language in order to be considered bilingual. This is also what I would criticise about Field´s definition. A language consists of a lot more than speaking. It

10 entails listening, writing and reading skills as well, which is not included in his definition. However, he mentions that definitions of bilingualism are difficult and can vary to a high degree (Field, 2011, p. 16).

Bilingualism and multilingualism are often times interchangeably used (Field, 2011, p. 16) as multilingual means that a person is able to communicate in two or more languages, while bilingual means a person speaks two languages (Field, 2011, p. 121). As I used the term bilingual when speaking with the families, as the term is much more known in the general public, I will use the term bilingual for this thesis, and use multilingual when talking about families in which the children clearly learn three or more languages from an early age on.

2.1.1. Societal bilingualism As bilingualism is so diverse, I will show the difference between societal and individual bilingualism. Baker states that “it is valuable to make an initial distinction between bilingualism and multilingualism as an individual characteristic, and bilingualism and multilingualism in a social group, community, region or country” (2006, p. 2).

In general, it can be said that societal bilingualism occurs when two or more languages are frequently used by a community. Field explores two ways in which such a society can form.

1. Societal bilingualism as a result of colonialism

This happens when the colonist encourages their own language and its use, in order to suppress the other language or languages already being spoken in that area. This is of course the result of having a more powerful group ruling over the other (Field, 2011, p. 163).

2. Societal bilingualism as a result of immigration

In this case a larger group of immigrants enters a country which has a dominant language that differs from the immigrants´ language. In order to find a job and work the minority will learn the majority language. Further learning the dominant language ensures a better integration of the immigrants. Through this process not only do the individuals become bilingual but also a larger group and thus the community (Field, 2011, p. 163).

Switzerland, which is a good example for societal bilingualism, will be further explored at the end of this chapter. To give another example of societal bilingualism we will have a look at Nigeria (Weber & Horner, 2012, p. 77).

Nigeria has several official languages: English, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. The last three languages are all indigenous languages. French also holds an official status, however it is not used by many and thus English is the only lingua franca in Nigeria. Interesting about that is the fact that even though it is the lingua franca it is still not spoken by everyone (Weber & Horner, 2012, p. 77).

Nigeria´s goal is to ensure that each child can communicate in their first language during the early years of their education. However, in reality, this is most often not the case and the child has to learn in the majority language, not their first language (Adeg- bija, 2004, pp. 216-217; as cited in Weber & Horner, 2012, p. 77).

In addition, the language of instruction changes to English during the primary school years and in Nigeria´s language policy it is stated that each child should, in addition to their own indigenous language, learn another one of the three indigenous languages (Weber & Horner, 2012, p. 77).

Further a big proportion of Nigeria´s population speaks Nigerian Pidgin English, which is a means of communicating with people from different areas who do not share the same first language. The problem lies within the status of the language. It is not an official language and is considered to be “bad” English. (Weber & Horner, 2012, pp. 77-78).

This is just one more example of how societal bilingualism can look like. There are many different shapes and forms and different ways in which the society approaches and manages their bilingualism.

2.1.1. Individual bilingualism Individual bilingualism does not have to root in the area’s political situation in which the person lives. Reasons for being bilingual in an individual manner can simply lie in having parents from two different language backgrounds. The parents might choose not to speak the majority language or it might be the result of not being able to communicate properly in the majority language (Yule, 2010, p. 245).

The term individual bilingualism is often times used in contrast to societal bilingualism. However, they are very much connected as a society´s bilingualism or non-bilingualism has an influence on a person´s bilingualism (Field, 2011, pp. 88-89). Other examples include the way code-switching is looked at in society. If it is accepted, it can become a common way of speaking, whereas people will try to avoid it if it is looked down on.

King mentions that most bilinguals are stronger in one of their languages and often time this is connected to how much they were exposed to the language and in which situations they use them (King K. , 2006, pp. 223-224). Bilingualism is not a solid state and may change over time due to the person´s circumstances which are ever changing. As long as the person uses the two languages in some way, speaking it, writing it or understanding it, he or she can be considered bilingual. The extent of their knowledge in each language can change over time and is fluid (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2016). Many linguists are of the thought that it is rather unrealistic to think a person is equally strong in two languages and that there will always be differences (Field, 2011, p. 17; Baker, 2000, p. 16).

In the end, these quite open definitions show the diversity of bilingualism. As Suzanne Romaine suggested, we have to look at the competencies the person has in each language to understand the individual’s degree of bilingualism more clearly (Romaine, 1995, pp. 12-13) and to not simply try and compare the language competencies of a bilingual to those of a monolingual (Baker, 2000, p. 33).

This could be done by using the following eight dimensions, which are presented by Baker in “Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism”:

1. Ability: Ability describes how well a person for example can write, speak or also understand a language. This can vary and for some bilinguals this means they understand their second language very well but might not be able to write it (Baker, 2006, p. 3). 2. Use: This dimension looks at when a person uses each language and in which circumstances the languages were attained (Baker, 2006, p. 3). 3. Balance of two languages: This goes back to the notion that it is rather unrealistic to expect a bilingual to be perfectly balanced, since most often one of the languages is less dominant than the other (Baker, 2006, p. 3).

4. Age: This dimension looks at the timeline in which the languages were ac- quired. If they are both learnt from the beginning, it is called simultaneous bilingualism, whereas if the second language is introduced and learnt after the age of three it is either called “consecutive or sequential bilingualism” (Baker, 2006, p. 4). 5. Development: Languages are always developing, so they might ascend or wear down (Baker, 2006, p. 4). 6. Culture: Bilinguals do not have to be bicultural, it is very much possible for them to be monocultural. On the other hand, one can be very proficient in one language and have little knowledge of their other language, while being quite bicultural. Very much like bilingualism is a spectrum, culture is a spectrum as well. (Baker, 2006, p. 4) 7. Contexts: While bilinguals can live in a bilingual surrounding, where it is normal to use two or more languages, it can also be the case that the bilingual lives in a monolingual surrounding. The minority language might be mostly spoken at home but also through the internet with other family members and friends who also speak the minority language. (Baker, 2006, p. 4) 8. Elective bilingualism: This is a form of bilingualism in which the person chooses to learn another language, usually in a classroom setting. This distin- guishes them from circumstantial bilinguals, who became bilinguals due to their circumstances, for example being an immigrant. They need to become bilingual in order to function fully in their community. (Baker, 2006, p. 4)

2.1.1.1. Potential advantages and disadvantages

For the purpose of this study here I will present potential advantages and disadvantages of bilingualism, which are described in Colin Baker´s book “A Parents´ and Teachers´ Guide To Bilingualism”.

The advantages he names are the following:

Communication Advantages

1. Wider communication (extended family, community, international links, employment). 2. Literacy in two languages.

Cultural Advantages

3. Broader enculturation, a deeper multiculturalism, and two ´language worlds´ of experience. 4. Greater tolerance and less racism.

Cognitive advantages

5. Thinking benefits (creativity, sensitivity to communication).

Character Advantages

6. Raised self-esteem. 7. Security in identity.

Curriculum Advantages

8. Increased curriculum achievement. 9. Easier to learn a third language.

Financial Advantage

10. Economic and employment benefits.” (Baker, A Parent´s And Teacher´s Guide To Bilingualism, 2000, p. 2)

When talking about potential disadvantages Baker points out that it is important to not think bilingualism is the reason for any problem that occurs. He goes on to point out some potential areas of trouble (2000, p. 61).

1) A child´s development in both languages might be underdeveloped. This means the child is not able to manage the school work in either language (Baker, 2000, p. 61). 2) The amount of work it takes the parents to raise their children bilingually can also be a potential problem. Both languages need work and need to be maintained (Baker, 2000, p. 62). 3) Identity can be problematic (Baker, 2000, p. 62), however, he also mentioned that a more secure identity can be an advantage (Baker, 2000, p. 2).

I will compare these advantages and disadvantages to the ones mentioned by the parents.

2.1.2. Multilingualism in Switzerland Switzerland is quite unique in that it has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. However, it has to be noted that Romansh does not hold the same status as the other three languages. While German, French and Italian are used as official languages, Romansh is only used as an official language when communicating with people from the Romansh area (SwissInfoDesk, 2016).

„Art. 4 Landessprachen Die Landessprachen sind Deutsch, Französisch, Italienisch und Rätoroma- nisch.“ (SwissInfoDesk, 2016)

„Art. 70 Sprachen Alinea 1 Die Amtssprachen des Bundes sind Deutsch, Französisch und Italienisch. Im Verkehr mit Personen rätoromanischer Sprache ist auch das Rätoromanische Amtssprache des Bundes.“ (SwissInfoDesk, 2016)

One example that shows the difference in usage of these four languages can be seen on the trains and the train stations. All signs are written in these three official languages and in addition also in English, however, not in Romansh, as can be seen in the picture below.

Figure 1 Sign at a train station in Switzerland

Most cantons officially speak one language, and only four cantons are either bi- or trilingual. Berne, Wallis and Fribourg are all bilingual with both German and French being spoken and the Canton of Grisons, which is even trilingual where German,

Figure 2 Map of Switzerland showing the four languages (https://www.nb.admin.ch/dienstleistungen/swissinfodesk/03034/03232/04411/index.html?lang=de&im- age=NHzLpZeg7t,lnp6I0NTU042l2Z6ln1acy4Zn4Z2qZpnO2Yuq2Z6gpJCEdYF2hGym162bpYbqjKbXpJ6ei- KidoIyf4w--) Romansh and Italian are being used (EDA, 2016). The map above shows how the languages are distributed. The red-striped areas show the bilingual areas. It has to be noted that the Canton of Bern is not striped, as it is mainly small areas which are bilingual and thus are not shown on the map, as they are too small to be marked.

Switzerland´s form of bi- and multilingualism ensures that every language group can use their language in their everyday life, in school and at work, whether their language is the majority or minority language. This can be seen in the fact that in the 2014 census only 0.5% of the Swiss population stated that they consider Romansh to be their main language. Still, Romansh is a national language, which also ensures efforts are made in order to protect and promote the language. (Bundesamt für Statistik, 2015)

On the surface it looks as if Switzerland is simply quadrilingual. However, so far we have only looked at the four national languages. In addition to these many more languages are spoken, with many being more prominent than Romansh, despite it being a national language. Of the four national languages German is the most spoken language, with 63.3 percent, followed by French (22.7%), then Italian 8.1% and at last Romansh with 0.5 percent. While in 2014 Romansh was only spoken by 0.5 percent, English was spoken by 4.6 percent, Portuguese by 3.6 percent, Albanian by 3 percent, Serbian and Croatian by 2.5 percent and Spanish by 2.2 percent. A further 6.8 percent mentioned other languages as their main language. (Bundesamt für Statistik, 2015)

Figure 3 Main languages spoken in Switzerland Even though Switzerland looks quadrilingual on the surface, the reality is much more complicated and diverse as shown above. This can also be seen in the school system. While the majority language of the area the child lives in is learnt as their first language, another official language is learnt as a second language. While in the Ger- man part it is usually French, which is learnt as the L2, the French-speaking children will learn German as their L2. It has to be noted that in the German part of Switzerland not Standard German but different dialects are spoken, while Standard German is the language of instruction. (Weber & Horner, 2012, p. 71)

However, the situation has changed again, as in many cantons it is currently English, which is first introduced before the second official language, which has led to many discussions and is still a point of discussion. This leads to rapid changes, for example

18 the Canton of Zurich has announced that they will make changes in connection to their English classes. While children used to start learning English from the second grade on, they will soon start from the third grade on. This leads to all German-speaking cantons starting their English classes at the same time. (kerf & meim, 2016)

Language strategies Even though it is often hard to put a family´s language strategy into one category, as their strategies often change and may not have very clear boundaries, in this chapter the main strategies will be explored and further explained. This will then help when analysing the interviews.

There is no certain way in predicting which strategy will be the most successful. Thus it is very much a question of what makes the parents feel the most comfortable. So far strategies which feel the most natural have shown to be the most successful. (Grosjean, 1982, p. 174)

Further there needs to be a need for a child to speak not only the majority language but also the minority language. For example, if a child comes to the realisation that the parent speaking the minority language is well able to understand and maybe even speak the majority language, the child might not feel as if it has to keep speaking the minority language. (Grosjean, 1982, p. 175)

It has to be noted that there are many different terms for these strategies. They are often very similar to each other and differ in their names, not so much in what they actually entail. Thus the strategies described by Grosjean will be used as well as one strategy described by King which was added to the list, as this strategy was not included in Life with Two Languages, but did appear in the families.

2.1.1. One Person – One Language (OPOL) This is the strategy which was first described by a French linguist called Grammont, then called “une personne, une langue”. The strategy, as suggested by the name, is a way for each parent to communicate in their native language in which they feel the most comfortable. This way they can talk naturally to their children. (Grosjean, 1982, p. 173; Field, 2011, p. 17)

2.1.2. Home language – outside language Parents who follow this strategy tend to use one language only at home, thus the home language. This is often the minority language in order to give the children an opportunity to learn and use this language in a natural environment, while they learn the other language at school. This is something that happens naturally in families where the parents only speak the minority language and depend on it to communicate at home, while some parents enforce the rule that one language is spoken at home only. (Grosjean, 1982, pp. 173-174)

2.1.3. Gradual introduction Another strategy which can be used is a strategy in which the languages are not all introduced at the same time to the child´s life, but gradually. The parents thus speak only one language at the beginning and then at some point introduce the second language. (Grosjean, 1982, p. 174)

2.1.4. Interchangeable use Families who follow a less strict pattern could fit into this strategy. An interchangeable use means that the chosen language depends a lot on the circumstances such as topic or place and can change very quickly. The disadvantage here seems to be that it is not controlled and thus the parents have less impact on how much their children are exposed to the different languages. (Grosjean, 1982, p. 174)

2.1.5. Language time Other families use languages at a certain time, by giving each language time slots. For example, they might be speaking German during breakfast and then change to Spanish for lunch. Other options include allotting languages to different days. This strategy seems to be the most unnatural (Grosjean, 1982, p. 174) and was never met during the interviews.

2.1.6. Code-switching In addition to the strategies described before, which were all mentioned in Life with Two Languages by Grosjean, King also mentions a strategy in which the parents make great use of code-switching and thus will switch between the two languages that are spoken at their home (King K. , 2006, p. 223). Code switching will further be explained in the next chapter.

2.2. Code-switching As code-switching is an important aspect of bilingualism and was talked about in the interviews I will present the definition with which I will work for this thesis. The definition I use is by Grosjean. I choose to work with this one as it is very simple and defines “code-switching as the alternate use of two or more languages in the same utterance or conversation (Grosjean, 1982, p. 145)”. Further it has to be noted that code-switching happens intentionally and is often used with a purpose. The change in language can for example be used to emphasize something (Grosjean, 1982, p. 152). Other reasons include:

- “Fill a linguistic need for lexical item, set phrase, discourse marker, or sentence filler - Continue the last language used (triggering) - Quote someone - Specify addressee - Qualify message: amplify or emphasize (“topper” in argument) - Specify speaker involvement (personalize message) - Mark and emphasize group identity (solidarity) - Convey confidentiality, anger, annoyance - Exclude someone from conversation - Change role of speaker: raise status, add authority, show expertise (Grosjean, 1982, p. 152)”

Grosjean goes on to describe three different types of code-switching and gives the reader an example for each one (Grosjean, 1982, pp. 145-146). However, I chose to use the expressions from Poplack as these have clear names. She mentions these three: tag-switching, inter-sentential and intra-sentential.

Type I: Tag-switching

Tag-switching means a person puts in small units, or tags, into a sentence which is otherwise all in the other language. These tags could include utterances such as “you know, je ne sais quoi” and similar things (Poplack, 1980; as cited in Romaine, 1995, pp.122-123).

Type II: inter-sentential

When a person switches after a clause or a sentence, this is called inter-sentential switching (Poplack, 1980; as cited in Romaine, 1995, p. 123). In Romaine’s book Bilingualism there is an example from an English-Panjabi-speaking person who shows this kind of code switching.

“I mean I´m guilty in that sense ke ziada ɯsi English I bolde fer ode nal eda hɯnde ke tɯhadi jeri zəbanɛ,̃ na? (Romaine, Bilingualism Second Edition, 1995, p. 122)”.

Type III: Intra-sentential

Intra-sentential, as the name suggests, means a person will change languages within the sentence, which could go as far as changing languages after each word or mixing within a word. This is probably the most complex form of code-switching as it is the easiest to make mistakes, especially concerning the syntax (Poplack, 1980; as cited in Romaine, 1995, p.123). This could then look something like the example found in Life with Two Languages:

“Va chercher Marc (go fetch Marc) and bribe him avec un chocolat chaud (with a hot chocolate) with cream on top (Grosjean, 1982, p. 145).”

A great example for mixing within a word can be found in Romaine´s book and is a mix between Panjabi and English. She describes how the English word “shop” is in- flected in a Panjabi matter and is turned into shoppã (Romaine, Bilingualism Second Edition, 1995, p. 123).

In general, it can be said that these types need different levels of fluency in the two or more languages, which are involved in the code-switching process. As the grammatical structures of the languages have to be aligned for type II and type III, there might be differences depending on how close the grammatical structures of the languages are.

When looking at the interviews I will refer back to these three types of code-switching.

2.3. Code-mixing Code-mixing is very close to code-switching, but whereas code-switching happens intentionally, code-mixing does not. As it is unintentional, it is often found in a child´s speaking and is a normal part of the language development of a bilingual child. It is a 22 topic which is well explored. It is not clear as to why children code-mix, and as King mentions in her article, some studies suggest that it is part of a child “developing grammar and lexical system” (King K. , 2006, p. 223), whereas newer studies propose this might be a sign that children could be at an earlier stage of code-switching. This could mean that even young children are able to use their languages with purpose to a certain degree (King K. , 2006, pp. 222-223).

2.4. Culture Culture made up a big part of the questionnaire, which is why this term needs to be explored at this stage. As for the families, they were not given a definition as it was important to keep the question open and to not limit them to certain aspects. I will work with the following definition for the purpose of this master thesis:

“The ideas, customary actions, arts, and beliefs of a group of people that are passed on (or communicated) from one generation to the next. Also, an iden- tifiable social group that is held together by a culturally transmitted set of religious beliefs, values and standards of behaviour (including dress, food, cus- toms, taboos, and superstitions).” (Field, 2011, p. 49)

As for the analysis I will later look at multiculturalism, the importance of passing on culture, thoughts on Swiss culture and also at cultural influences. The subtopics for the cultural influences include holidays such as Christmas, books, religion, food, family and music. These subtopics were elaborated through coding the transcripts of the interviews and working with the definition above.

Normally, family might not be the first to come to mind when thinking about culture. However, it is a very important aspect and when asking about their culture, I asked the parents to describe their family´s culture, in order to get some insight into their family life as well as their multiculturalism. Thus family did play a big part in the families´ answers. Further, when looking at Field´s definition, it can be argued that family is part of the values of a social group (Field, 2011, p. 49).

