3assalama from USA! (Tunisian Arabic/English)

Hi Karen,

I always wondered how bilingual families went about exposing their children to Arabic, given the different varieties!

I don't have any tips really, but I was thinking, similarly to what Mayken says, that in addition to the Tunisian Arabic you speak at home, perhaps in your situation it might be worth exposing your children to Standard Arabic through some sort of regular structured classes (adapted to their age, of course). As I understand it, most of the cultural 'products' produced in Arabic are in SA, and given that Arabic culture is so rich and varied, perhaps this might help with fostering your children's interest and pride in the language - if not immediately, then in the long term. And as most Arabic-speaking children learn SA at school anyway, this would help bring them a bit closer to that experience! Hopefully it would complement the Tunisian-Arabic rather than creating confusion.

I hope it's not out of place to say this, but I have to admit that I suspect that part of the reason why there have been social tensions in some countries with significant minorities from Arabic-speaking countries (particularly in some countries in Europe, but not only), in addition to basic class issues, is the fact that for several generations, the 'value' of Arabic and the wealth and history of Arab culture(s) has been minimised or overlooked. As a result, I get the impression that many first- or second-generation young people have been raised not to feel any pride in their parents' language. It really astounds me, for instance, that so few secondary schools in the 'Western' world teach Arabic as a second language - I assume this is changing, but it was certainly off the radar when I was growing up in Australia and seems still to be the case in many places! And I know several people whose Moroccan/Tunisian parents gave them "European" first names in order to 'hide' their heritage, which says something! Anyway, as a result I do feel that doing everything you can to foster pride will help your kids' language skills - and hopefully have a snowball effect on other families too! This obviously applies to all languages, but it seems particularly pertinent for a language such as Arabic which comes in so many forms and has such an amazing history, and where (from what I understand) culture and language go so hand-in-hand.

Karen, welcome! It's great to see you here, after our nice exchange at Bilingual Monkeys.

I know your situation is challenging, but it's clear that you have a very positive and proactive attitude toward all this and I expect you'll experience a lot of success over the years ahead. Just keep up your persistent and playful efforts, day by day, with this main rule of thumb in mind:

To whatever degree is realistic for your lifestyle, emphasize the minority language(s) and "de-emphasize" the majority language. The more you're able to do this--and particularly during these early childhood years, which can put long-lasting patterns in motion, for better or worse--the more progress you'll likely generate.

Karen, I look forward to hearing good news from you as time passes as well as following your helpful contributions to our community!