From You to Us...

I’m a regular subscriber of the Bilingual Family Newsletter (www.bilingualfamilynewsletter.com) and it’s through them that I got to know BBFN. I honestly think that your magazine is excellent, a well done professional job, it’s amazing what you have been doing so far.
I’m the mother of a three year old whom I’m more or less trying to bring up bilingual Italian/English. My husband and I are Italian, but my love for the English language (it was my graduation subject at University and working language in a multinational company for years) and a fascination for multilingualism, made me attempt at this “artificial” adventure with my daughter.
The scenario is well known: with a mother away from home most of the day and her sole English language model (with the exception of a Canadian/Italian young lady who visits us couple of times a week to play and talk in English with the child) our daughter is a receptive bilingual, who understands English but replies in Italian, watches English DVDs, enjoys being read in English, can produce - but only on request - quite an extensive amount of words and phrases but whose language dominance is clearly Italian. To make a long story short, quoting Alice Lapuerta’s enlightening and supportive article, it’s far from being a multilingual garden of roses (www.biculturalfamily.org/sept06/multilinguallivingtoc.html).
Nevertheless, regardless of my ups and downs and daily “inconsistencies”, embarrassment and language mixing, quality material like the BFN or the MLM are an invaluable source of inspiration and motivation.
Please keep up with your great job!!!
Cheers, Stefania
EDITORS: Thank you so much for sharing your family’s situation, Stefania! Many readers will appreciate knowing they are not alone in their struggles to provide their children with a second language that is not their own. We wish you continual support in your venture and are delighted that our magazine is helping (Alice appreciates your feedback on her column!).

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Congratulations on your site. It is a wonderful resource for me and it has provided me with a bridge to make my dreams of raising a bilingual daughter more of a reality.
Paula
EDITORS: Thank you for your kind words, Paula. It is always a delight for us to know our website and magazine are helping!

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When I raised my kids back in the sixties, I had NO idea, and No support, how to do it with 2 languages. I am German, but my American husband did not agree. Now, that I am the Oma (grandmother) of 8, I am soo happy to see you are out there. Do you have any information about resources like yours, on the East-Coast. I live in Maryland, retired, and starting my own business for bicultural childcare, Au-Pair,etc.
Any help at all.
Thank you, Monika
EDITORS: Thank you, Monika, for contacting us. I don’t know of any resources off-hand but I”m sure some of our readers will have ideas.
If anyone on the East Cost of the US has information or suggestions for Monika, please send them to us at info@biculturalfamily.org with subject line “For Monika” and we will forward them.

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I was wondering if you are going to be publishing a hard copy anytime soon? I would be willing to pay more in order to avoid the hassle of printing this graphic intensive magazine.
Thx, Lucia
P.S. Loved the first issue....loaded with excellent information and the timing was perfect with the back to school focus.
EDITORS: Dear Lucia, we would LOVE to find a way to afford to publish Multilingual Living Magazine in hard copy! Read our “From the Editors’ Desk” for more information on why we haven’t been able to make this a reality yet. And if you or anyone has ideas on how we can get there, send them to us at: info@biculturalfamily.org. Thank you for the support!

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You are doing an AMAZING job here! such a rich magazine. i’ve forwarded the link to plenty of people i know.
Maia
EDITORS: Thank you, Maia, for your kind words and for helping us get the word out! We need more subscribers to keep this venture alive, so thank you for helping.

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After I paid I was redirected to your site where I got my login and password - worked very smoothly! If I may make a suggestion though: On that page where you get the login and password it might be helpful to place the link to the magazine right there. I wasn’t sure where to click to get to the current edition.
Great magazine! I’ve already read the article about your child’s recipe for learning. It make so much sense - I wish I would have read that years ago!
Marita
EDITORS: We are delighted that you have subscribed, Marita, and that everything went smoothly with the login information! Thank you for the suggestion. We will add a link right away for our future subscribers.

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It is with great pleasure that I discovered the most recent issue of your magazine. I was impressed by the color and the very beautiful layout. I am sure that your readers will enjoy reading it.

François Grosjean
Professor of Psycholinguistics and Director of the Language and Speech Processing Laboratory, Neuchâtel University, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
EDITORS: It is our honor to have you read our magazine, Professor Grosjean! You are an expert in this field so please let us know if there is anything we can do better! We’d be delighted if you would like to write an article for us in the future. Families around the world are sure to benefit from your personal and professional knowledge!

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I just heard of your magazine recently! It’s where I found about “where the hell is matt” and immediately fell in love. I’ve been reading some of the articles there, it’s opened my eyes on some multilingual issues I haven’t even thought of. I’m not much of a writer to be honest but if you have any specific questions, I would be happy to contribute. M.J.
EDITORS: MJ, we are delighted that you found us! Isn’t “Where The Hell Is Matt” great (we have a link on our homepage: www.biculturalfamily.org)? We’d be delighted to have a contribution from you in one of our future magazines! Please contact, Alice, our managing editor: editor@biculturalfamily.org. She will be happy to work with you!

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I’m a US expat married to a Guatemalan living in Costa Rica with my son who is a Costa Rican citizen, a US citizen, part Guatemalan and part Russian Jew. He is learning 3 languages and is one extremely confused little man.
My blog, backpackermom.typepad.com, is a humorous account of life in Costa Rica and the trials and tribulations of motherhood, living in a foreign country, and traveling with family. Please consider my blog to be part of your great network.
Thanks, Marina Kuperman
BackpackerMom.typepad.com
Family Living and Traveling... Unconventionally!
EDITORS: Marina, what a fabulous mixture of languages, cultures and destinations! We are delighted to add your blog to our listing: www.biculturalfamily.org/blogs.html!

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My name is Melissa. I am an Asian expatriate in Frankfurt, Germany. My short-term plan of working in Germany turned into a lifetime commitment when I married a local. At present, I am a working mom (due to give birth to baby #2 in 4 days!). In addition, I am a travel/parenting blog editor for several networks: CW’s Parenting (parenting-weblog.com), Flyaway (flyaway-weblog.com) and Wandalust (wandalust.com) Blogs; b5media’s Europestring (europestring.com) and EscapeBlog (escapeblog.com); and, KMM’s Road Gladiator (roadgladiator.com). I am also the founder and editor of PINOYexpats (pinoyexpats.org), an ezine for Filipino Expatriates. Having said all that... I would like to point your attention to my personal blog wherein I write about my life. For specific blogs about my multicultural/bilingual family, you can check here: pinayexpat.net/?cat=5 and pinayexpat.net/?cat=8. I do hope you consider including my personal blog in your roster.
Kind regards,
Melissa
EDITORS: Your blog is wonderful, Melissa! We are delighted to be able to add it to our roster: www.biculturalfamily.org/blogs.html. Hope you are enjoying your life with baby #2 - we will keep up on your motherhood ventures via your blog!

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