I argue that Field´s definition is quite extensive and includes aspects of culture that I consider to be of importance, I worked with this definition when coding the interviews and will resort to it when analysing the transcripts.

3. Method In this chapter I will at first present the OPOL questionnaire, which was used to conduct the interviews. I will then go on to talk about the sampling strategy, which was used before giving some more information on the sampling unit. Further, I will give some more detailed information on each of the eight families who took part in this study. Additionally, the term qualitative content analysis will be further explored. I will then present my sequence of coding and the most important topics, which will later be used for the analysis. At last I will critique the methodology used for this master thesis.

3.1. OPOL Questionnaire In order to gather data the OPOL questionnaire (Barron-Hauwaert, 2004) was used. Due to the small scale of this thesis it made sense to use an existing questionnaire and then slightly adapt it to the Swiss education system as well as the research questions. Further changes were made to the way the questions were answered. The OPOL questionnaire was originally all answered in written form. For this thesis the questionnaire was divided into two parts, whereas the first part was answered in written form and the second part was answered in spoken form.

The first part generated general information about the family whereas the questions of part two can roughly be divided into three parts: language use in the family, culture and dis- and advantages of growing up bilingually. The full questionnaire both in Ger- man and English can be found in the attachments. Below the questions from part two are listed.

- “How did the two of you meet?

- How do you speak with each other as a couple?

- How do you speak with each other as a family?

o When did you start this strategy in your family?

o Did you do any research on raising bilingual children before deciding on a strategy?

- Has the way you speak with each other changed? When? Why? Ask for examples.

- How do you feel when your partner speaks his/her language to your children?

- How do you feel when you are with family/friends who speak your partner´s language?

- Why did you decide to raise your children bilingual/multilingual?

- Do the children mix the languages?

o How do you feel about that?

o What do you do when it happens? Do you correct him/her? Do you try to stop them from mixing the languages?

- How would you describe your culture? How do you deal with the different cultures?

- Is it important to you to pass on your culture, or not? Why?

o In what ways do you pass on your culture?

- How do the children deal with different cultures?

o What have they taken on from your culture?

- For you, what are the positive aspects and advantages of being raised bilingually for your children?

- What might be the disadvantages? (Barron-Hauwaert, 2004)”

3.1.1. Language biographies In addition to the questions above, I wanted to find out a bit about the parents’ own language biography, as this might have an influence on their reasoning as to why they want to raise their children bilingually. Further it could influence their views on bilingualism, what the advantages and disadvantages might be for their own children. For this reason, the first part of the questionnaire was used in addition to some aspects the parents mentioned or talked about in the interviews, which were sometimes not an answer to the question posed but offered interesting additional information and insight. These questions are as mentioned from the 2001 OPOL Questionnaire, which can be found in Barron-Hauwaert´s book “Language Strategies for Bilingual Families” (2004).

These questions include the following and are all from the book mentioned above. The questions are taken literally from the questionnaire, thus everything until the end of chapter 2.6.1. is taken word for word from Barron-Hauwaert´s book.:

- “How long have you lived in your country of residence?

- Which languages do you speak?

Language Where learnt (E.g. Proficiency Home, school or (Choose one: first lan- other) guage, basic knowledge, good knowledge, very good knowledge)

Mother

Father

Child 1

Child 2

Child 3

- What was the language of instruction at school? (Barron-Hauwaert, 2004)”

Pre- Pri- Second- Apprentice- College University school mary ary ship (if appli- (If appli- (under 5) (6 – (12 – 16) cable) cable) 11)

Mother

Father

Child 1

Child 2

Child 3

Note: The category “apprenticeship” was added in order to adjust the table to the Swiss education system.

3.2. Sampling At first I will talk about the sampling unit and the strategy used to find the interview partners. Then I will give a short overview of the selected families and go into more detail with a list of the most important information on each of the families. This includes the number of family members as well as age at the time of the interview, place where they grew up and languages spoken. This information was conducted through the first part of the questionnaire and was filled out by the parents, however, in some cases additions were made based on the interview and will be marked. Fur- ther the first languages were marked with an L1. The full questionnaire can be found in the attachments.

3.2.1. Sampling strategy First it has to be noted that the sampling strategy which was followed for the purpose of this thesis had to be adapted to the limited resources which were available. Thus it is a mixture of several sampling strategies, which will now be further explored.

Before reaching out to any potential interview partners there was one dimension each family had to fit in. They all had to live in Winterthur and its close surroundings, thus ensuring that their resources are similar for example in regards to schools specialised in Heimatsprachliche Kurse. Flick describes this as a “Vorab-Festlegung” of the sampling structure, so a pre-determined sampling (Flick, 2012, p. 155). However, I only had one fixed criteria each family had to fit, whereas a classic sampling unit of the strategy mentioned above would often times have to fit several criteria, such as oc- cupation, age, gender etc. (Flick, 2012, pp. 155-156)

Further I had to depend on convenience sampling (Patton, Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods, 2002, p. 243), in order to find enough families in the short amount of time available. Interestingly enough, it was Patton himself who rather crit- icised convenience sampling in his book Qualitative Research and Evaluation in 1990. He says it is the least desirable sampling strategy and says that time and resources should be considered but should not be the most important factor when choosing cases (Patton, 1990, pp. 180-181). These thoughts should surely be considered when working on the sampling unit. However, in the case of this thesis, it was almost impossible not to depend on the convenience sampling strategy to some extent.

I looked for families in my circle of acquaintances, as this included many families who fit the first criteria, having Winterthur and its surroundings as their place of living.

Further I relied on aspects of what is called theoretical sampling which is described by Glaser and Strauss in their book The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research (Glaser & Strauss, 2010, p. 61).

Theoretical sampling is a strategy in which data is collected, coded and analysed concurrently and based on the findings it is decided which date still needs to be collected (Glaser & Strauss, 2010, p. 61). This strategy requires a lot of time as it is not clear at the beginning how extensive the collected data pool will be nor how long it will take to finish the sampling (Flick, 2012, p. 161). However, the aspect of not having a fixed sampling unit at the beginning was the correct approach for this thesis, as the goal was to have as many languages included as possible in the sampling. Thus it seemed sensible to gather families, who were willing to participate, and keep a list of the languages spoken. Based on that list new families were asked to include more languages. The hope was to see if there are differences in the families´ attitudes towards bilingualism in connection to their family languages.

It has to be noted that the sampling strategy for this thesis is not theoretical sampling, it only shows small aspects of it. Glaser and Strauss put it this way:

„Theoretisches Sampling wird in der Absicht durchgeführt, Kategorien und ihre Eigenschaften zu entdecken und das interne Beziehungsgefüge einer Theorie zu entwerfen (2010, p. 78).“

To summarise this chapter, the sampling strategy followed these points:

1) All families need to live in the same urban region or its close surroundings (pre- determined).

2) The circle of acquaintances is used to gather the families (convenience sampling).

3) As many languages as possible need to be included, thus families will be added consecutively to ensure the goal is reached (Theoretical sampling).

3.2.2. Sampling Unit

When deciding how many families would be interviewed one aspect, once again, had to be taken into consideration, which is resources. Conducting the interviews, tran- scribing and coding these takes time, still the pool of data should be big enough, especially pertaining to the number of languages.

Patton writes that “There are no rules for sample size in qualitative inquiry (1990, p. 184)”. The purpose of this thesis is what has an influence of sample size and so do the resources. Thus I decided to interview between five and ten families. In the end I conducted interviews with eight families.

In two cases it was not possible to conduct the interview with both the mother and the father, but only the mother. For the other six interviews both parents were present. All interviews took place at the families´ homes, thus ensuring they felt secure and relaxed during the interviews. In addition, this meant that the surroundings should not have as big of an impact. Further, it has to be noted that in some cases the children were present. However, it was up to the children to decide whether they wanted to be there and they could leave at any moment if they wished to. In most cases the children simply listened to what their parents´ had to say, only in the case of one family the daughter gave some information.

The languages represented by the eight families are, meaning the languages spoken at the families´ homes are, in brackets the number of families is stated:

- Swiss-German (7x)

- English (3x)

- French (1x)

- Spanish (2x)

- Italian (2x)

- Dutch (1x)

- Polish (1x)

- Arabic (1x)

When Swiss-German was named, it can be assumed that Standard German is spoken as well due to the Swiss school system, in which students are instructed in Stand-

29 ard German, not Swiss German. Further, some interviewees did not mention a language they speak but then talked about it in the interview. In these cases, their written questionnaires were completed by the interviewer. If this was done the language is written in italics. The first languages of the people involved are labelled with “L1”. For each family there will be a short summary and a table showing the most important information about each family, further information can be found in the attachments.

3.2.3. Family A The parents of Family A both grew up bilingually themselves and have Italian in common, which thus has become the main family language, in addition to Swiss-German, which has become more prominent due to the daughter going to school.

As the mother was heavily pregnant at the time of the interview it was not possible to interview both her and her husband at the same time due to scheduling problems. However, since they are both bilinguals some of the questions for which both parents are needed, do not carry the same importance as for other couples. The youngest child, Chiara, was born roughly two weeks after the interview had taken place.

Family Name Age Place of growing up Languages spoken member

Mother Lucia 34 Urban area of Canton Italian(L1), Swiss-Ger- Zurich man(L1), English, French, Spanish

Father Giorgio 42 Rural area of Canton Italian (L1), Spanish (L1), Zurich Swiss-German, English, French

Child 1 Sara 8 Urban area of Canton Italian (L1), Swiss-German Zurich (L1), English

Child 2 Matteo 4 Urban area of Canton Italian (L1), Swiss-German Zurich

Child 3 Chiara 0 Urban area of Canton Zurich

3.2.4. Family B Family B has English as their main family language with the father himself being multilingual, thanks to his upbringing in Malaysia, England and Australia. The mother is an English teacher and has published papers in the field of linguistics, thus herself has native-like abilities in English. She does speak Swiss-German to the children when she is alone with them and changes to English when the father is around.

Family Name Age Place of growing up Languages spoken member

Mother Lea 36 Rural area of Canton Swiss-German (L1), English, Zurich Spanish, Italian, French

Father Enlai 44 Malaysia until seven, English (L1), German, Span- one year in London, ish, Mandarin (L1) Australia from the age of eight

Child 1 Noah 5.5 Urban area of Canton English (L1), Swiss-German Zurich (L1)

Child 2 Charlie 3 Urban area of Canton English (L1), Swiss-German Zurich (L1)

3.2.5. Family C The family mainly speaks French at home, while the father speaks Spanish to his son Lucas. Raúl grew up in Guatemala with a Swiss father and an American-Costa-Rican mother, however he did not speak Swiss-German growing up, as French and Spanish were the family languages.

Family Name Age Place of growing up Languages spoken member

Mother Monique 39 Urban area of Canton French (L1), Swiss-German, Waadt English, Spanish, Italian

Father Raúl 42 Guatemala Spanish (L1), French (L1), English, Swiss-German, Ital- ian

Child 1 Lucas 9 Urban area of Canton French (L1), Swiss-German, Zurich Spanish (L1)

3.2.6. Family D Family D speaks a mixture of Polish and German at home, the mother herself being a bilingual, who spoke only Polish at home but learnt German from a very young age. While the father speaks Swiss-German to the children, he does mix in some Polish expressions. The mother on the other hand speaks Polish when she is alone with the children.

Family Name Age Place of growing up Languages spoken member

Mother Ramona 34 Urban area of Can- Polish (L1), Swiss-German ton Zurich (L1)

Father Thomas 31 Rural area of Can- Swiss-German (L1), Polish ton Zurich

Child 1 Carla 4 Urban area of Can- Polish (L1), German (L1) ton Zurich

Child 2 Abegail 9 Urban area of Can- months ton Zurich

3.2.7. Family E A mixture of German and Dutch is spoken at the home of family E, the mother having moved here to work as a nurse. While the father speaks Swiss-German with the children, the mother only speaks Dutch with the children. Though they never went to any Dutch courses in order to learn the spelling, they started texting their mother in Dutch and through that have learnt to write in Dutch.

Family Name Age Place of growing up Languages spoken member

Mother Janneke 51 Rural area, Holland Dutch (L1), Swiss-German, English

Father Martin 52 Rural area of Canton Swiss-German (L1), Dutch Zurich

Child 1 Vanessa 15 Urban area of Canton Dutch (L1), Swiss-German Zurich (L1), English, French

Child 2 Jonas 14 Urban area of Canton Dutch (L1), Swiss-German Zurich (L1), English, French

3.2.8. Family F The parents met while travelling and a few years later mother Eimhir moved to Swit- zerland. She only speaks English at home and does not speak Swiss-German that well, mentioning that people will always answer in English whenever she speaks to them. The father communicates in Swiss-German to the children, the children mostly speak Swiss-German to each other and thus it has become the majority language in their household.

Family Name Age Place of growing up Languages spoken member

Mother Eimhir 45 Scotland English (L1), Swiss-German

Father Peter 49 Switzerland Swiss-German (L1), English, French

Child 1 Aidan 8 Urban area of Canton Swiss-German (L1), English Zurich (L1)

Child 2 Isobel 6 Urban area of Canton Swiss-German (L1), English Zurich (L1)

Child 3 Findlay 3 Urban area of Canton Swiss-German (L1), English Zurich (L1)

3.2.9. Family G Family G is the second family in which case it was only possible to speak with the mother. Luckily, much like family A, the parents have Italian as their common lan-

33 guage, as the father grew up bilingually (Italian, Swiss-German) and the mother multilingually (Spanish, Italian, Swiss-German). At their home they speak a mixture of Italian, Swiss-German and Spanish.

Family Name Age Place of growing up Languages spoken member

Mother Laura 35 Switzerland Italian (L1), Spanish (L1), Swiss-German (L1)

Father Gino 39 Switzerland Italian (L1), Swiss-German (L1)

Child 1 Juan 9 Switzerland Italian (L1), Spanish (L1), Swiss-German (L1)

Child 2 Catalina 6 Switzerland Italian (L1), Spanish (L1), Swiss-German (L1)

3.2.10. Family H The family speaks a constant mix of Swiss-German, English and Arabic. However, the son speaks only Swiss-German to his mother and Arabic to his father. In this case it is mostly the parents who code-switch. The family lived in Egypt for a couple of years before moving to Switzerland.

Family Name Age Place of growing up Languages spoken member

Mother Larissa 46 Urban area of Canton Swiss-German (L1), French, Zurich English, Arabic

Father Baki 41 Egypt Arabic (L1), English, Swiss- German, Italian, Russian

Child 1 Nassim 14 Urban area of Canton Swiss-German (L1), Arabic Zurich (L1), English, French

3.3. Qualitative content analysis For this master thesis a qualitative content analysis approach was chosen. Uwe Flick describes qualitative research as such:

Qualitative Forschung ist von anderen Leitgedanken als quantitative For- schung bestimmt. Wesentliche Kennzeichen sind dabei die Gegenstandsan- gemessenheit von Methoden und Theorien, die Berücksichtigung und Analyse unterschiedlicher Perspektiven sowie der Reflexion des Forschers über die Forschung als Teil der Erkenntniss. (2012, p. 26)

Qualitative data can be an array of things, such as audio material, movies, cultural artefacts etc. (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 14).

Qualitative content analysis is a way of analysing, which focuses more on text understanding and the interpretation of the text than classical content analysis (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 45).

At this point it has to be mentioned that the first part of the questionnaire was not coded and served the purpose of background information when analysing the second part. The second part however, was transcribed and then coded and analysed with the help of MAXQDA, which is a renowned program used for qualitative content analysis.

I will now have a closer look at the two terms categories and coding, before explaining the sequence that was followed when coding the data, the sequence of analysing and at last I will present a mind-map of the topics, which were then used for the analysis.

3.3.1. Category Kuckartz defines a category as “das Ergebnis der Klassifizierung von Einheiten (2012, p. 41)“. He further mentions that many things can be classified such as ideas or arguments. In addition, he remarks that the term category cannot always be clearly distinguished from a code (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 44). When working with already-existing categories one has to make sure that they actually fit the data with one is working. Besides, it is important that one is able to still come up with new categories, when working with the collected data. Otherwise, good material and newly generated categories might get lost (Glaser & Strauss, 2010, p. 54).

3.3.2. Coding Code is a term which is most often used in connection with Grounded Theory. As code is very close to category we will have a look of what coding means when talking about Grounded Theory.

“Coding means categorizing segments of date with a short name that simulta- neously summarizes and accounts for each piece of data. Your codes show how you select, separate, and sort date to begin an analytic accounting of them.” (Charmaz, 2006, p. 43)

Charmaz mentions two phases when coding. Firstly, there is initial coding, which helps to gather first codes and to have a very close look at the data. The second phase is focused coding, which means you work with the initial codes you have gath- ered and now use them with more data. (Charmaz, 2006, p. 42)

3.3.3. Sequence of coding When coding the material, I decided to form the main codes based on the questionnaire. These were, however, very few and should only be a starting point for the rest of the coding process. These categories would as a consequence be of a deductive nature (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 60). The categories on which I decided were the following:

- Parents´ attitude towards bilingualism

- Language strategy

- Code-switching

- Culture

- Language

- Reasoning for raising their children bilingually

Forming the categories in a deductive manner leads to some problems. First of all, it is not always possible to form codes based on the questionnaire or similar material, which then are able to fit all of the material. Distinctions which might make sense when coming up with the codes might then not be the right fit for the data, which was collected. Secondly, not all codes needed might be written down. Some codes might only make sense once the data is looked at. (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 61)

However, in my opinion it made sense to have a few pre-decided codes to work with. These were only meant to be a starting point, whereas the goal was to come up with more codes when working with the data, which would then be done inductively.

Kuckartz goes on to explain how categories are constructed in an inductive manner. I will now explain these eight steps. Please note that Kuckartz talks about categories not codes, however when working with MAXQDA he mentions codes, just as they are called in the programme.

1) Goal: What do I want to achieve and which questions do I want to answer? How is categorising and coding the material helpful for that?

2) Differentiation: How many categories do I want? The amount of categories should be sensible and helpful in order to answer the research questions.

3) Abstractedness: Do I want abstract terms or do I stay as close as possible to the wording used by the parents?

4) Chosen text material: It needs to be considered that the order in which the material is categorised could have an influence on the coding.

5) Working closely with the material: One should work closely with the data and mark important parts. As for this thesis, this was done by using MAXQDA but it could have been done on paper as well.

6) Order and new categories: When an important word or a sentence fits an already existing category, then this part will be matched up with the code. If it does not fit, but still seems to be of importance a new code is generated. This step could also lead to the need to change the name of a code/category. Once a code is formed it can still be changed and working with more data might help to find a term, which is more fitting.

7) Grouping of categories: At some point there might be a need for a new order and categories might be grouped differently. This helps to further clear up the categories.

