Simply Bike ? bilingual parenting: hannie & rinskje {dutch and frysk}

Name:?Mom Hannie and Mem Rinskje.

Children: We have one three year old boy Henrik Rinse and are expecting our second child this summer.

The languages your family uses:

Mom Hannie speaks Dutch and Mem (Frisian for mom) speaks east Frisian (Frysk) and Dutch. Mom Hannie is able to understand and read ?Frysk?, but does not speak the language. East Frisian is one of the two official languages in the Netherlands, but it?s a minority language.

{mem Rinskje, mom Hannie, and their adorable son, Henrik Rinse}

What motivated you to raise your child(ren) bilingually:

Our first motivation was that our son should learn to speak the language of his grandparents and his aunts and uncles. We noticed that at family meetings with our east Frisian family conversations were in ?Frysk? , even when non-Frisians joined the conversation. We think it is important that our son can join these conversations.

?Frysk? is a minority language in the Netherlands. We like to keep this language alive. This is not easy because we live in a part of the Netherlands where people do not speak ?Frysk?.

As a learning scientist, Hannie was motivated by research on the bilingual brain.

How does the bilingualism work in your family:?

We exposed our son to both languages from birth. We both use our own ?native? language in our conversations with our son.? Rinskje speaks east Frisian to our son, in her bedtime routine she includes a Frisian song and Frisian story or picture books. ?At home Rinskje talks ?Frysk? to our son. Outside the house she speaks ?Frysk? when she addresses our son, but when Dutch speaking persons join the conversation she switches to Dutch.

At the daycare center our son is surrounded by Dutch speaking toddlers and caregivers.

What are some of the challenges you?ve encountered?

Not all people understand why we think it is important to raise our child bilingual and why we want to teach our child a minority language. Sometimes people suggest that, if we want to raise our child bilingual we should teach him English or German instead of ?Frysk?.? Some people do not consider ?Frysk? useful in modern society.

Unfortunately, outside the province of Friesland people often refer to ?Frysk? as? a dialect.? Speaking ?Frysk? is sometimes associated with? stubbornness.

We were surprised to find out that some schools and daycare centers still consider bilingualism as one of the sources of language problems.

We often notice that Frisian people (except close relatives) assume that Hannie and Henrik Rinse do not understand ?Frysk? and switch to Dutch. Since we want Henrik Rinse to practice his ?Frysk? language skills this is a pity.

What have been some of the rewards of raising a bilingual child?

At this moment our son understands stories, movies and songs in the east Frisian language. It is fun to hear him speak some ?Frysk?.

One of the greatest rewards is that our sun understands his grandparents, aunts and uncles who speak east Frisian to him. His cousins live in Denmark and speak Danish, German, and East Frisian and no Dutch, it?s nice to see that he is able to communicate with them.

Henrik Rinse and mem have their own language in our house. Reading and singing ?Frysk? means quality time with mem. When it comes to ?Frysk? storybooks mem cannot be replaced by mom.

{mem Rinskje and Henrik Rinse}

What role does your extended family play in your decision and ability to raise a bilingual child?

?Frysk?? is their first language of our extended family on Rinskje?s side.

What resources have you found useful?

We enjoy the resources of the East Frisian language association. They have a special section for parents and are publish a parenting magazine in ?Frysk?. Their resources include information on bilingual parenting, ?suggestions for ?children?s books and educational materials. We have a number of ?Frysk? books around the house. We also enjoy DVD?s with ?Frysk? children?s series, and music CD?s.

We consider our ?Frysk? speaking relatives as important resources. Being around them motivates us to continue raising our son bilingual.

What are some of your long-term goals?

We would like our son the be able to speak ?Frysk? with his relatives.

What advice would you give a new parent starting the process?

Do what you think is best. Don?t let your environment discourage you.

{Henrik Rinse?s birth bilingual birth announcement,letting family know that he will be raised in both Dutch and Frysk}

?**

Thank you, Hannie and Rinskje, for sharing your story! I love the idea of a bilingual birth announcement to inform family of your plans to use more than one language in your child?s life! And best wishes to you both as you await the arrival of your next baby!

**

Are you raising your child with more than one language and as part of more than one culture? Want to be a part of the series? Contact me, I?d love to hear from you!

odd fellows eli whitney blake griffin dunk on kendrick perkins kendrick perkins carolina panthers steve jones emily maynard