Is It Better to Speak a Minority Language at Home?
Many parents in multilingual households ask the same important question: “Should we speak our minority language at home, or should we focus on the community language like English?” The answer may surprise you—in the best way possible.
What the Research Says
A study cited in The Bilingual Edge by King and Mackey (2007) compared two groups of children from mixed-language families in the U.S. One group spoke only English at home. The other group spoke Spanish, a minority language in that context. The findings were eye-opening:
Children who spoke Spanish at home performed equally well in:
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English reading skills
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Oral reading
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Time needed to exit ESL programs
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Attendance
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School behavior
But here’s the twist: they performed better in:
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Mathematics
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Spanish vocabulary
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Academic grades
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Effort and motivation
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Staying in school (lower dropout rates)
This study (Dolson, 1985) clearly suggests that there are significant advantages—and no real disadvantages—to using a minority language at home.
Why Does It Help?
Children who grow up speaking their family’s native language at home:
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Develop stronger identity and emotional connections
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Gain advanced language skills in both languages
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Maintain family ties across generations
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Often excel in other academic areas like math and literacy
When parents preserve their home language, they’re not holding their children back—they’re giving them a head start in more ways than one.
What Can Parents Do?
If you want your child to grow up bilingual and proud of their heritage, here are a few simple ideas:
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Speak your home language during meals, bedtime routines, and family games
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Read books together in your native language
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Watch cartoons, movies, or listen to music in that language
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Visit relatives or places where the language is spoken
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Use language-learning resources tailored for kids
Making Language Learning Fun with Dinolingo
Tools like Dinolingo can help families raise confident bilingual children. With lessons in over 50 languages, Dinolingo is perfect for kids aged 2 to 14. Whether you’re teaching Spanish, Korean, Arabic, or any other language, Dinolingo uses stories, songs, games, and flashcards to make learning feel like play. Available on web, iOS, and Android—with offline materials and a parent dashboard—it’s a great way to support language learning at home.