8) Fixing of the categories: At some point all the categories needed have been found and can now be fixed. This means a category system can be written down with an example for each category. These examples should be very clear

and help when working with the categories and codes. (Kuckartz, 2012, pp. 63-64)

These steps helped to find more categories adding to the codes mentioned before (Parents´ attitude towards bilingualism, language strategy, code-switching, culture, language, reasoning for raising their children bilingually). As I said before it would have been difficult to find all the categories needed if I had only worked in a deductive manner. The best example for this is the category “culture”. The families were asked to describe their family culture in their own words. As mentioned in the theory chapter, they were not given a definition of culture. Thus, when looking at their answers subcategories were formed such as “holidays” or “food”. While it is possible to guess what areas of culture the parents would touch on, it might have limited the analysis.

3.3.4. Sequence of analysis While coding is part of the analysis in itself I will now explore the six phases of the qualitative content analysis which I followed. These phases are from Kuckartz´ book “Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse, Methoden, Praxis, Computerunterstützung” as were the steps used for coding the data. Kuckartz calls this particular method “inhaltlich struk- turierende qualitative Inhaltsanalyse (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 77)”.

1) „Initiierende Textarbeit, Markieren wichtiger Textstellen und Schreiben von Memos (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 79)“

At first looking closely at the text and writing down notes and thoughts is what sets of the analysis (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 79). This has been described closely in chapter 3.2.3. 2) “Entwickeln von thematischen Hauptkategorien (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 79)”

The main topics often times stem from the research questions. So as I asked the families to describe their family culture it is clear that culture will be one of the main categories. As described in chapter 3.2.3. part of the categories will come up when working with the material and by working with more and more date these categories will become more distinct. It is important to be open to changes and to not stick with categories if changes to them, whether this means regrouping them or changing the title, if it seems to make more sense. (Kuckartz, 2012, pp. 79-80)

3) “Erster Codierprozess: Codieren des gesamten (bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt vorhandenen) Materials mit den Hauptkategorien (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 80)“

When coding for the first time it is important to go through the text line by line and to keep a very close eye to the details. Then parts of the text are coded and sometimes the whole text or bigger parts of it have to be kept in mind in order to do this and for the code to be still understandable. If the context is missing it is hard to understand the code. Further it is possible to match up a part with more than just one category. (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 81) 4) “Zusammenstellung aller mit der gleichen Hauptkategorie codierten Textstellen (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 83)“

5) „Induktives Bestimmen von Subkategorien am Material (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 83)“

With this step the goal is to further define the categories and to get them in an order. Some categories might need to be coupled with other categories and renamed. (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 83-84) 6) “Zweiter Codierprozess: Codieren des kompletten Materials mit dem ausdifferenzierten Kategoriensystem (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 88)“

When the categories and subcategories have been defined the data has to be coded once more, now using the defined categories. To ensure the categories work it is important to have coded enough material in the first round. Otherwise many changes might still have to be made. (Kuckartz, 2012, p. 88)

After these six phases, the last one follows, which is described very extensively by Kuckartz. He goes on to explain several strategies on how the data can be analysed in order to present the results. For this thesis a category-based analysis was chosen. For this the main categories as well as the subcategories were put in an order. For each category fitting statements will be written down. Further, the goal is to see if there are any connections between the main categories or also the subcategories. This might be needed to answer some of the research questions. (Kuckartz, 2012, pp. 93-95)

3.3.5. Topics As for the topics, which were then used for the analysis, these are based on the codes/categories. The mind-map below shows all the topics which will be discussed 39 in the analysis. It has to be noted that these do not include all of the codes which were used when coding the data. In the appendix a list of all the codes including a definition and a typical example can be found.

For the analysis there are six main topics:

- Language strategy

- Parents´ attitude towards bi- and multilingualism

- Culture

- Negotiating languages

- Code-switching

- Changes in language behaviour

The subtopics/subcategories are shown in the illustration below.

Figure 4 Subcategories for the analysis

3.4. Critique of methodology In this chapter I will look more closely at three main areas: using interviews in a scientific manner, the sampling and the extent of this thesis. I will discuss what the area of concerns were and what could be done in a better way if the resources had been available.

3.4.1. Interviews as a scientific method Although interviews are a great starting point in order to get some insight into a topic, using interviews as a scientific method does come with problems. One has to be careful to interpret the data based on the data, not detached from it, in order for it to be scientific. There needs to be a clear link between the data and the interpretation. (Froschauer & Lueger, 2003, p. 7) This could have been helped if a team had worked on this thesis, as this would ensure that more views are taken into account and to lessen the probability of subjectivity (Froschauer & Lueger, 2003, p. 167).

Further the participants as well as the interviewer are an important factor. I personally knew some of the families, some I had only met once before conducting the interviews. This might have played into how much they were willing to share. By visiting all of the families in their homes in order to conduct the interviews, I tried to ensure they felt as comfortable as possible.

3.4.2. Sampling As Patton said, convenience sampling is most likely not the most valuable sampling strategy (1990, p. 181). Thus it would have been better to rely less on it. However, due to my circle of acquaintances I had access to a large pool of bilingual and multilingual families, thus it does seem sensible to make use of it. If I had had more time I would have asked more families and then based on who would have been willing to participate decided on who I would have interviewed.

This could also maybe have helped to have more languages represented as I would have found it interesting to include more languages that are not spoken by as many people as for example are English and Spanish.

3.4.3. Extent of a master thesis As time, personnel and resources are most often scarce when writing a master thesis, the extent which it can cover is limited. This is something which has to be considered when looking at the results. 41

I was able to conduct eight interviews, which allows me to gain some insight into the topic and get several point of views, however, in order to get more detailed results more interviews would be needed in order to further expand the pool of answers. This was not possible as more people working on the thesis would have been required. With more personnel it would have been possible to have every language combination represented more than once. Thus the results would have been clearer and more significant, especially in connection with the influence of the family’s languages on their attitude towards bilingualism.

4. Analysis 5.1. Parents´ attitude towards bi- and multilingualism In this chapter the parents´ attitudes, both positive and sceptical, will be explored. Further, their own experiences with bilingualism in their childhood will be looked at before investigating their reasoning for raising their children bi- or multilingually. Based on their attitudes I will work out which advantages and disadvantages they see for their children. I will then compare these to Baker´s list of advantages and potential disadvantages.

5.1.1. Positive attitudes or experiences While some advantages were mentioned in connection with their reasoning for raising their children bilingually, I will discuss the parents´ positive attitudes at this stage, which includes more advantages they see for their children.

One topic that came up was school and career chances. Lucia said that today more and more is expected from children and thus it would help them. Further she added:

„Und ich denk halt wenns scho d Sprache chönnd, denn chönnds sich halt uf Mathe oder Englisch konzentriere, oder au sust en anderi Sprach oder anders Thema“. (Mother A: 57)

Similarly, Enlai said:

„But there is a huge amount of people who are not Swiss. So if you are Swiss you speak English you work for someone like a multinational you can go to England, Australia, the US whatever, I mean it´s a HUGE advantage“. (Father B: 204)

He himself works for a multinational company so it makes sense that to him this is a huge opportunity. He had said before that it would be an advantage in school as well and also in other career paths (203).

In addition, Laura also has similar views, which probably stem from her own experiences.

„Ja ich denke in erster Linie, de Hauptgrund, dass sie Sprache mitbringed, ich mein brueflich sicher. Ich mein hützutags desto meh Sprache du redsch desto eifacher, also desto eifacher ischs au für en Bruef“. (Mother G: 69)

Peter feels as though having English as their first language means his children have less to do in school.

„Und au chli wiiter denkt, wenn mer sich irgendwo bewirbt oder so, je meh Spra- che dass mer redt, desto ehner het mer e Chance uf e Stell oder so. Und dezue, Holländisch isch zwar nöd die Sprach, aber s macht sich immer no guet, wenn mer viel Sprache chan. S hät en rechte Stellewert bi eu, ja“ (Father E: 99).

Even though Dutch is nowhere as important as a business language as English is, they still see an advantage in it and also feel that the language has positive connota- tions for a lot of Swiss people. Plus, the father also believes it will never be easier for their children to learn another language (Father E: 41).

While Lucas does not speak English at home the parents have noticed that he has taken great interest in his English classes and they believe it could be due to him being used to speaking several languages and being surrounded by bilinguals quite often.

„Und jetzt find ich er lernt s Englisch die Schuel und er findt das so spannend und wieder das und ich glaub scho das git so es Interesse für Mehsprachigkeit und das find ich als Vorteil“. (Mother C: 94)

While they do believe it will open up doors for their son, at the moment other things are more important to him, especially the way he thinks, which they believe to be greatly influenced by his multilingualism.

This was also touched upon by other families is the influence they believe bilingualism to have on their children´s minds and attitude towards the world. They spoke about an openness to otherness and new things they expect their children to develop.

„I think that if you have to communicate in multiple languages you always try to find a different approach to a problem, it´s a general mode of thinking you have because if/Schwiizerdütsch, for how many years I´ve been trying to express myself unless I don´t have it and I try around about describe whatever it is I want to describe you know“. (Father B: 210)

„And I just think the cultural connection that you have, you know you´re such an international person if you speak English“. (Mother B: 205)

„But I think overall the biggest thing is that you have this culture that you know, this multitude of languages, cultures that is gonna broaden your horizon, that´s gonna make you a more complex human being“. (Mother B: 203)

„Offeheit für anderes Denke, andere Kultur, er isch scho er segt ebe nöd jetzt isch so und so, mach das echli so, das find ich fast chli wichtiger als säge, ja mit dene Sprache chan er so en Job ha…“. (Mother C: 96)

„They will be very open in the world. He´s very open. This is one of the main. That he has a completely different thinking. This is what I see. He think different“. (Mother H: 108)

They see language as a key element in understanding another culture. By having multiple languages in their lives they hope for their children to gain the openness mentioned above. Lea for example also mentioned that Noah and Charlie seem to really enjoy speaking two languages (Mother B: 211).

„And then there are people who say that there are cognitive benefits as well. Don´t care about that so much“. (Mother B: 209)

“I don´t know. Well they say it´s good for the brain, I don´t know if it´s an advantage to learn another language”. (Father F: 113)

„…oder ich denk au für s Hirni ischs eifach guet, wemmer so chli öppis meh cha lerne i dem Alter, das förderet sicher“. (Father D: 65)

The two first statements show how these two parents are aware that some scientists say that bilingualism can be good for the development of a child´s brain, however, for both this does not seem to be a major advantage on which they focus on. Father D seems to see it as more of an advantage than the other two.

For parents who have a friends abroad or here in Switzerland who do not speak Swiss-German, it can also be an added bonus that their children are possibly able to communicate with them, as it is described by Lea:

„Like one of my best friends is Swedish, she actually lives in Sweden, and I like that she can talk to my children you know they understand her. I think that´s a great thing and the family aspect“. (Mother B: 207)

When talking about possible disadvantages, three families tried to come up with some but were not able to do so. Others guessed, but often the sentence would start with words such as “maybe”, while the positive statements had much more certain wording. The following excerpts show how for some there are no disadvantages to being bilingual.

„Do you know something? The only thing is nei, nei, because how he is I think it´s super. He has the German, he has the school, he´s settled“. (Mother H: 121)

„//I just think it is enriching. I think. I don´t see any disadvantages“. (Father F: 128)

„No, it can only be a positive thing“. (Mother F: 135)

„Gsehn ich kei, mueni säge. Ich wüsst nöd was, ja“. (Father E: 101)

Family E, whose children are in their teens, also thought that it adds to their children being more self-reliant as they move around Holland on their own when visiting their family (Mother E: 98).

While Mother B fears her children might have problems with their more fluid identiy, Monique does not feel the same.

„Das seh ich am meiste. Sust Identitätsfrage, ob er sich integriert fühlt und so, da machi mer nöd so Gedanke“. (Mother C: 124)

At last I would like to present a statement, which shows an overall positive attitude, which might not be as specific as the others, however, the language used says a lot about how Father B feels about bilingualism. He describes a scene in which his son and his father are walking along a street and talking in English together.

„And for me it´s so bizarre to see my dad, who is from a small town, a village in Malaysia, he´s walking down the street. Via Australia talking to his grandson

who is half Swiss and half Chinese. What´s there not to like? It´s just so brilliant that you have this blended mix“. (Father B: 208)

Summary

In order to condense all of the statements above, I will recapitulate the most important points, which were made by the parents and show a positive attitude towards bi- and multilingualism. Their attitude is mostly expressed by talking about advantages they hope their children to have. I have dedicated a chapter (4.1.4.) to look at their reasoning. These chapters are once again strongly linked, however, some things were only mentioned in connection with advantages, not when asked why they decided to raise their children bilingually. It is because of this that I have decided to have two chapters and to not combine the two.

1) They hope for better chances in school for their children. 2) They believe their children to have better chances in their careers. 3) The suggest that their child will develop into an open-minded person. 4) They believe learning a language to be a lot easier than if they had to learn it in school. 5) They believe their children to have a positive attitude towards language itself. 6) They suggest that their children develop an ability to understand other cultures. 7) They do not feel as though there are any disadvantages.

When comparing this list with the list of advantages by Baker, there are the following congruencies:

- Cultural advantages can both be seen in number three and six, which was described by Baker as “broader enculturation, a deeper multiculturalism, and two ´language worlds´ of experience (2000, p. 2)” and “greater tolerance and less racism (2000, p. 2)”. - Further both Baker and these parents talk about curriculum advantages, which can be seen in the list above (number 1, 4 and 5). I believe there to be a connection between curriculum advantages and number five (children are believed to have a more positive attitude towards language), as this can help the child when learning a new language in school.

- Both the parents and Baker clearly see a financial advantage, through their bilingualism, which they believe to be an advantage in their child´s future career. - While the parents did touch upon the topic of cognitive disadvantages, they did not regard this as an advantage they are sure of.

While Baker does not go as far as saying there are no disadvantages, he talks about potential disadvantages and shows he is more positive than sceptical towards bilingualism. I will compare these potential disadvantages with disadvantages mentioned by Baker at the end of chapter 5.1.2., which focuses on the parents´ sceptical attitudes or experiences.

5.1.2. Sceptical attitudes or experiences The parents were asked to name disadvantages their children could experience due to their bilingualism. One thing I would like to discuss at first concerns the children´s abilities in the two or three languages. I will present four statements, which show different sides, however, there were more statements made, which were of similar content.

„Viellicht Nachteil, en Nachteil vom Rede nöd, aber wenn mer seit „Ich kann Holländisch“, denn muesch säge s stimmt mündlich, aber schriftlich nöd“. (Fa- ther E: 102)

“I think they have the advantage of understanding it but Aidan still has to learn to spell and you know, they still have to learn it I think”. (Mother F: 110)

“They only miss Grammatik in Arabic, this is the only problem we have with him”. (Mother H: 121)

„Viellicht ischs au, du chasch halt chli all Sprache, aber viellicht keini zu 100% korrekt, also viellicht s Dütsch, will halt det id Schuel gasch, aber im Italienisch gasch nöd id Schuel, Spanisch au nöd, aber (.) Die häsch halt viellicht jedi nur zu 90% anstatt zu 100, ich weiss au nöd“. (Mother G: 71)

It seems to be a reason for concern for many of the parents, that their children do not speak the languages on the same level, and spelling and grammar is for many children something they are not taught. Even though Eimhir points out that Aidan does not have the advantage of knowing how to spell in English, I would like to point out, that for parents who speak English or French at home, their children do have an

47 advantage. While they might not know the spelling already, they get the chance to learn the language in school, while Nassim for example went to Arabic classes in order to learn the basics.

While this is a concern for some, others are not sure whether it is a real disadvantage or simply a part of their children´s upbringing.

Even though the children´s ability in the two or more languages are of concern to many families, it was also clear that each family had their particular area with which they were most concerned. I will present these now.

For family C, school is difficult, as both parents did not grow up speaking Swiss- German and they explain that helping their son with his homework can be challenging. As they do not understand some words themselves, they have to look these up with Lucas, which takes up time. Vocabulary seems to be one of their main concerns at the moment, when looking at the following statements:

„Ja, jetzt zum Bispiel mit em Läse ich merk er muess chli kämpfe, er hets nöd so eifach wie zum Bispiel sin// (Mother C: 111)

//Also Wortschatz zum Bispiel, dütsche Wortschatz chunnt er nöd vo diheime über“. (Father C: 111)

Further, they noticed that he was more tired in comparison with other children, especially when he first started school. They do think it could have to do with him having had to switch to Swiss-German (Mother C: 126). This would coincide with statements made by other parents, who said they switch off when they are with people who speak the language they do not understand, as it is very tiring (more information in chapter 4.5.1.)

One other concern raised by Lucia was that a child might start to talk later. Her son has been talking Italian from a young age on, but in the playgroup he rarely spoke Swiss-German and would try to speak Italian. Interestingly though, when speaking to me he would try to say everything in Swiss-German. He might think that I would not understand him otherwise.

Lea talked about her fear that her two sons might not feel fully at home in either of the languages. This fear is based on her experiences with bilingualism, which she made in her teens.

“You are Swiss, your language is Swiss German, you are from this village and this town and you have a more stable identity. And my children they have a more fluid identity they have both identities or a mix of two identities or whatever. But it means that you can choose more you know. And the same with one language if you have one language, I mean I remember when I was eighteen and I could write, no not eighteen, sixteen, when I was sixteen before I went to Co- lumbia and I could write in German and I would know exactly what was right and what was wrong I was stylistically perfect you know and getting to a very proficient level to other languages destroyed that for me. I will never be able to write as well and as precise as I did back than”. (Mother B: 220)

She fears that they will never reach their full potential when it comes to writing. Whether this is true or not, is something no one can tell. It would be interesting to speak to the two boys in 10 – 15 years and see if they feel that way.

Another concern she talked about is how her boys have a more fluid background, unlike her who grew up in a monolingual and monocultural family. Her husband however, does not share this concern, most likely as it is not something he struggled with when growing up.

Summary

While parents seemed to be more positive than sceptical when talking about bilingualism, some concerns were raised. These mostly concerned the following areas:

- Language ability - School - Identity

A follow up interview in about 10 – 15 years’ time would be interesting in order to see whether these concerns have turned out to be true or if other areas seemed to be problematic.

I will now compare these concerns raised by the parents´ with Baker’s outlook on potential disadvantages.

Interestingly, both Baker and the parents mentioned three potential disadvantages and two match up. Both mention that there can be concern surrounding the child´s language ability and the identity of a child. While Baker says the amount of work parents have to put into raising their children bilingually, this was not mentioned by

49 the parents. The parents worry more about school and how their children are able to cope with it.

To sum up both chapter 4.1.1. and 4.1.2., it can be said that there were more positive than sceptical codes in connection with bi- and multilingualism. While there were 22 sceptical codings, there were also 43 positive codings, which means there were almost twice as many positive codings. This shows that overall the parents have a very positive attitude, as some of the negative codings also have phrases like „maybe, I don´t know“ in them, while the positive phrases are put much more clearly.

