Welcome to Mother Tongue, notes from a bilingual family, a blog about raising bilingual children and confident citizens of the world, from the perspective of a Portuguese mummy living in the UK.  

We are a Bilingual Minority Household. That means that English is the dominant language, spoken outside and inside the home. We’re aiming to transition to OPOL. Find out more about us below. 

Being the minority speaker, with no minority language support, I’ve found our bilingual journey so far incredibly challenging.  

Last summer, my eldest asked me to stop speaking Portuguese. She said she did ‘not like it’.

I was gutted.

So I decided that, if I wanted my children to be fluent in the minority language (spoken and written), and also feel as Portuguese as they feel British, I needed to do much, much more than what I had been doing so far. A lot of what I do and write about is linked to identity and heritage as well as language development.

So, what’s this blog about?

It’s about our journey bringing up bilingual children, with all the challenges that it entails. Here I share our progress, what’s working and not working, high and lows and useful resources.

I also share other reflections and things I like in the Life and Shop section. You know, things that helps us as parents, and also things that we like as individuals in our own right.

For example, I love food, coffee, drawing and writing. I don’t find much time to indulge in these but like any parent will know, it’s important to keep our own sense of self.

And I write about causes close to my heart, such as multiculturalism, girl empowerment and social issues. 

What to expect

• Short-ish posts, solution oriented, with actionable tips where appropriate
• Weekly posts – even if just to celebrate a small victory, share a thought or a ‘mea culpa’ admission of lack of effort, I seek to post at least once a week, sometimes more
• A personal account.  I’m just a mum who’s been learning from reading on the subject, talking to other families and experts, and from doing it. 

Every family is different. Each family will have different circumstances and face different challenges. I hope you find this blog useful in your family’s bilingual journey, regardless of your language(s).