Families Living in Two or More Languages and Cultures - What are the Opportunities and Challenges of Bi- and Multilingualism?

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Communications - Intercultural Communication, grade: 1,3, University of Würzburg, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this term paper is to analyse the challenges and opportunities of bi-/multilingual families. Couples with two different nationalities and some, who have the same origin but immigrated into another country on the one hand, and children who have parents of different origins and therefore raised bi- or multilingual on the other, are to be analysed with regard to their mother tongue, language choice within and outside the family as well as their identity. Moreover, the phenomenon of code switching and its reasons as well as the use of language among siblings and between parents and their children will be examined. The last point of analysis shows the advantages and disadvantages of bi-/multilingualism outside the family.