5.1.3. Own experiences with bi- and multilingualism In five out of eight families at least one of the parents grew up bilingually or multilingually. The experiences they made might influence their thoughts on bilingualism. Here I will present statements concerning experiences made in their childhood at first and then present statements that stem from their adulthood.

When talking to Lucia it was made clear very quickly that she had to grow up fast and be responsible due to growing up in an Italian-speaking household. This was especially the case when it came to school.

„Genau. Du bisch eifach uf dich agwiese gsi, du bisch heigange, d Ufzgi häsch müesse mache und Diktat hends fast, anstatt „die“ händs der „d-i-e“ glese (chuckles) und denn häsch gwüsst, aha da häts es „e“, das isch ja nöd ganz eifach gsi. Aber hankerum, mueni säge isch glich no guet gsi, will du bisch uf dich agwiese gsi und denn häsch müesse afange überlege, wie chumi det here? Denn häsch halt mit de Kollegin abgmacht oder ich mag mi no erinnere, ebe d Diktat, hani ufgno, zerst vorglese, ufgno und denn hanis mir halt so abeglese und selber gschriebe, aber ja. Mer hät glich öppis chöne erreiche“. (Mother A: 69)

Even though the first part of the account sounds a bit negative, we can clearly see that looking back she sees more the positive aspects. She must have been a very driven child, as others might have been happy with the help from the parents, whereas she found a way to properly learn it and to not depend on her parents.

She noted that sometimes it was very hard as her parents did not speak German and her brother was not much older than her, so he could not help her. For her some topics proved to be more challenging, as it would have been if German had been her first language (Mother A: 67). 50

School will always be challenging if the majority language is not learnt from birth or a very young age on, as was also the case in family D. While the mother was very successful in school and finished her “Matura”, she mentions how the structure of the German language sometimes proved to be difficult.

„Nachteil? I mim Läbe, und da hoffi dass bi ihre nöd sie wird, isch gsi, ich han irgend so en Standardsatz, uf Polnisch tuesch d Sätz anderst konstruiere. Oder au Sprichwörter und teilwiis verwütsch ich mich, dass ich Sache versueche, o- der das im Dütsche säge und de Dütschlehrer hät immer gfunde im Gymi, hät mer dass wie vorgworfe, aber im Polnische ischs die Art, was isch so de Klas- siker? Ich hoffe, du häsch nöd weg mir so viel Arbet. Ich wott der ken Ufwand mache, seit mer, aber im Polnische seit mer, ich wott dir kei Arbet demit mache, klar verstaht mer mich, aber s isch ken schöne Satz und ich han das halt automatisch, im Gymi demit Problem gha, d Satzstellige, wie d Reihefolg, dass mer nöd ufgfalle isch, will mer chans so eigentli au säge, s isch au no ok, aber es isch nöd es schöns Dütsch und das han ich denn zimli stark vom Polnische übernoh gha und ich han mich immer mega müesse a de Nase neh, wenn is denn dureglese han, dass ich das korrigiere und ich hoffe, dass es denn bi ihre denn nöd de Fall sie wird“. (Mother D: 74)

Colloquialism are different in each language and thus it is understandable, that this is something that is not always easy to get right. Not only do we see this, but also the mother´s hope that her daughter will not have the same problems. Whereas the mother learnt German from a young age on but never spoke it in her home, for her daughter it is a first language, so there might very well be a difference.

Mother G, Laura, said that for her it was never a disadvantage, as she had learnt Spanish, Italian and Swiss-German from a very young age on, which will have had an influence.

For two fathers, Raúl and Enlai, multilingualism is simply something they grew up with and which was not only something they experienced in their close family unit, but to some point also in their community.

„Und so bini au ufgwachse, mir hend Französisch gredt am Afang, will das isch d gmeinsami Sprach gsi vo mine Eltere, min Vater het relativ schnell Spanisch glernt, aber wenn mir Bsuech gha hend us de Schwiz, hends Dütsch gredt und mir hend nüt verstande aber mir hend das ghört de Grossvater mengisch Eng- lisch gredt mit minere Muetter, bi üs hend mir zwei Dame wo bi üs gschaffet 51

hend wo mitenand K´iche gredt hend, das isch e Sprach wo ehner mit Thai öppis ztue hend wie mit Spanisch, also mit Spanisch chunnsch eifach ja und für mich isch füf Sprache ghöre i einere Wuche normal gsi“. (Father C: 64)

“…if I´d still be in Malaysia, the English would be just as fluent as either the Malay or the Mandarin or the Cantonese. We always grew up with three languages and you would get formal training in English and Malay and Mandarin, much like you in German, French and English I guess these days”. (Father B: 76)

“I´ve only known multiple languages until I went to Australia of course”. (Father B: 109)

When looking at their statements, which are connected to their adulthood, there were three statements that stood out.

At first, Eimhir said that for her it is easy to continue speaking English here, as people will often times switch to English when speaking to her. While Enlai did not say this during the interview, he mentioned something similar shortly after the interview.

“I know, that’s what I mean. I went to a wool shop, and the lady in the wool shop was able to speak English with me, I mean imagine going into a wool shop in Ireland, they would never be able to speak German with you. The opportunity to speak German I think is a bit limited sometimes for me”. (Mother F: 124)

Laura went on to talk about her bilingualism has helped her during her career both working in a bank as well as for her job as a fitness instructor.

„Jaja, also ich han jetzt uf de Bank gschafft vieli Jahr und s Italienisch isch na- türlich viel gfröget gsi, relativ au Spanisch, Französisch häsch so natürlich au relativ guet chönne, das war einmal (chuckles). Und jetzt hüt im Training, im Zumba merkis eifach, mer hend ja viel Spanierinne und Südamerikanerinne, det bini au froh, will es chönnd halt nöd alli guet Dütsch und s isch natürlich scho guet wenn chli meh Sprache häsch“. (Mother G: 25)

At last, I want to mention an excerpt from family C.

„Was mir au erst im Chindsgi gmerkt hend isch, d Mehrheit vo de Chind im Chindsgi sind zweisprachig und i ha das nid denkt“. (Father C: 79)

Here it has to be added that six out of these eight families, the children all went to the same playgroup, which was a great help when putting together the sampling unit.

This shows that it is not only this kindergarten that seems to have a high percentage of bilingual children, but this can be found in many places.

5.1.4. Reasoning for raising children bi- and multilingually This chapter goes hand in hand with the next chapter, which looks at each family’s language strategy. Here we will look at how the parents reason their decision for raising their children bi- or multilingually.

„Ja es isch ebe scho es Gschenk wend doppelsprachig chasch ufwachse mir hends ja selber so glernt und so wemmers au wiiter geh“. (Mother A: 21)

„Also de Hauptgrund isch sicher, dass sie ebe ihri Muettersprach, oder Erst- sprach (laughs) dass sie sie chönnd. Will ja es isch e gschenkti Sprach, ich mein nachher müends denn id Schuel, müends es lerne und ja, es isch doof, sorry. Also wennd d Möglichkeit häsch, wenns nöd häsch isch es nöd geh, aber sie händ nachher nur Vorteil, sie lerned schneller Französisch, und sust au allge- mein Sprache sind denn ebe scho eifacher zum lerne. Also es isch scho chli de Grund gsi. Erstens das sie EUS verstönd, wemmer irgendwo id Ferie gönd und so Sache, oder ebe unter de Familie. Und zweitens ebe für ihri Zuekunft, dass sie halt meh Sprache mitbringed“. (Mother G: 23)

We can see similar reasoning here, for both mothers it is a gift to grow up with two languages. They both grew up with multiple languages, which is why Lucia wanted to raise her children bilingually, even though she could have only spoken Swiss-German with them. For Laura it is also a case of getting a language for “free” as it is learnt in a very natural environment and will be and advantage in the future, this reason was also given by both family D and E. Further, she adds that she wants the children to be able to speak to family members who do not speak German.

“For sure to have a better future. And he could use this language. Also if he study in the future one language then after a few years other language he would really have the main languages around the world. If he learns Korean or Chi- nese, our world is a big city. We need to communicate with each other. As better as you communicate with language as better life and future you´re gonna make”. (Mother H: 46)

Larissa is also of the opinion that her son will profit in the future and have better chances careerwise. She added that he had it easier in school as he had learnt Eng- lish to some extent by listening to his parents communicating with each other (Mother

H: 49). The parents of family D said that if their daughters would like to become trans- lators it would be a great advantage to be able to speak a Slavic language as well as German (Father D: 31).

Whereas Laura thinks it will help her children in the future, for the parents of Lucas it was not the case, as his father said:

“Aber ich glaub mer hend nie d Überlegung gha, das wird ihm im Läbe helfe, es isch eigentlich egoistisch für uns für mich, klar, er verstaht alles“. (Father C: 104)

Their reasoning is similar to that of Eimhir and Enlai, which I will describe next.

While parents who grew up bilingually have other reasons to raise their own children bilingually, for parents who mainly speak the minority language, the circumstances are different. Enlai put it quite clearly when asked what his reasoning was: “Lack of choice (laughs)” (Father B: 105). Lea adds that she could have decided to only speak English at home, so that English would have been the only family language, however she also said that this was not an option for her.

“Because I feel like Swiss German is very positively connotated for me. I like the language very much. And I even realised when I had Noah you know how I speak a sort of standard Winterthur region accent but my mother is from Schaff- hausen and I even realised when I had him that I started speaking with a slight Schaffhausen accent, slight to medium, not a very strong one but people looked at me. Why are you talking like this? You know. So I think your mother tongue, your REAL mother tongue is not something you can live without because it´s such a language of intimacy. I don´t have a problem using English as my language of intimacy with him also because this has been my longest romantic relationship so I´m used to it. We´ve been together for fifteen years”. (Mother B: 106)

Eimhir´s situation is very similar to Enlai´s as both do not speak German well enough to communicate with their children in that language. Eimhir also mentioned that to her it would be awful if her family in Scotland would not be able to communicate with her three children. For her it had “nothing to do with them having lots of languages or intelligence, nothing like that it was just family”. (Mother F: 47)

One last reasoning given was that learning two or more languages from the beginning would be great stimulation for the brain. 54

„Und es tuet au s Hirni arege, wemmer mehreri Stämm vo de Sprache kennt und s isch sicher nur en Vorteil“. (Father D: 31)

I believe he talks about their daughter speaking a Germanic as well as a Slavic language, which he believes to be an advantage. This is also the only case in which I could detect a difference between reasoning based on the languages spoken in the family.

Summary

To sum up, there are different reasons behind their decision to raise their children bilingually. The main reasons mentioned are:

1) One parent not being able to speak the majority language well enough in order to have it as a family language. 2) The child having advantages in school due to their bi- or multilingualism. 3) The child hopefully having advantages in their career. 4) The child being able to learn another language quickly without having to put a lot of effort into it. 5) The parents being able to communicate in the language they feel the most comfortable with. 6) The child being able to communicate with family members who speak the other (often minority) language.

The factors which played into their rationales include:

1) The parents´ own upbringing. 2) The parents´ skills in the minority and majority language. 3) The family.

There was no clear evidence for there being a connection between the languages spoken in the family and their reasoning. Going back to research question number 3, the answer whether there is a connection or not thus has to be no. On the other hand, I was able to answer the questions concerning the factors which influenced their reasoning and the reasoning itself. Both of these I have listed above.

5.2. Language strategy Concerning the topic of language strategy four subtopics will be further explored, which combined gives a good insight into the language strategies the families follow: Reasoning for strategy/language choice, language of the parents, family language and maintenance of minority language. For this chapter I will present statements family by family before summarising the data. Please note that some of their reasoning is similar to their reasoning for raising their children bilingually.

5.2.1. Reasoning for strategy/Reasoning for language choice Family A

This family speaks mainly Italian at home with Swiss-German mixed in. The mother is bilingual (Italian/Swiss-German), whereas the father is multilingual (Italian, Span- ish, Swiss-German), however, Spanish is not spoken in their home.

„Also min Maa isch no, d Muetter isch ja Spanierin und er het ja no s Spanische dihei gha, aber er schaffts gar nöd mit de Chind nur Spanisch zrede. Das händs leider würkli nöd”. (Mother A: 21)

When asked why they do not speak Spanish and why she thinks it was hard for her husband to speak Spanish to the children she answered:

“Will ich ebe mit ihm nöd Spanisch rede, s isch nöd üsi Sprach, ja“. (Mother A: 23)

The parents were always asked if they did any research before deciding on how they were going to communicate within the family. This is the answer of family A, which also shows how they reason their strategy.

“Nei, aber mer hend mal d Chinderärztin gfröget dazumal bi de Giulia und sie het eus eifach agrate gha Italienisch, eusi Muettersprach mit ere zrede. Erstens wills üs wohl isch, und zweitens will s Italienische halt em Spielplatz oder ide Schuel nöd würd ghöre. Das hett sie üs eigentli so empfohle und au dur d Gros- seltere wo nur Italienisch reded isch das jetzt no eifach gfalle”. (Mother A: 11)

This statement shows several reasons as to why they decided to speak Italian. Firstly, she mentions her children´s doctor who recommended them to do so. Further she says that she and her husband feel comfortable speaking it and this is the place in which the children get the opportunity to learn the language. Lastly, an important factor which can be seen with other families as well are family members who do not 56 speak German. By teaching their children Italian they ensure that communication between family members, such as the grandparents, and the children is possible and easy.

Summarising it can be said that family A tries to stick to the home-language – outside- language strategy, with the older daughter starting to speak more and more German. Further the reasons mentioned by them in short include: recommendations by a doctor, comfortability with the language and communication with family members.

Family B

Family B has English as their family language, still, when the mother is alone with the children she speaks Swiss-German.

“Well, first of all speaking Swiss German wasn´t an option because he didn´t speak Swiss German well enough and I think it´s always preferable to speak a language to your children you´re really fluent in. The only reason for me to speak English to them occasionally is because I feel fluent enough to do so. If I didn´t speak it as well as I do, I wouldn´t speak English to them”. (Mother B: 68)

Further, Enlai mentioned about his son´s reaction to him speaking German:

“I´ll never forget the first time I used Swiss German with Noah, he laughed. He goes “Papa, please English. You sound silly, Papa.” (Father B: 51)

She points out that to her it is important everyone can speak in the language they feel comfortable with and also mentions that she herself feels fluent enough in English in order for it to be the family language.

“Many English speaking children stop as well. Especially around twelve when they think it´s not cool. The first critical period is three or four and Noah at least is already past that. And that was also part of the reason why I wanted English as the family language, because I think if it´s the family language then there´s no question that you´re going to speak it”. (Mother B: 92)

This shows further reasoning as to why she wanted to have a family language in favour of the one person one language strategy many parents follow. She hopes that by having a clear family language they will always feel the need to continue speaking English and thus will go through those critical stages without having many problems.

On the topic of research, Lea spoke of some linguists she is familiar with due to her studies:

“Suzanne Romaine, Bilingualism, Raley, Harding I read a few books. Plus, I did my final thesis on bilingual children. I must have read about a hundred articles. So the conclusion from all this research is that it doesn´t matter as long as you´re fluent and I think you would notice, lots of parents try to stick to the one parent one language strategy and I realised that in our case it´s probably the better option for me to speak English as well, so to have a family language when he´s here, have English as the family language because like that they´re really balanced bilinguals, they speak both languages equally well I´d say. They don´t speak Swiss German better than English. They have the same vocabulary in both languages, Noah is exposed to Swiss German in kindergarten and with his friends but then they watch TV only in English”. (Mother B: 68)

Once again the importance of having a family language can be seen, as well as the hope that they become balanced bilinguals by being exposed to both English and Swiss-German.

Summarising it can be said that the family mostly follows the “home language – family language” strategy with the exception of the mother speaking Swiss-German with the children when the father is not around. Their reasoning includes: comfortability with the language, father not speaking German well enough and having a family language.

Family C

In this family the father speaks Spanish with the son, which he started doing when Lucas was six months old, while the mother speaks French to him. When talking about his choice to start speaking Spanish with his son, the father gave two statements, which are of interest.

„Isch eigentlich Zuefall, also es isch scho en Wunsch gsi aber viellicht wenn mini Schwöster nid id Schwiiz cho wäri, het er das nid gha". (Father C: 15)

„Und bi mir isch eifach, dass min Vater mit üs nöd sini Muettersprach gredt hät isch für mich immer, ich has schad gfunde und drum hani das nid wieder welle so mache. Das isch echli“. (Father C: 20)

His sister had talked in Spanish to Lucas when she visited them, which prompted Raúl to do the same. The second statement needs some more background information.

Raúl´s father is Swiss and grew up both in the German-speaking as well as the French- speaking parts of Switzerland. He met Raúl´s mother in Switzerland and they went back to Guatemala, where she grew up. French became their family language as did Spanish. However, Raúl´s father did not speak Swiss-German to him, and so he learnt it once he came here. We can clearly see here how his father´s choices influenced his own choices when it came to raising his son. To him French and Spanish are his first languages and he wants Lucas to have those as well.

The mother herself grew up monolingually and for her it was a very clear choice to speak French with her son.

„Und bi mir isch immer Französisch isch immer klar gsi, het sich nöd veränderet. Mir hend üs scho am Afang die Frage gstellt ob das isch e gueti Idee so und mir hend gmeint mir probierets so und wenn mir gsehnd das er Müeh het mit dem oder s gaht nöd oder so hetted mir chönne apasse“. (Mother C: 16)

„Spontan, ja. Was uns no wichtig gsi isch, mini Muetter isch Logopädin und sie isch recht mit em Thema konfrontiert gsi und sie hät immer aber nüt als Rat- schlag für uns, aber ich han sie immer ghört dassi sagt es isch wichtig, dass jede immer ide gliche Sprach redet und i sine Sprache redet eigentlich. Und das hani chli im Hintergrund gha aber meh hämmer nöd gha“. (Mother C: 19)

She shows an openness towards changing the language strategy if needed. In addition, she talks about information given to her by her mother. She was told that it is of importance to speak to children in one´s own language and to stick to that. This and their way of communicating shows that they stick to the “one person – one language” strategy when talking with their son. It has to be noted, that French is the more dominant language in their home as the parents speak French to one another. Also Lucas answers his father mostly in French.

„Und ich red Spanisch mit ihm und er git immer oder fast immer en Antwort uf Französisch“. (Father C: 12)

In short, their reasons for their language strategy includes: his sister, his father´s decision not to speak to Raúl in his first language, to stick with a language and to speak one own´s language.

Family D

In family D they speak both Swiss-German and Polish at their home.

„Ich rede Dütsch mit de Chinde und sie redet Polnisch“. (Father D: 13)

„…es isch scho so, dass ich eigentlich wenn ich elei bin, red ich mit ihne Pol- nisch, aber wenn er da isch, isch ja klar er verstaht, er isch ja en reine Schwiizer, er chan halt nur Schwiizerdütsch, also red ich automatisch au Schwiizerdütsch“. (Mother D: 16)

The mother herself grew up speaking Polish at home and learnt Swiss-German from a very young age on. In the statement above she talks about the way they speak and how the absence or presence of her husband has an influence. Once he is at home she sticks to Swiss-German but speaks Polish to the children when she is alone with them.

„Es isch scho so, wenn sie mit mir Schwiizerdütsch redet, sie redet eigentli würkli ehner Schwiizerdütsch, will sie das wie so bevorzugt, dass ich denn gneigt bin Schwiizerdütsch z antworte. Will das automatisch chunnt, und denn tueni viellicht e paar Sätz und denn antworti uf Polnisch. Vorane hani natürlich nur Polnisch zu ihre gredet“. (Mother D: 22)

It can be seen that it is difficult for the parent to stick to the minority language when the children answer back in the majority language, especially if the parents speak both languages fluently and it feels natural to them to speak the majority language. How- ever, for the mother it was never a question whether she would speak Polish with her children or not.

„Natürlich, mer händs nöd recherchiert. Das isch für mich klar gsi“. (Mother D: 20)

In summary, it can be said that there are elements of the “one person – one language” strategy, however, the mother does speak Swiss-German with the children as well. This is another example of how one family´s strategy often times does not fit a strict term. As to their reasoning, not very much can be said. For the mother it was very clear that she would speak Polish with her children, as this was the way she grew up.

Family E

The mother mostly communicates in Dutch with the children, while the father speaks Swiss-German. The children communicate in Swiss-German with each other. Janneke said that for her this was a very clear choice.

„Das isch für mich klar gsi, dass mer das so mached, dass sie Kontakt mit Hol- land, mit de Familie in Holländisch chönd mache“. (Mother E: 12)

Once again the family is mentioned as part of the reasoning as was with family A. However, she talks a bit more about her choice of how she speaks with her children, which is based more on her friends and the children´s ability to communicate with everyone from Holland.

„Und da muemer säge ich bin ufgwachse im Süde vo Holland, womer en eigene Dialekt händ, aber ich han üse Chind immer es beste Holländisch, Hochhollän- disch gesprochen und kein Dialekt. Will ich han au holländische Kollege ide Schwiiz habed und die reded das Dialekt nöd“. (Mother E: 12)

I find this rather interesting as this might have been a big effort for the mother to change her dialect. But for her it is important that her children can communicate with any person who speaks Dutch and thus is a big part of her reasoning.

„D Situation, Kontakt mit Holland, Selbständigkeit wenn sie mal in Holland sind, wenn sie allein unterwegs sind. Ja. Wills meine Muttersprach isch au.“ (Mother E: 40)

Once again she talks about how she wants her children to be able to keep contact with family and friends in Holland, and also to be able to get around Holland on their own. Last but certainly not least she remarks the fact that it is her first language as another reason for their strategy.

In short, the family chose a “one person – one language” strategy, so each parent can communicate in their language with the children. Their reasoning includes: being able to communicate with her family and with Dutch people, Dutch being her first language, choosing to speak a “clear” Dutch rather than her dialect.

Family F

Eimhir only communicates in English with her three children Aidan, Isobel and Findlay. Father Peter on the other hand communicates in Swiss-German with them. The couple sticks to English when talking to each other.

“We tried speaking German together after I went to a course but then we just argued. Because I would want the answer and you would take too long to explain it to me”. (Mother F: 11)

This shows that at some point there was an interest in having a family language, but also a reason as to why they continued their strategy. Eimhir was not fluent enough to ensure fast enough communication and thus they went back to only speaking Eng- lish with each other. In addition, the mother spoke about her experience working in a playgroup, which influenced her decision.

“When I came to Switzerland, I worked in a bilingual Spielgruppe and that was the first time I met people with international backgrounds and they all did the same. They told me that I must speak only my mother tongue with the kids. And don´t try and speak German with them. My German is too bad, I couldn´t”. (Mother F: 23)

On the one hand we can see that the advice she received in her workplace, but also her abilities in German, both influenced her and made her decide to speak only English with the children. Another experience that influenced the couple was described by both the father and the mother:

“But we have a friend, she´s from Scotland too and she just spoke with her kids in German. She didn´t speak English with her kids and I don´t know how well they speak it. (Father F: 24)

They don´t. That frightened me. She wanted to fully integrate when she came to Switzerland and she only spoke Swiss with the kids and they didn´t pick it up. And she regretted it”. (Mother F: 25)

A fear of her children not being able to speak her first language can clearly be seen her.

This family clearly follows the “one person – one language” strategy and so far, the children answer the mother back in English, even change from German to English when she enters the room, which shows they still have the necessity to speak both German and English. Their reasoning includes: Eimhir not speaking German fluent enough, enabling communication with the Scottish family, a wish for her children to be able to speak English, advice given to her by people she worked with.

Family G

Both parents grew up in a multilingual environment, the father speaking Italian when growing up while the mother spoke Italian and Spanish at home. In addition, they started learning German from a very young age on as they both grew up here. 62

Now with their children they try to stick with Italian, in addition the mother talks Span- ish with the children, but the mother says that they do sometimes end up speaking Swiss-German.

“Also mit de Chind versuechmer, will mir müend ja au, will mer keied ja au is Schwiizerdütsch, aber mir versueched Italienisch rede underenand. Demit eusi Chind au Italienisch reded“. (Mother G: 8)

„Und ich versuech d Chind möglichst uf Spanisch azspreche, aber sie keied halt immer is Schwiizerdütsch eusi zwei Chind und denn simmer wieder bim Schwiizerdütsch“. (Mother G: 8)

Both statements show a struggle with staying in a language as the children talk back in Swiss-German.

She talked about how the children communicate with their grandparents at which point the daughter also gave some insight.

„M: Mit de Grosseltere rededs meh oder weniger Italienisch. Also mit de Eltere vom Dino rededs Italienisch, sie sind ja Italiener, (..) will sie beidi selber chönnd eh nöd so guet Dütsch vo dem her. (To the kids) Oder rededer scho no Italien- isch? (affirming mhm from the kids). Zwüsched dure chunnt mal es schwiizer Wort, aber hauptsächlich Italienisch. Und mit „abuelita“, s andere Grossmami//

D: //Glich, aber bitzeli meh Schwiizerdütsch//

M: E chli meh Schwiizerdütsch, genau, werum au immer, will mis Mami redt nämlich au nöd so guet Dütsch (laughs), aber wie au immer. Sie versuecht, zwüsched dure au immer wieder chli Spanisch rede und Italienisch. Aber s Lus- tige isch ebe sie chan nöd perfekt Schwiizerdütsch, aber wenn sie Schwiizer- dütsch reded die Chliine, denn chunnt sie uf eimal is Schwiizerdütsche ine mini Muetter“. (Mother and daughter G: 12 – 14)

Once again, we see the problem of having to keep talking in a language when the children answer in a different one. In this case the grandmother even switches to Swiss-German, even though her Spanish and Italian are both stronger.

When talking about research at first the answer was that she had not done any research, however she quickly added the following:

„… mir händ au sicher mit Mamis, oder ebe chli ältere Mamis wo scho älteri Chind händ und au (.) womer in Chinderhort sind spöter mit de Mamis, sie händ

eus alli au gseit „Nei, lerned i erster Linie zerst euri Sprach“, will s Dütsch chunnt ja eh automatisch und mir hends ja ebe selber, bi mir ich kenn, ich han zum Bispiel Cousins, d Muetter isch Schwiizerin und de Vater Italiener und die händ nur Schwiizerdütsch dehei gredt und sie verstönds e bitz, aber sie chönd d Sprach nöd. Und da hämmer immer gseit, das wär u schad, das wott ich nöd. Und drum hämmer würkli also bis in Chindsgi sind sicher rein Italienisch und Spanisch gredt dihei“. (Mother G: 16)

A few things are of interest here. First, it can be seen how important the people surrounding young parents are. They were given the advice to speak Spanish and Italian and followed it. We can also see that her own experiences might have had an influence: “mir hends ja ebe au selber (Mother G: 18)”.

Now that both children are in school, respectively kindergarten, during the day, they try to heighten the children´s exposure to Italian and Spanish in other ways.

„Aber was mer chli, sisch zwar kei Büecher, aber wemmer au DVDs lueged, wenns Italienisch oder Spanisch chasch istelle, denn luegemer zum Bispiel, das mers chan istelle. Das ebe doch echli dabliebt“. (Mother G: 63)

Summarising it can be said that the family follows a mixture of strategies, in which Swiss-German is the most dominant one, followed by Italian and the least exposure to Spanish. In some ways their strategy resembles the “home language – outside language” by having to home languages, however, as Swiss-German seems to become more and more important, forms of code switching can be seen.

The mother´s reasons for their strategy included advice she was given by other parents, her and her husband’s experiences of growing up multilingually.

Family H

In family H we get to see a mixture of Swiss-German, English and Arabic. While the parents switch from one language to the other, the son has a stricter way of speaking with his parents. He only speaks Arabic with his father and Swiss-German with his mother.

“No. Cause I found this is the right way to communicate with each other with the language you feel ok”. (Father H: 22)

This statement by the father shows some reasoning as to why they each speak in their language, as he feels as if it is best if one communicates in a language that feels comfortable. More of their reasoning can be seen in the next few lines:

“Yeah, it was very important that it was both. That he has the father language fluently and the mother language fluently”. (Mother H: 31)

“Because also all of the reason, I saw already different people they cannot talk the father language at all. And then when he visits his family from his father side he cannot communicate with his blood membership and this is for us very un- logic. Because family membership they have to contact each other”. (Father H: 32)

They emphasise the importance of their son´s ability to speak and understand both languages. Further, the father mentions the ability to speak with family members in their language.

To summarise, while the parents may speak to each other in a code-switching manner, they do clearly follow the “one person – one language” strategy when talking to their son.

Their reasons to follow the language strategy they do include the following: ability to communicate with family members and for the parents it is also about being able to communicate in the language one feels comfortable with.

Summary

When looking at all of the families we can see several reasons as to why they follow the language strategy they have chosen. To conclude, the ones that seem to be of most importance are the ability to communicate with family members and the parents being comfortable in the language they use with the children. Not only was the comfortability something they mentioned themselves but also something they often heard from other, whether it was a colleague or in one case the children´s doctor. Another important factor are the parents´ ability to speak the majority language. In cases in which their abilities did not allow them to speak with their children in that language, it was a clear choice for each parent to continue speaking their first language.

There seemed to be very little differences as to how the parents reasoned about their strategy. The biggest difference can be seen in whether the parents themselves are monolingual or bilingual. If one of the parents only speaks the minority language well enough, that will be part of their reasoning. In addition, this leads to a strategy closest to the “one person – one language” strategy, while the strategy of other families is more of a mix of several strategies.

At this point there is no connection to the languages spoken within the family. Their reasoning was very similar, whether Spanish and German or Polish and German were spoken.

5.2.2. Language of the parents Whereas the way the parents speak with the children was more important in the last chapter, here I will focus more on how the couples communicate with each other. We will have a look at parents who mix the languages as well as couples who seem to have a more “clear” couple language.

Some parents mix the languages quite frequently, not just by rarely throwing in single words but by code-switching. One couple who does this is family A, where the parents switch between Swiss-German and Italian, and very similarly family G.

„Gmischt. Also, Dütsch, Italienisch, je nach dem was für es Wort grad iechunnt“. (Mother A: 5)

„Aso mir reded ich würd säge hauptsächlich Schwiizerdütsch und aber au Itali- enisch, also so chli beides. Wemmer elei sind scho hauptsächlich (..) ja es isch halt so chli es Gmisch, so chli halt wie d Secondos so chli es Gmisch. Aber ich denk scho hauptsächlich Schwiizerdütsch. Und denn ja ich würd säge so 60 – 70% Schwiizerdütsch und de Rest Italienisch, so meh oder weniger“. (Mother G: 6)

In these cases, both parents are fluent in the two languages and thus they can communicate easily in these languages and switch quickly. On the other hand, the parents of family H depend on English, for both this is a second language, as their means of communication.

“Like I told you if it has to be fast, if he has to understand me, it has to be in English”. (Mother H: 13)

“It depends about the discussion. If you wanna be really strong and discuss, so you use the language in which you are strong. This is logisch, oder? So this is all. But for sure we use English”. (Father H: 14)

“Most. If it has to be on time, he´s talking English and I give Swiss German back. Or like this we also have it”. (Mother H: 15)

They describe how the situation has an influence on the way they speak and on which language they choose. Due to his job experience the father can understand her when she speaks Swiss-German, however, he mostly talks English with her, with the odd Swiss-German word thrown in, as can be seen in the sentence “This is logisch, oder?”. It seems as though they try to speak to each other in a way, which ensures both are comfortable, and mix all the three languages. English is the language they speak similarly well and thus could be the common ground when speaking. They are also the only family who took part in this study in which both parents mostly rely on their second language when speaking to each other.

The parents of family B and F both speak mostly English with each other, however, in contrast to family H, one of the parents speaks English as their first language.

“English. Always English. You could speak English and I couldn´t speak a word of German”. (Mother F: 9)

Eimhir and Peter met while travelling and while he already spoke English, she did not speak German, so it seemed to be the obvious choice to speak English with each other. Also the mother mentioned that she tried to speak German after she had taken a course, however, she felt she was not fluent enough to speak it with her husband. She said she was too impatient to wait for him to explain German words to her (Mother F: 11).

Very similarly the parents of family B mostly rely on English in order to communicate with each other.

“M: Almost only English. (Mother B: 34)

F: 99%. (Father B: 35)

M: With occasional loanwords from German. I don´t think we ever speak Ger- man to each other for a whole sentence, do we? (Mother B: 36)

F: Occasionally, you drop the odd one. (Father B: 37)

M: Yeah, or if I´m speaking to the children in Swiss German or somebody else I´ll say you know two words to him in Swiss German as well”. (Mother B: 38)

We can clearly see that German does not play a big part in this couple´s communication. German is more used for code-switching or as can be seen in the next excerpt for certain words the father has picked up over time.

“F: Or else I might say a sentence, instead of using the English word I´ll use the Swiss German or German word. I hope I´m right? (Father B: 40)

M: Yeah, it´s often random words I think (laughs). Well you know like “Wohnzim- mer” or something but I actually I don´t say “Wohnzimmer”. (Mother B: 41)

This is very interesting as we can see that he most likely did not pick up the word “Wohnzimmer” from his wife but more so from the German course he took, as this is clearly not a Swiss-German word and thus not used on a regular basis by Lea.

Other families rely on Swiss-German, such as family D and E. While both parents of family D grew up in Switzerland and the mother spoke the language from a very young age on, family E is a bit different. Janneke moved here to work and has been working as a nurse for many years here in Switzerland and thus is used to speaking Swiss-German in her everyday life. This might be the reason as to why she and her husband chose Swiss-German as their couples´ language.

Last but not least we have family C, which is a similar case to family D, however, their couple language is not Swiss-German but French.

„Nur Französisch“. (Mother C: 9)

This is a first language to both of them and as they chose to speak French and Span- ish with their son Lucas, it seems to have made sense to have French as their couple language and also main family language, while the father continued speaking Span- ish to their son.

Summary

Summarising we can see three main types of couple languages.

1) The parents speak a language they both learnt as a first language and thus are equally fluent.

2) They choose to communicate in the first language of one of them, while it is a second language for the other parent. Important in this case is that the parent who speaks the language as a second language feels fluent enough to rely on it as a means of communication.

3) The parents communicate in a language which is a second language to both of them.

In this study the third option seemed to be the least used on, whereas one and two are both used equally.

5.2.3. Family language In chapter 4.2.1. I have described the reasoning for each families´ language strategy. When talking to them about language in their household some interesting facts about how they communicate as a family have come up. These will now be presented and described.

“Yeah, it´s really mixed and the best part is the guys, when we are having the same conversation, you´ll talk Swiss German sometimes, and occasionally Noah will even translate what Lea is saying to me in English. Occasionally, he´ll do that. For him it´s quite normal to switch back and forth. He doesn´t seem to have an issue with that”. (Father B: 53)

Even though Noah is still very young, four years old, he is aware of his father´s skills in German. Enlai probably understands more than his son is aware of but due to him rarely speaking Swiss-German it could be that based on this his son also thinks his understanding is limited. Noah is very aware of there being two languages and can quickly translate from one to the other. Also the family did not mention Noah translating from English to Swiss-German, which shows an awareness for his mother´s Eng- lish skills. English is clearly the family language of family B.

While the oldest son of family B goes as far as translating for his father, the children of family F show similar behaviour. While they do not seem to translate for their mother, they adapt their speaking when she enters the room.

“If I´m in the room and I´m involved they speak English. They´ll speak English for me but if they are playing on their own together they speak in Schwiizerdütsch”. (Mother F: 27)

They switch languages in order to make sure their mother understands them. This again shows awareness of there being two languages in the family and that not everyone can understand these languages equally well.

Family E mostly follows the “one language – one person” strategy, the mother speaking Dutch and the father speaking Swiss-German. However, in the next excerpt we can see that sometimes they seem not to be fully aware of how they are speaking to each other.

„… also s wechsled, s wechsled vo Satz zu Satz, s wechsled im Satz, das gaht flüssend. Mir bemerked das gar nüme. Also wenn sie mit de Chind redt, denn ischs Holländisch und ich rede Dütsch mit und wenn d Chind ihre en Antwort gebed fangeds Holländisch a und wenns zu mir wechselt gahts is Dütsch übere. Aber das isch nöd bewusst, das lauft automatisch ab“. (Father E: 24)

Even though the father does not speak Dutch with the children, he can understand enough so the children can switch between languages when everyone is together, and he does not feel left out. They seem to have two family languages with both parents understanding both languages, which in my opinion makes their communication a lot easier.

In family H we have a similar situation, however, three languages are spoken at the table: Swiss-German, Arabic and English. As described in chapter 4.2.3. English is the parents’ language of communication, however, the son speaks Swiss-German with his mother and Arabic with his father. Due to the parents´ work experience in the partner´s home country they both understand enough of the other language to follow the conversation.

Summary

These three examples show families in which the children show an awareness of the different languages and how in some situations they have to switch languages in order to communicate with each parent. This is a sign for how language in families in which the parents speak two different languages, is quite diverse and changes often depending on the situation. Further, there seems to be a difference between families who are bilingual due to their circumstances (e.g. one parent not speaking the majority language) and families who are bilingual by choice (e.g. one parent is bilingual and wants to pass on the language). In families who are bilingual by choice there was no

70 mentioning of their children translating for one of the parents or changing the language when one parent entered the room.

5.2.4. Maintenance of minority language While the children are exposed to the majority language and thus have enough time to speak it, it can be a different thing for the minority language. In this chapter we will explore how the families that took part in this study maintain their minority language.

Whereas in family C French is the majority language in their family, it is not the majority language of the community they live in. Spanish is the clear minority language, however, they mostly take steps to ensure that French is maintained, which can be seen in the following excerpt.

„F: Mir lueged au nie Fernseh uf Dütsch, bi üs isch würkli Französisch.

M: Mir händ au kei Ziitschrifte uf Französisch//

F://Dütsch“ (Father and Mother C: 31 – 33)

Here we can how the family makes sure that media, such as television and journals, are consumed in French. This seems to be a choice, however, it is quite simple in Switzerland to get hold of French media due to our multilingual background.

Other families have a parent who speaks the minority language with the children, however, they let the children decide, whether they want to for example learn how to write their minority language.

„Bi mir ischs no so gsi, dass mini Grossmuetter halt Polnischlehrerin am Gymi gsi isch und drum au mit mir Polnisch güebt hät läse. Ich has nöd welle im Chin- dergartealter, will ich gfunde han, ich spiele. Aber rückblickend hanis mega cool gfunde, au wenn is nöd han welle zeige. Und ebe s gilt s Glich bi ihre, wenn sie s Interesse hät, chömmer chli üebe mit ihre läse und sust lömmers, söll sie eifach rede, das isch scho gnueg, was sie güebt hät“. (Mother D: 72)

Not only is the Mother open to her daughter´s wishes and would be fine with her daughter only speaking and thus understanding Polish, but she would also help her learn how to read and write the Polish language. There is also a clear background

71 story, which has influenced her outlooks. She had to learn Polish with her grandmother and even though she is glad that she did learn it, she also did not want to learn it at the time.

Even though she does not sit her daughter down to learn Polish she makes sure she gets to hear the language not only from her family but also other sources, such as music.

„… ich denk bi ihre au, wenn sie s ABC uf polnisch durelist oder polnischi Lieder lost isch guet, wenn sie selber s Interesse zeigt, sie wott uf Polnisch lese, ok“. (Mother D: 69)

Spelling is not only an important topic for family D, but was also discussed with two other families. Janneke, the mother of family E describes how she uses WhatsApp to teach her children the Dutch spelling:

„Und sie hend sich selber, guet rede tüend sie Holländisch, sie reded sehr guet Holländisch und s Schriebe und s Lese, s Lese hend sie sich selber bigebracht und s Schriebe eifach jetzt mit mir, per WhatsApp, das wird uf Holländisch ge- schriebe. Und ich korrigieres nöd i dem Sinn, aber manchmal korrigiere ich das spontan“. (Mother E: 81)

While they learnt reading in Dutch on their own, they use modern media to practice spelling. Reading must surely have had a big influence on their spelling but in my opinion it is great how the mother uses something her children use on a daily basis to make sure their Dutch spelling is improved.

While families D and E show a more relaxed attitude towards their children´s writing and reading skills, we can see a different picture in family F.

“… I do spell with Aidan because I want him to have/ I know some nationalities, the kids can speak the language but they can´t read or write it and for me that´s just crazy. I taught both of them to read English before they went to school because I wanted them to have something to start with so they didn´t just read German in school”. (Mother E: 112)

Eimhir shows a clear want for her children to be able to read and spell not only in German but also in English. She even taught them how to read in English before they went to school in order to make sure they do have the abilities in both their first languages.

At last, we look at two families in which language courses in the minority language, also known as Heimatsprachliche Kurse, was a topic of discussion.

While family G, the mother Laura said that it was always a topic whether to send the children to an Italian course or not says the following:

„Ja ich has bis jetzt nie gschickt, will zerst häts gheisse s git da im Sennhof ei Schuel, aber det sinds immer 1. – 3. Klass det häts teils Lüüt wo eifach kei Italienisch chönnd und teil Chind wo chli Italienisch chönnd. Da hani gfunde für das, aso ich ha de Sinn nöd würkli gseh. Aber s isch immer chli so es Thema ob mer mal irgendwenn sölled afange mit Italienisch, will fändi guet wenns we- nigstens eis vo beide chli chönnted schriftlich“. (Mother G: 73)

There is a wish for Juan and Catalina to be able to read and write either Spanish or Italian, however, the courses available do not meet the families’ wishes. This clearly has to do with the fact that the two children would learn Italian with children who do not know a single word. Their needs differ from those children and thus I do understand the mother´s reasoning for not having the children go to the Italian course in their town.

At last, in family H Larissa mentions that she thinks her son is mostly missing knowledge of the Arabic grammar and that they did send him to an Arabic school for some time.

“He was in school here the first few years, he was in Arabic school also on Saturday, but you know the problem school and hobbies”. (Mother H: 121)

Here we can see a problem that most likely a lot of families are met with when they send their children to a language course in order to maintain their minority language. The older the children get the more time is taken up by their everyday school life, hobbies and their friends. Those language courses often times take place on a Wednesday afternoon or Saturday, which is probably not very attractive for the children.

Summary

To summarise there are different ways in which the families try to maintain the minority language especially if the children are not exposed to it 50% of the time as in the example of family B (English/Swiss-German).

1) They try to integrate the language in their everyday life by using media in the minority language (Television, journals, music) or using modern technology and apps such as WhatsApp. 2) Others sit down and teach their children how to read and spell in the minority language. 3) They send their children to a language school where they are taught how to write and read their minority language.

5.3. Changes in language behaviour In this chapter I will explore the families´ thoughts on their family´s family language and changes they have noticed.

Two families mentioned that they noticed changes in their children´s language behaviour once they entered kindergarten.

“Ja vor allem sit sie jetzt halt ihn Chindergarte gaht. Det häts gwechslet, vorher ischs würkli flüssend gsi und du merksch jetzt eifach sit sie halt viel Stunde Schwiizerdütsch redt ide Schuel und mit em Brüeder natürlich au, dass ihre halt nüm so ganz eifach fallt Italienisch rede, obwohl sis eigentlich chönnt“. (Mother of family G: 10)

„M: Also, eigentli nöd. Mer versueched scho hauptsächlich würklich Italienisch z´rede und das Misch-Masch echli weg zlah. Was ich jetzt meh merke isch das d Giulia nur uf Dütsch uf üs zuechunnt und gar nümme uf Italienisch. Sie isch jetzt nur fixiert uf Italienisch mit em Brüeder. Was ich schad find (laughs)”. (Mother of family E: 17)

“It changed. At the beginning they spoke in English with one another. And then when Aidan went to Chindsgi it changed. They spoke Schwiizerdütsch.” (mother of family F: 18)

Whereas both family E, family F and family G had similar things to say about the time their family’s language behaviour changed, there are differences in how these changes are characterised. The first example shows how the mother notices changes in the child´s language abilities. She is of the opinion that it is harder for her daughter now to speak Italian fluently than it used to be.

The second example shows changes in how the child spoke with the parents, changing from Italian to Swiss-German once she started kindergarten, whereas she contin- ues to speak Italian with her younger brother, which is probably due to him not speaking Swiss-German that well at the moment.

The third example shows a change in how the children communicate with each other. When the oldest child entered kindergarten he and his two younger siblings started to speak more and more Swiss-German to each other.

Other ways in which the language behaviour in a family started has more to do with the parents rather than the children.

„Also ich han wenn de Lucas öppe sechsi gsi isch, sechs Monat alt gsi isch isch mini Schwöster uf Bsuech cho und ich han nie mit em Lucas gredt als Baby oder fast nüt gseit. Denn hät sie agfange mit ihm Spanisch zrede und denn hani gmerkt ja das chani au. Ich han au mit em Bueb rede, viellicht verstaht er öppis“. (Father of family C: 15)

While it was clear for the parents C that their son would grow up bilingual, French at home and German in the community, they only decided to raise him multilingually once the boy´s aunt had simply talked to him in Spanish. From then on the father decided to speak Spanish to the son, while French remains the majority language in the family´s home.

Family E mentions that for them the languages start to mix more and more and the mix becomes natural to them.

„Vo mir us schon. Immer han ich ganz konsequent Holländisch gesproche und jetzt fall ich immer meh zwüschedure is Halb-, nöd Dütsch, aber zwüschedure chömed mir so dütschi Wörter dri“. (Mother of family E: 21)

„…isch ehner so gsi, dass ich denn eifach viel meh verstande han mit de Ziit, dur das, dass immer Holländisch gredt worde isch und ich denn viel meh a Dis- kussione teilgno han, wo laufed, will ich merk gar nüm ob Holländisch oder Dütsch gredt wird, s gaht so automatisch“. (Father of family E: 22)

Whereas the mother touches on the topic of code-switching, the father says he does not notice anymore whether German or Dutch is being spoken, as he has learnt the Dutch language over the course of his relationship with Janneke and also by listening to his children speak the language.

Families B, D, H did not notice any changes. In family H this might be due to the son seeing the need to continue speaking Swiss-German with his mother and Arabic to his father. Further, it can be argued that him being an only child could have had an influence, as he never had to negotiate a way of communicating between siblings. Family F showed changes in sibling language behaviour, which is not something that Nassim had. Concerning Family D, it would be interesting to see if any changes will occur this fall, as the older daughter starts kindergarten.

Even though family B did not notice any changes so far the mother is very much aware of the possibility of this happening.

“But they are still relatively young. So at the moment we are dictating the way they speak. I don´t know, many children stop speaking the second language at some point”. (Mother of family B: 90)

“That you don´t know. Many English speaking children stop as well. Especially around twelve when they think it´s not cool. The first critical period is three or four and Noah at least is already past that. And that was also part of the reason why I wanted English as the family language, because I think if it´s the family language then there´s no question that you´re going to speak it. But I don´t think so”. (Mother of family B: 92)

Her awareness even influenced their language strategy. As mentioned in the chapter on language strategy, she chose to speak English to the children when her husband is around in order to have a family language. Further, her extensive knowledge on the topic, makes her aware of two critical points in a child´s life concerning language and bilingualism.

Summary

To summarise, it can be said that in five out of eight family’s changes in language behaviour were described, in three cases these changes started around the time the children started kindergarten. Not all changes were seen in the children´s speaking, some could also be seen in the parents’ behaviour.

5.4. Code-switching In this chapter I will present moments in which the parents code-switched themselves during the interview as well as statements about their own code-switching. I will then go on and explore their reactions to their children code-switching. As said before I will

76 refer back to the three types of code-switching described by Poplack (1980; as cited in Romaine, 1995, pp. 122-123): tag-switching, inter-sentential and intra-sentential.

5.4.1. Parents code-switching themselves One example of a parent code-switching was seen when talking to Eimhir.

“Isobel she had problems with Logopädik, she had to go to a Logopädik, she had problems at the beginning…” (Mother F: 51)

In my opinion, seeing that she uses the word in German in both cases is a sign that this is a word and concept she is much more familiar with in German than in English. This could be due to her having raised all her children here in Switzerland and not in Scotland. If she had used the word in English often before she had her children she might have used the English expression.

Next there is an example of family H, when talking to Larissa about the disadvantages of growing up bilingually

“Do you know something? The only thing is nei, nei, because how he is I think it´s super. He has the German, he has the school, he´s settled”. (Mother H: 121)

First we have a case of tag-switching, in which she puts in the words “nei, nei”, while the rest of the sentence is in English. However, it has to be noted that her pronunci- ation of “super” sounds a lot more like Swiss-German than English, which in my opinion makes sense as this word is often used in Swiss-German communication.

It is no surprise that most cases of code-switching during the interviews could be seen with family H. The parents already communicate through code-switching a lot. I will now present a few more examples of how they code-switch.

“…this is no discussion you see mothersprache, mother language is more strong than father language”. (Father H: 115)

“No, but it´s a Vorteil. Everyone here has his own culture”. (Mother H:102)

“You have to have moral, and aständig”. (Father H: 80)

In the first excerpt we see a case of intra-sentential code-switching, which is even a bit more special as he combines English and German, “mother” and “sprache”, so he code-switches within a word.

In the second and third example it is once again a case of tag-switching, so only one word or tag of the sentence is in another language, while the rest of the sentence remains in the language the sentence was started.

I was also able to see code-switching when talking to the parents of family C, Raul und Monique.

„Das mehrsprachig isch bi üs nie es Problem, es führt nid zu Konflikt oder zu Unklarheite oder ne pas mal entendu“. (Father C: 42)

„Ich glaube negativ chönnt si wenns Widerspruch git kulturelli oder ja des cho- ses qui sont pas conciliable“. (Father C: 129)

In my opinion these are cases of inter-sentential code-switching. This might have happened in order to fill a linguistic need.

Now I will explore the statements made by parents on their code-switching or examples of code-switching they gave.

“Exactly or “Don´t go anywhere near the Kaffeemaschine guys”. See, stuff like this”. (Father B: 44)

Here Enlai gives an example of how he code-switches. According to him he mostly puts in single German words and otherwise speaks English, which would be considered tag-switching. However, his wife Lea is not always happy with him code-switching.

“Also because Enlai does that. He does it a lot with words like Kinderwagen or something like that. And actually the children sometimes don´t realise that it´s not an English word. So you know and I told Enlai to stop doing it because I asked the kids “Do you know what a Kinderwagen is called in English?” and they said “Yes, it´s called a Kinderwagen”. (Mother B: 114)

It is clear that she does not like it when he always uses the German words for certain items, as she fears the children will thus not learn the English expression. For that she gives an example of how the children thought that “Kinderwagen” is an English word due to Enlai using the German word in English sentences.

„Also ich find, viellicht ischs afang natürlich, will er mischt au, wenn mer säged mir gönd id Stadt, denn benutzemer immer s polnische Wort dezwüsched „miasto“ und denn seit er au „Mer gönd do miasto“ also so antwortet er und da mischt er au scho. Und für ihn ischs natürlich und da ich zweisprachig scho 78

immer gmischt han, will natürlich automatisch de polnisch Wortschatz isch so gschrumpft, dass ich natürlich, wenni schnell denn es Wort nöd gfunde han, han is immer gmischt. Also: „d-d-d-d-d Schwiizerdütsch d-d-d-d-d schwiizerdüt- sches Wort“. Das ich das als natürlich empfind, obwohl das viellicht au nöd so korrekt isch“. (Mother D: 42)

First of the mother gives an example of how the whole family uses the Polish expression for “to town” and thus say “Mer gönd do miasto”. She reckons that since she has code-switched for a long time it is very natural to her and also to her husband. She does say that it might not be fully correct but it is very natural to her.

Similarly, the mother of family G says the following:

„Ja natürlich. Also wenn ich mit öpperem red wo beidi Sprache, oder all drü Sprache redt, denn chas au sie, dass i ime Satz alli Sprache nutze“. (Mother G: 21)

To her code-switching is also something very natural.

Janneke says that she has started to mix Dutch and Swiss-German more and more and calls it „eifach ganz es Chrüsimüsi, vieli dütschi Wörter drin“(Mother E:47). She reckons that it is due to her having been in Switzerland for so long. Another reason might be the family communication she is surrounded by every day. She hears both Dutch and Swiss-German all day, which could have let to her code-switching more and more.

Summary

All in all, it can be said that code-switching occurs in most of the families who were interviewed. No one thought it was unnatural, some said it was very natural to them, while only one mother raised concerns that constant code-switching, such as always using a word in a specific language could lead to the children not learning the word in both languages.

5.4.2. Parents reaction to code-switching/code-mixing The parents were asked whether their children code-switch and if so how they react to and feel about it. In this chapter I will present these statements that were made.

In family A, mother Lucia said that her oldest daughter does switch and followed up with the succeeding statement: 79

„Ich korrigier sie. Will, ich merk de Fehler bi mir scho und ich wott das bi ihre verhindere, oder zumindest dass sie s Wortschatz uf Italienisch glich wiit het wie im Dütsche“. (Mother A: 41)

Lucia grew up bilingual and she does not like it when she code-switches herself. So her reaction is to point out the code-switching and corrects her daughter in the hopes she will have the same vocabulary in German and in Italian. Her reaction thus is clearly influenced by her own experiences.

We see a similar reaction in family D.

„Meistens tüemmer sie korrigiere, ich wott sie nöd zu sehr umekorrigiere i jedem Satz, aber das i ihre säge „In Schwiizerdütsch wärs denn übrigens eso“. Denn seit sie „Ja, ich weiss es“ oder so. Genau. Oder mer wiederholeds richtig, also ohni dass mer explizit säged „Hey, du machsch das falsch“ sondern mir wieder- holed d-d-d-d richtig“. (Mother D: 48)

Even though she corrects her older daughter it is also clear that she does not want to overcorrect her daughter and seems to try and avoid phrases such as “That´s wrong” and similar and rather makes her daughter aware of the right translation. It would have been interesting to spend a day with the family and make notes of the parents´ wording when correcting their daughter Carla.

Eimhir´s reaction on the other hand is quite different.

“I get very angry (chuckles) not angry but I get very frustrated with her. Because I just expect her to do it like Aidan. But she couldn´t do it like Aidan. I get a bit annoyed and disappointed, because I just expected it. With Isobel I could see it wasn´t automatic, with Aidan it was automatic and with Isobel I could see it wasn´t automatic. With Findlay I don´t know yet, because we don´t understand him all the time (chuckles)”. (Mother F: 56)

She admits that she gets frustrated with her children. In her case she was used to how her oldest son Aidan was able to quickly switch from one language to the other without code-switching often. However, her daughter Isobel was not able to do the same. This shows how not every child will learn two languages in the same way, even if they grow up in the same household. It seems to be a comparable case with their youngest son Findlay who´s speaking has not fully developed yet.

„Nei, wenn sie grundsätzlich versueched dra zbliebe denn nöd. Mich nervts meh, also mich nervts, sie chönd ja nüt defür, aber mich nervts, ich merk eifach 80

s wird immer astrengender für sie d Sprach z rede. Vorher händs ja NUR Italie- nisch und NUR Spanisch gredt, flüssend. Und jetzt merksch langsam sie müen meh überlege. Nöd dass es nöd verstönd oder so, de Wortschatz händs aber sie münd drümal überlege wie heisst jetzt das Wort, wos nöd jede Tag bruched oder so“. (Mother G: 35)

In this case it seems as though the mother interprets code-switching as a sign of the children not really maintaining their minority languages. She wants them to be comfortable with both Italian and Spanish much like they were when they were younger. Thus it annoys her that her children now sometimes have to stop and think about a word. Her way of reacting includes three things: she tells the children to speak Italian or Spanish, she asks them how you say something in Italian or she repeats the Ger- man word in Spanish or Italian.

Summary

As we have seen in this chapter there are different ways in which the parents react when their children code-switch:

1) They correct the child. 2) They make the child aware of how it is said in the other language, for example by repeating the word, or asking them what the translation would be. 3) Negative emotions that were names are: annoyance, anger, frustration. 4) They show understanding and seem to think it is a natural phenomenon. 5) They try to keep maintaining the minority language.

I would like to point out there is no correct reaction, however, code-switching is most often code-mixing when talking about young children and thus a normal step in their language development. Thus point five, to keep speaking the minority language, is probably something all parents could and should do.

5.5. Negotiating languages While the families have found a language strategy, these strategies will change over time and languages will have to be renegotiated again and again. With this in mind we will look at three aspects: the competences in and attitudes towards partner´s language, positive and negative feelings towards language.

5.5.1. Competence in and attitudes towards partner´s language Especially if one of the partner´s does not speak the other partner´s language or only speaks it partially, this will lead to discussions and will provoke emotions.

In a first example I present a statement from Enlai who talks about his Swiss German skills.

“It was clear to me that at some point I would really have to crack that whole Schwiizerdütsch thing but I never rushed it I have to admit. I´ve now got more Swiss Germanisch words in my vocab than I ever did before more to the point of things you always hear but you never use because it doesn´t sound like you. And even now I feel a bit weird saying certain things, it doesn´t sound like me. But that comes with familiarity and exercise irony, sarcasm, make jokes in Dütsch, that´s when you know you´ve cracked it a bit. Before that it´s all a bit matter of fact. These guys have a big influence on that because they are coming home now talking Schwiizerdütsch”. (Father B: 238)

In this example we see how he does not feel fully comfortable speaking Swiss Ger- man. Further, he gives a definition of what it means to him to be able to fully speak a language. To him it is when you can make jokes and be ironic in the other language. While he seems to have wanted to learn the language for some time it is his two sons who now speak Swiss German who drive him to learn it.

“I don´t feel alienated and I think it´s just part of the heritage the boys´ heritage, they should definitely have that”. (Father B: 101)

While he does not fully comprehend Swiss German to him it is clearly something he thinks is very important as it is parts of his children´s upbringing. Further, another father calls it a gift that through his wife and children he was able to learn another language, in his case Dutch.

„Also ich han en Basiskurs gmacht ide Migrosklubschuel, ha det wenig glernt gha und ich han eigentlich erst richtig s Holländisch gelehrt gha, won d Janneke das dehei mit de Chind gschwätzt hät. Det hani chöne säge, bin i innerhalb churzer Ziit uf eme Stand gsi, dass ich denn au gschiid ha chöne Holländisch rede“. (Father E: 27)

Very much like Enlai he does see his children as the main incentive and help when learning the language. Personally, I think the basic communication which took place between the mother and the children was a good starting point for the fathers to learn the language and from then on they can progress to more difficult conversations, which Martin has been able to do and now mainly speaks Dutch when he is in Holland or the family meet Dutch friends in Switzerland.

The parents were always asked how they feel when they are surrounded by their partner´s family and everyone is speaking the language they do not fully understand. Enlai said:

“It´s always difficult. Always. That doesn´t change, it´s always difficult because you lose track of what´s going on. You may understand, and at some point you´ve missed something. And then you know derails everything after that. So I often find myself not paying attention frankly, not because I wanna be rude obviously, it´s just.” (Father B: 95)

This behaviour of losing track and not listening to the conversation anymore is something that was mentioned in other families, as well as can be seen in the following two excerpts:

“Yeah I do understand it but usually if I´m in a group of Swiss people I just switch off and I don´t listen really. It´s just a babble and I don´t try”. (Mother F: 36)

„Und s sisch jetzt no für mich, wenn ich in Holland bin, denn muen ich ja zuelose und aktiv für mich übersetze und d Ufnahmekapazität isch begrenzt. Also wenn ich stundelang immer nur Holländisch rede, irgendwenn mag ich nüme zuelose, wills eifach z astrengend isch“. (Father E: 38)

However, for one mother, Larissa, it was quite the opposite, as she says she does not feel left out of the conversation as for one, she likes to listen to the language and secondly, she says that her husband´s family is very friendly and they try to help her. Still she mentions that it would sometimes it would be good to actually speak the language. It has to be noted that through her work in Egypt she must have picked up the language to some extent.

One situation which seems have the potential to be problematic is dinner time. When all the members of the family are sitting around the table all of them have to com-

83 municate with each other. If there is no clear family language, this can lead to problems as one of the parents can feel excluded. Eimhir describes this situation in the following excerpt:

“It can be a problem sometimes, at the table if they speak Schwiizerdütsch, sometimes I feel a bit excluded from the conversation. And then I get annoyed(laughs)”. (Mother F: 15)

“I sometimes think at the moment the conversation is quite basic you know, they are not talking about politics or anything like that but sometimes I think in the future then I´ll just be the waitress because… I need to improve my German because I think in the future I would feel more excluded the less I understand, the more excluded I would feel”. (Mother F: 34)

Her lack of knowledge of the German language seems to scare her to some extent, especially when thinking about the future: “…then I´ll just be a waitress…” (Mother F: 34). In my opinion they will have to renegotiate their language use in situations where all the family members are sitting together. Either Eimhir will have to improve her German or the whole family needs to speak English when everyone is around.

The topics of conversation clearly play a big role in terms of understanding. Even if the partner speaks the other language to some extent, there will still be topics for which they do not know enough of the vocabulary needed. Enlai puts it this way:

“Topics themselves, it´s not language that I normally hear, I work for a reinsur- ance company so you are used to certain words you always hear in Schwiizerdütsch basically. And of course I don´t hear them anyway, in my home life or extended family life”. (Family B: 99)

Summary

To summarise, it can be said that children play a big part when it comes to a parent learning the partner´s language, especially once they communicate more in that language. In addition, the basic communication between the parent and the children helps to learn the language and is an easier starting point than for example the communication between the partner and their language, as the topics and thus the vocabulary are more difficult. It is exactly these talks between the partner and their family that can be difficult. Listening to a conversation in another language is demanding and three parents said that at some point they stop paying attention and stop listening. 84

Lastly, it has to be said that some of the parents are aware that once their children get older, the topics will get more difficult and if the family language at the table is the one not being spoken by the other partner, as is the case in family F, where German is spoken by everyone except mother Eimhir, the problem described above will occur as well. This will lead to one of two things: either the language has to be renegotiated or the parent has to improve his/her skills in the majority language.

5.5.2. Positive feelings towards language In this chapter I will present a few statements made by parents that show positive feelings and attitudes towards language.

„Und für mich isch spannend, Sprachene sind nid nur .. es isch nöd nur eifach s gliche chli anderst säge, Sprach führt au .. über e Sprach gsehsch au wie du d Welt und s Läbe gsehsch. Und wie du en Satz ufbausch, und das findi spannend. Das sind würkli nöd nur Sprache das isch au en Art d Welt zgseh, wo andersch isch“. (Father C: 68)

He shows a fascination with language and how he feels it is a way of seeing the world in a different light. This could stem in his own upbringing, which was very much multilingual.

While Raúl´s statement shows a general fascination with language, the next statement is more about the specific language or getting the chance to learn a language in a natural environment, instead of learning it in a class.

„Für mich ischs nur en Gwünn gsi“. (Father E: 27)

Similarly, we remember Enlai saying that to him it is simply a part of his boys´ heritage, which can also be considered to be a positive attitude, not only towards bilingualism but also towards language.

However, not only did the parents describe their own feelings but Martin also talked about how he thinks Dutch is being perceived in Switzerland:

Und s Holländisch, isch glücklicherwiis, also für eus wo ide Schwiiz wohned, positiv bsetzt. Also so chli Usländerfindlichkeit, wo mer mengisch bi andere Na- tione mitüberchunnt, so chli ja de und de oder gwüssi Natione wo halt ehner so chli schwierig da stönd, das hend mir mit em Holländisch nöd. Vo dem her gits kei negativi Reaktione, also eigentli nur positiv. „Ou lässig, ja das sind doch die Fröhliche, die wo immer fested“. (Father E: 103)

In his case the positive prejudice Swiss people, in his opinion, have of Dutch people is a very positive thing.

5.5.3. Negative feelings towards language As expected not only positive feelings could be sensed when talking to the parents. In this chapter I will talk about a few examples which show negative feelings or attitudes towards language.

In the first example we hear Raúl talking about his Spanish and how his communication with his son Lucas influences his skills.

„Aber das merki scho dass de Wortschatz isch chli begrenzt wenn du d Sprach nöd täglich bruchsch und irgendwenn bruchsch eifach d Kinderwortschatz und chunnsch nöd wiiter mit em Wortschatz und das isch scho chli es Problem“. (Father C: 38)

In this excerpt we see two reoccurring themes: topic of conversation and children´s influence. Raúl communicates in Spanish with Lucas, however, Lucas is the only person he communicates in Spanish on an everyday basis. That is why his son has the biggest influence on his vocabulary and due to the level of communication it does mean his vocabulary is limited. It would be interesting to see how the vocabulary of these two progresses over the years.

„…wo ich mit de Kinder mal in Holland gsi bin, da sind beidi scho am rede gsi und da isch mer bewusst gsi, dass die zwei mitenand Dütsch rede, während mir in Holland gsi sind, da het mich nöd schockiert, da bin ich würklich chli enttüscht gsi, was passiert jetzt?“. (Mother E: 28)

Whereas the mother did not seem to have negative feelings towards the German language it had more to do with the fact that her children do not communicate in Dutch with each other. She even said she was disappointed, she had probably assumed they would communicate in Dutch together, as at that time they were exposed to Dutch quite a lot as they were still very young.

Summary

It does not surprise me that there weren´t many statements that showed clear negative feelings towards language, as these parents all raise their children bilingually and

86 it can be assumed that it would be hard to do this if languages were tainted negatively for the parents.

5.6. Culture One of the biggest topics of the interviews was culture. Not only did I ask the parents to describe their family culture, but also how their children handle living with more than one culture in their home and also how important it is to them to pass their culture on to their children. Based on these questions I will now discuss four topics: multiculturalism, importance of passing on one´s culture, cultural influences and lastly their thoughts on Swiss culture.

5.6.1. Multiculturalism As these families all live with at least two cultural backgrounds, I asked them how their children dealt with living with two or more cultures and if they are aware of it. It has to be noted that except for family E and H, most children are still very young and thus it is probably hard to tell at the moment. Nonetheless, I will present the excerpts.

“I think so. Noah at least. He knows his Dad and his akonoma, that´s his grandpa and grandma is from Australia and just recently I have been telling him I was born in Malaysia he asked me literally two hours ago in the car he said he wants to see pictures of me as a kid and I told him I grew up in Malaysia in Australia, he wants to see pictures of me as a kid, he understands there´s something different. So yeah I think”. (Father B: 179)

It is hard to tell whether Noah is actually aware of there being different cultures in his family. I´d suggest his wish to see pictures of his father could also very well lie in the fact that he realises that his father used to live in a different place. To find out what really it is he is aware of, one would have to talk a bit more with Noah and see how he reacts to seeing the pictures.

„Das es chli mehr lateinisch. Aber wie er das gspürt und was isch de Unter- schied das isch nur de Unterschied will mir viel später Znacht esse hend“. (Fa- ther C: 71)

This is a great example that shows that for a young child they see differences between their families and others, but at that moment might not be aware that this difference is bigger than their family. He does notice that they eat later in the evenings

87 compared to his friends, but he might not be aware that this is very common in South- ern Europe. In family D the situation is very much the same in that the daughter is aware that their dinner time is not the same as that of some of her neighbours (Father D: 63).

In addition, Lucas is very aware that he cannot expect other families to speak French in their home, which can be seen in the following statement.

„Ab und zu sind wir iglade und er fragt was werdemer dort rede. Es isch für ihn würkli en Merkmal wie en andere und das findi eigentli schön“. (Mother C: 61)

Lucia (Family A) said that her daughter does not seem to be aware of there being two cultures in their house, however, she notices differences in her school class, mainly the difference between Muslims and Non-Muslims. This of course is easy to detect for her due to Muslims not eating pork, which is something she has experienced in her class. But Lucia notes: „Aber sust, Schwiizerkultur und üsi gar nöd”, which shows that she does not feel like there is a difference between Swiss culture and their family culture. (Mother A: 49)

While some noticed awareness, others said that they felt their children were not aware of different cultures as is the case in family G.

„Ich glaub nöd dass sie chönnd säge, das isch anders wie bi eus, oder so“. (Mother G: 65)

What I found interesting is an excerpt from family E. Their children are in their teens and so they could be much more aware of cultural differences.

„es isch en Teil vo de Realität wo im Alltag herrscht…“ (Father E: 86)

Summary

To sum up, it is clear that some children show awareness to some degree, while others do not. This does not mean they are not aware of cultural differences, however, they do not show it. I would add, that in order to get a better picture, this topic should have been discussed with parents who have older children. That way more teenagers would have been involved in the study and I suggest that the teenage years would have offered some interesting insights into how a child deals with growing up with more than one culture.

5.6.2. Importance of passing on one´s culture 88

First of all, when looking at the assembled data it is clear that to most of them it is either to some degree or very important to pass on their culture. Often they mention what exactly it is what they hope to pass on, and sometimes also what is not of great importance to them.

„Ja also gwüssi Sache wo positiv sind, oder wo ich zumindest das schön sind, würdi scho gern wiitergeh. Oder ebe das viellicht halt s Znachtesse warm (chuckles), oder dass de Sunntig mit de Familie meh verbracht wird“. (Mother A: 47)

„Das Familieding, ja. Das sicher ja“. (Mother G: 49)

Both mothers mention their outlooks on family to be important to them and it being something they would like their children to take on. As this is not the first times these two mothers give similar answers, I believe it would be interesting to have them discuss some of the questions from the questionnaire together. Maybe this could be a possibility to gain more insight into their thinking.

“I´m not so much interested in the festivals as I am interested in passing on the way of thinking or the behavioural aspects. That is much more interesting than any old festival”. (Father B: 164)

“Australians are definitely more chilled out and laid back clearly”. (Father B: 166)

Enlai talks more about the way of thinking he would like to pass on to his children. Interestingly it is the Australian way of thinking he talks about and not the Asian way of thinking. Even though he only lived in Asia for six years of his life, I´d suggest that the first years are very influential and even though he did mention at some point that he can still see those in his behaviour sometimes, it is not something he wishes to pass on.

„Ischs dir au wichtig, dass sie so die polnischi Mentalität au mitüberchömed? (Interviewer: 56)

Ja, sehr“. (Mother D: 57)

This statement seems to be rather similar to Enlai´s statement. To Ramona it is the Polish mentality she wants to pass on. She goes on to add that it is also the family values and celebrations, which to her seem to be part of the Polish mentality. Simi- larly, Laura talks about the zest of life, which can be considered to be part of a countries mentality. 89

„D Läbesfreud viellicht au, ebe das mer nöd nur lebt zum schaffe, sondern um- gekehrt, also schaffe zum läbe“. (Mother G: 49)

I would like to point out that when talking about culture, Laure said that her work ethics are more Swiss than Italian or Spanish. This shows how her attitudes towards work are very much a mix of both cultures.

I would say that the next statement follows the same direction. While before the way of thinking and mentality were keywords, the next one is values.

„…aber trotzdem so chli d Wert vo de Schwiiz, dass mer die erhaltet und so chli Stabilität, au politisch, das isch mir sehr, sehr wichtig, aber ich muen die nöd darstelle. Fahne schwinge, oder weiss ich nöd was“. (Father E: 73)

These things, values, mentality and the way of thinking are rather abstract concepts, which are not always easy to grasp. One more aspect that fits into this category is humour. When asking whether it is important to pass on her culture, Eimhir answered:

“Well I mean I don´t expect them to play bagpipes (chuckles)”. (Mother F: 76)

Playing bagpipes would be something very tangible but in her next statement it is made clear what she would like to pass on, however, she is not sure whether she will be able to do.

“But as they get older, I know they have the words, they have the vocabulary, but sometimes they don´t get the humour or they don´t get the colloquialisms and I think that´s quite sad”. (Mother F: 78)

While at first it might seem as if she is simply talking about language, for her this goes deeper. To her the way people speak and the humour is just as much part of her Scottish culture as is for example the food.

While no one outright said it is not important to them, there are sometimes differences between the parents, which can be seen in the example of family E.

„Ihre meh als mir, muen ich säge, also wenn amigs de Samichlaus am Fernseh chunnt, denn müend all ganz stille si, ja. Und mich dunkts sochli, wenn mer Holland und d Schwiiz alueget, erleb ich s eso, dass ich weniger nationalistisch bin als jetzt sie. Aso de mit em Königshuus und orangefarbe, de isch sehr wichtig. Ich han au gern 1. August, aber wenn ich de würd verpasse, denn gaht d

Welt überhaupt nöd undere. Ich bin eher froh, also schwiizer Kultur, um s Sys- tem Schwiiz und d Sicherheit und d Annehmlichkeite wo mir da händ, das findi ganz schön, …“. (Father E: 70)

„Und das find ich au, wenn mer in Holland sind, kauf ich wieder Sache, öbs über Ostere gaht, Osterdekoration auf holländische Art, wo viel kitschiger, oder farbiger oder freundlicher, farbiger isch, das muss ich dann haben. Oder Tag der König so, oder Fussball mit orange, (not understandable.) muen scho uf em Tisch stah und das würdisch du nie mache“. (Mother E: 72)

Not only is it less important to him according to the father, but they also differ in what ways they want to pass on their culture. While the things that are important to the mother are more tangible such as the holidays, the national colours, to the father it is, as mentioned before, more a matter of mentality and security, which he wants to pass on.

We have a similar situation with family B, whereas the father places more importance on mentality, while to his wife Lea it is important to celebrate the holidays and to pass traditions connected to them on to their two sons.

Some not only gave examples of what they would like to pass on but also a reasoning for it, as did Laura:

„Ja. Ja das sicher, vor allem ebe will mir ebe scho weniger oder gmischter sind wie d Generation vo de Eltere. Find scho isch scho wichtig dass sie au d Kultur kenned ja und sie au lebed. Das mer doch eusi Wurzle bhaltet. Das scho ja. Ja mer hend au viel Kontakt zu de Familie im Usland, vo dem her, gönd au viel det ane, das denki scho“. (Mother G: 45)

This is their way of being in touch with their roots and to make sure that their two children are familiar with their cultural background.

For Raúl it is important to pass on the culture, however, he explains why this is not always easy for him.

„Das isch sehr wichtig. Ich glaub … ja also … bi mir zum Bispiel, bi mir isch sehr kompliziert will, min Vater isch en Dütschschwizer wo in Neueburg uf d Welt cho isch und mit füfi id Dütschschwiz cho isch, also er het als Bueb eigentlich nöd würkli Französisch gredt und mit achtzehni isch er wieder uf Neueburg. Er het sich würkli als en Lateinische gfühlt. Und det het er mini Muetter kenne- glernt us Guatemala und denn isch sie wieder hei, er isch usgwanderet. Mini 91

Muetter isch in Guatemala au nid als Iheimischi ufgwachse. Also de Papi isch en Amerikaner gsi und d Muetter isch us Costa Rica, mit eme italienische Vater. Bi mir isch wahrschinli sit drü Generatione niemert det gstorbe woner gebore isch und das wo du häsch als Kultur isch das wo du kochsch, das wo du issisch, das wo du lisisch und das isch echli dini Kultur. Und ich gsehn das au bim Lucas er isch da z Winterthur, wahrschinlich wird er da lebe kei Ahnig aber das was mir ihm überegend isch quasi Heimat, das was … ja choched, oder Gschichte vo de Grosseltere oder ja…“ (Father C: 60)

As his family is very multicultural, it seems as if things he would like to pass on are much more connected to a bigger region, not to one country. They mentioned several times during the interview that they feel Latin. This is something that connects the two partners and according to the excerpt above, it is something that Raúl´s father felt as well.

Summary

To recapitulate it can be said that passing on their culture is of great importance to the family. The biggest difference can be seen in what they want to pass on. It seems as if holidays and traditions are of greater importance to the mothers, while mentality and similar things were both mentioned by mothers and fathers.

5.6.3. Cultural influences As culture is a very diverse topic and a term, which is for many not easily defined, many different topics were touched on when talking to the parents. In this chapter some of these will be presented. Some topics were mentioned more than other, here I will discuss aspects, which were at least mentioned twice. These aspects are: holidays, books, religion, food, family and music. These factors also show ways in which the parents foster their child´s knowledge in the minority culture and thus is already part of the answer to research question eleven.

5.6.3.1. Holidays

Holidays, especially Christmas, seem to be of great importance to the families and need negotiating.

“…for example I think it´s very important to celebrate the holidays and Christ- mas, to Enlai he just couldn´t care less”. (Mother B: 134)

In this example it is hard to tell whether Enlai does not care about the holidays as much as his wife Lea because of his cultural background or if it is just a personal preference.

Christmas is a big problem. It´s huge, it´s really confusing for them. Well in Scot- land we have Santa Claus, he comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve and then you wake up on Christmas Morning. And here you have the Christkind and the Christmas tree is decorated and it´s so confusing. And you know my family will send me Christmas books for the kids and sometimes I just wanna hide them because I don´t wanna confuse them and then they ask all the questions. Just to make it a bit easier for them sometimes”. (Mother F: 84)

This excerpt shows how a family has to constantly renegotiate a tradition in their household. While in both cultures Christmas is celebrated, it is done in different ways, for example the point in time when the children get to open up their presents, which is different in Switzerland and Scotland. Further the person who brings the presents differs and we see how the mother tries to stick more to the Swiss tradition in order to not confuse her children. This also means she has to let go of some traditions she was used to when growing up. Her reasoning for this can be seen by her saying: “It´s not always good idea to mix it”. (Mother F: 90)

It seems to be easier in the example of the Swiss-German/Dutch family:

„Im Moment ischs Samichlaus, Sinterklaas in Holland wichtig und d Vanessa und ich tüend jede Tag denn uf de holländische Fernsehen holländische Nach- richte über de Sinterklaas verfolge. Wenn mers nöd gsehnd, wirds ufgnomme, das isch Vanessa wichtig, de Jonas gar nöd“. (Mother E: 90)

Sinterklaas is the one bringing the presents, however, he brings the gifts on the 5th of December, whereas the Swiss tradition of Samichlaus comes on the 6th of De- cember and will bring nuts, oranges and chocolate. While these traditions are somewhat different, they are similar enough not to be too confusing as it seems. The way the mother speaks about the tradition makes me think they mostly stick to the Dutch tradition. It is very important to the mother to pass this tradition on as when I asked her what she wants to pass on she said: „Sinterklaas (laughs) (Mother E: 69)“.

While Eimhir tries not to mix the Scottish and Swiss Christmas traditions, she tries to integrate the tradition of Halloween into her children´s life.

“I´ve always tried to do something at Halloween because that was part of my culture. I didn´t send them round the doors but we would play Halloween games, dress up and things like that. Just so they know what it is”. (Mother F: 84)

Halloween is still nowhere as popular here in Switzerland as it is in countries such as Scotland or Ireland, so it does make sense that she would not send her children to go trick or treating, but she tries to include those parts of the tradition, which can easily be integrated.

Traditions experienced in childhood seem to influence the parents´ choices, not only for Eimhir where she tries to integrate those traditions that do not exist in a similar form here, but also for Enlai, who says that even though Chinese New Year is important, it was something he did not really grow up with and thus does not feel the need to celebrate it now.

“I don´t because it’s something my parents grew up with, I didn´t grow up with it. I grew up in Australia”. (Father B: 143)

What he did bring into the family is another tradition:

“That I can say, yeah Valentine´s Day, you know you always bring me home roses and presents”. (Mother B: 146)

When looking at the next excerpt it seems as though for the concerned family, com- bining their holidays comes quite easy.

“No actually she changed the decoration for every event”. (Father H: 73)

They celebrate both Christian and Muslim holidays and this can also be seen in their family home. The fact that this was not highly discussed in the interview and put in such a simple way suggests they have found an arrangement that works for their family.

Summary

To summarise these statements, it can be said that holidays are of importance and especially if the traditions for these holidays are quite similar, it can lead to discussions. As far as I am concerned I can see two ways the family deal with the holidays:

1) Fully celebrate each tradition from both cultures. 2) Make adjustments to the traditions in order to make it work for their family and especially their children. 94

5.6.3.2. Books

Due to the age of the children, all books mentioned are children´s books. I will present the families´ statements, which show how important this aspect of their culture is to them.

“Yeah, I love kids´ book. We have lot and lots of books. Too many. But I only read English books to the kids and he reads the Swiss books. And at night time I read to Aidan and Isobel, Roald Dahl. Then I read a chapter every evening. So last night we finished book, so now he´ll read them a Swiss book”. (Mother F: 99)

Family F follows a clear “one person – one language” strategy and this can also be seen here with each parent sticking to their language when reading a book to the children. They also alternate between English and German, so their children are equally exposed to the two languages in this aspect.

Similarly, the parents of family E each bring in books from each culture, the Dutch and Swiss culture.

„Jaja, Jip en Janneke, ich han ganz viel holländische Kinderbücher vorglese“. (Mother E: 77)

„Mer chan säge ide Chinderziite no wichtig, dass mer uf die Sache zrugg grieft und da han ich ganz klar au so d Sache us de Schwiiz, Gschichte wo ich früeh- ner gha han, das isch natürlich zu dere Ziit ganz wichtig gsi, ja…“. (Father E: 80)

Each parent read the books to the children, which were read to them when they were children themselves. „Jip and Janneke“ is a very famous Dutch story, consisting of several books (Jip en Janneke: Querido kinder- en jeugboeken, 2016), and thus this is clearly a way in which the mother was able to expose her children to the Dutch language and culture.

For some it is not a choice in which language they want to read to their children, as it is for mother C, however, in this family we can see how it differs from person to person.

„Du channsch i allne Sprache ihm es Buech lese wenn er es Buech uf Dütsch übercho hät, denn chönntisch das lese oder uf Französisch oder uf Spanisch.

Und ich chas nöd, ich chan die Büecher nur uf Französisch lese. Ich fühle mi nöd so wohl zum“. (Mother C: 36)

Similarly, when looking at the language strategies, here once again comfortability with a language is of importance. While Monique does not feel comfortable enough in any other language than French when reading to her son, she feels as if her husband could read in German, French or Spanish.

I asked family B if they had children´s books from both cultures to which the mother answered:

“Yes”. (Mother B: 183)

“And Spanish too”. (Father B: 184)

“But I bought all the English books and some of them were given to us by his family”. (Mother B: 185)

What I find interesting here is that it is the mother who bought the English children´s book and not the father, who is the one who speaks English as his first language. This might be due to English being their family language and the mother being very comfortable with the language, which we saw with family C, is an important factor.

5.6.3.3. Religion

Surprisingly, only one family talked about religion when we were talking about their family´s culture. One reason I could see for this is the fact that it is only family H in which two religions have to be negotiated. Most of the other parents seemed to be of Christian belief or none at all. Even though I only have one statement, which will be discussed in this chapter, I do believe it is important enough to be mentioned here.

In family H the mother is a Christian while the father is a Muslim. While they already had to negotiate the language use in their family, they also had to find a way to include both religions in their household.

“She pray, and I pray in my way, we all pray to God. All this big conflict every- where they use it more for politik. I don´t have to show, I don´t have to grow my Bart that I look Muslim, that I look Jewish, Christian. This is people showing to other people. But you have to fight with yourself if you wanna do this. Everyone knows what´s right and what´s wrong”. (Father H: 84)

We can see both practice their religion actively, and the father´s statement shows how they believe in the same God, however, they have different ways of practicing their belief.

“Culture as a family, mix of. Really mixed. Some is Arabic, some is the Swiss. Traditionals we have both. So I have my Christmas thing for example this is my culture, and over there is for Ramadan. We have mix”. (Mother H: 69)

In this statement by the mother she mentions how they have mixed their cultures. Both her examples, Christmas and Ramadan, have a religious background. They have found their way of making sure each religion is represented in their household and thus their son´s life. The mother takes care of decorating the house accordingly, which was also visible when visiting them. The interview took place shortly before Christmas and the Christmas decoration could be seen. After the interview she also mentioned that she decorates their flat when a Muslim festivity is taking place.

Even though I only had statements by one family I do believe they show how religion also has to be negotiated, especially if the parents´ cultures differ quite a lot.

5.6.3.4. Food

Six out of eight families talked about food when talking about their family culture. While some talked specifically about the types of food they eat other talked more about topics surrounding food. I will give examples for these two.

„Was immer gern händ so chli di holländischi Esskultur, das liebeds. Also wenn mer z Holland sind, denn müend Pommes Frites ane und Hackballe und Frika- dell, Chicken Nuggets, eifach die Sache…“. (Father E: 91)

“the food that we eat is extremely mixed, we eat Asian food, Swiss food, South American food. A lot of Asian food that is his main connection to Asia”. (Mother B: 136)

Both examples show how food can be a way of connecting with the minority culture. Lea even says it is the main connection her husband has with his Asian roots.

As said before, other families talked about food in a more general way and behaviour around food.

„…aber viellicht so s Familiäre oder s Esse, hämmer scho nachli spezieller oder legemer meh Wert wie jetzt üblich da die Schwiiz isch“. (Mother A: 43)

„A Fester müend sich d Tisch büüge, es git ganz viel Esse, das isch so chli das kennemer…“. (Mother D: 51)

„…hocksch am Tisch und issisch, bisch immer am esse…“. (Mother G: 37)

These three statements are very similar in that all three mother point out how food is very important in their culture, and for all three of them it has to do with the minority culture (Italian, Spanish, Polish). All three women grew up multilingually and it seems as if this and interestingly also for all three of them family is of great importance, which they feel is different from the Swiss culture. This can be seen particularly well in the statement of Lucia (Family A), who said: “…oder legemer meh Wert wie jetzt üblich da die Schwiiz isch…“ (43).

Lastly, we have an example in which the father sees the difference in the time at which dinner is eaten.

„Znachtesse am achti“. (Father C: 57)

Summary

Summarising, it can be said that there are two main areas that were talked about:

1) The types of cuisine that were often eaten in the household. 2) Degree of importance surrounding food.

I want to once again stress that the answers of the three mothers were very similar and not only in this aspect of culture but also in the aspect of family, which will be discussed in the next chapter.

5.6.3.5. Family

Family was an important topic to many. While for some it was more important in connection to their reasoning for raising their children bilingually or their language strategy, for some families it was also an important factor in connection with their family culture. In this chapter I will present these statements.

„…aber viellicht so s Familiäre oder s Esse, hämmer scho nachli spezieller oder legemer meh Wert wie jetzt üblich da die Schwiiz isch“. (Mother A: 43)

In this case the mother is referring to their Italian roots, which she considers of great importance. In the next chapter I will focus on thoughts on Swiss culture, where I will also talk about her statement above.

In a second case the mother talks similarly about her Italian and Spanish roots:

„Ja scho halt das Familieding isch scho no da, ebe das all zwei, drü wuche allerspötistens gaht mer go d Familie bsueche“. (Mother G: 37)

„Ja halt Sunntig gasch viel zu de Eltere go esse…“. (Mother G: 37)

For both mother family is highly important, and they talked about how they spend a lot of time not only with their children but also their extended family.

While these two families both are from Southern Europe, the last example is from family D. The mother of family D is Polish and she believes her roots influence how important they perceive their extended family.

„…mer hät gern Familie, Familie isch de Hafe…“. (Mother D: 51)

Summary

It is clear that for three out of eight families, family plays an important part when talking about culture. I do not want to say that family is not of importance for the other families, however, the other participants talked about family in connection to different topics.

5.6.3.6. Music

Music was not mentioned as much as I expected. As most families had young children I had expected this aspect of culture to be of bigger importance. However, as the task of describing one´s family culture is quite broad, some may not have mentioned it even though it might be a part of their culture.

Two families talked about the kind of children´s songs their daughters and sons listen to and both examples show how this is an area in which they can easily integrate either both cultures or focus more on the minority language.

“We sing all the songs, we sing Scottish songs, Swiss songs”. (Father F: 93)

While family E listens to both Scottish and Swiss songs, which for them is a way of passing on their culture, as well shows how one can expose the children more to their minority culture and language, family D´s situation is a bit different.

„Also sie lost eigentlich nur polnischi Chinderlieder, das viellicht au no. (Father D: 70)

Das stimmt, //sie lost ganz viel so polnischi Liedli, wo sie mega gern hät//“. (Mother D: 71)

Her daughter only listens to Polish children´s songs and it would be interesting to see if this is simply her choice or if Polish songs are more prominent in their household as such. If she can mainly get hold of Polish CD`s it would make sense for her to listen to these most of the time. However, if she had a similar supply of music in German and Polish, it could be of interest to talk to the child and also observe which music the parents put on.

Summary

In short it can be said that music is a great way to expose children to culture and also language. This can be done with different goals in mind.

1) Expose the child to the minority language and culture. 2) Expose the child to both cultures in order to pass on both cultures. 3) Expose the child to the majority language, especially if the language is not being spoken in the household.

5.6.4. Thoughts on Swiss culture At last we will look at what aspects of Swiss culture the families have integrated. This also shows how Swiss culture is being perceived by them.

“Having a Sunday brunch, celebrating Christmas, singing songs around the Christmas tree, many Swiss do. It´s part of our culture”. (Mother B: 136)

„… und d Arbetskultur hemmer ebe ehner vo da“. (Mother G: 39)

„Ja ebe so chli das was s Klischee isch, oder so chli pünktlich, chli Pünktlischii- sser, aber (.) ich bin au so, nöd i allem, aber i vielne Sache bin ich au so. Ob das jetzt vo de Schwiizer-Kultur isch weiss i nöd, will jetzt min Vater isch nöd vo da und er isch au so eine wo jedes Strichli het müesse gnau si, das han ich au vo ihm, jetzt nöd nur vo da“. (Mother G: 41)

While the first statement includes holidays and food, and is quite clear, the second one is somewhat different. While she points out that she feels that her work ethics are more Swiss, she is not sure whether her need to be exact stems from the Swiss culture or her father´s behaviour. This is something that was difficult for many of the parents. First of all it was hard for a lot of them to define Swiss culture, and secondly also to distinguish between family culture and the culture of a country. 100

„Mich dunkts au s sisch alles sehr stark im Umbruch oder was isch Kultur? Das Traditionelle, also das chamer de Chind scho au zeige, Alpabzüg und traditio- nelli Musig. I mean children´s song have changed a lot. There´s a lot of new stuff I didn´t know when I was a child. It´s always changing”. (Father F: 97)

“What Switzerland has for a culture?” (Mother H: 89)

„Und du diskutiersch etwas lieber wie ich, aber das isch persönlich, ich weiss nöd, öb das direkt Land gebunden ist“. (Mother E: 62)

One aspect of Switzerland, which came up in two interviews was that they thought that the system and structure is a big part of Swiss culture.

„… en Teil ischs de Strukture vo de Schweiz. Du bisch sehr pünktlich und or- dentlich und ich bin etwas mehr „kommt schon guet“. Und du diskutiersch etwas lieber wie ich, aber das isch persönlich, ich weiss nöd, öb das direkt Land gebunden ist“. (Mother E: 62)

“Nei, the system (Father H: 96)

Ja, the system, stimmt“. (Mother H: 96)

Eimhir mentioned that when she is in Scotland she sometimes feels more Swiss than Scottish. She describes it as following:

“And when I´m with my friends in Scotland and I hear them talking about their kids I feel more Swiss than Scottish, because they do it very differently from me. The kids go to after school care everyday until six o´clock, they eat at the school, and then they expect the kids to go to lots of activities and it´s very rigid. Not so much freedom for the kids at all”. (Mother F: 68)

Whereas she has problem learning German, it seems as if having only raised children in this country, she is much more used to how it is done in Switzerland than Scotland, even though that is where she grew up.

Summary

To sum up it can be said that while Switzerland is mostly positively connotaded for these families, it is not easy to grasp what Swiss culture is. The structure and system, which were mentioned are much more clinical than for example music or food. When looking at Field´s definition of culture, it could be suggested that the Swiss system is an idea of our country, which is passed on (Field, 2011, S. 49).

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6. Conclusion When talking to these eight families one thing became very clear from the very start. Bilingualism is something hugely important in their life and they were willing to talk about it in a very open manner. Not only that but it also appeared as if they were happy and content to talk about it. It shows that the parents of bilinguals are just as important as the bilinguals themselves, regardless of whether the parents are mono- linguals or bilinguals themselves.

Bilingualism requires a lot of effort from the parents, however, this seems to pay off for these families and appears to be well worth it in their opinion. Their attitude is overall very positive.

While there are many guides out there for parents who raise their children bilingually, it did not appear as though these are used often. Most parents rely on opinions stated by family, friends, medical personnel or sometimes media. This can be difficult if these opinions are based on negative experiences or assumptions, which have long been shown to not be true. For teachers it would be advisable to have a guide at hand, which can be used to reassure the parents in times of uncertainty.

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7. Future Research Possibilities There are in my opinion several options which could be chosen if future research based on this topic were to be conducted.

One of the things I critiqued was the fact that the scale of this thesis is rather small. If a bigger team and more time were available, this study could be done on a bigger scale. This would mean that the results were more significant.

If one would not want to use interviews as a scientific method, the answers given by the parents could be used to create a questionnaire for which the parents would be given a number of answers from which they could choose from. This could be done electronically, which would help to ease the process and to get a lot more answers. I would like to add that I believe it would be important to have the possibility to give multiple answers for each question.

One more research possibility I believe to be out there, would be to investigate further into the differences between parents who are bilinguals themselves and parents who grew up monolingually.

All in all, I hope this study has proven that the parents of bilinguals should be of as much interest as the bilinguals themselves.

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9. Figures Figure 1 Sign at a train station in Switzerland (retrieved from http://files.newsnetz.ch/story/1/2/7/12796467/teaserbreitgross.jpg on the 10th of July). Figure 2 Map of Switzerland showing the four languages (retrieved from https://www.nb.admin.ch/dienstleistungen/swissinfodesk/03034/03232/04411/index.html?lang=de&im- age=NHzLpZeg7t,lnp6I0NTU042l2Z6ln1acy4Zn4Z2qZpnO2Yuq2Z6gpJCEdYF2hG ym162bpYbqjKbXpJ6eiKidoIyf4w-- on the 19th of July).

Figure 3 Main languages spoken in Switzerland (Bundesamt für Statistik, 2015). Figure 4 Subcategories for the analysis (2016)

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