A linguist's pandemic project

When her daughter was born three months before COVID-19 restrictions began, a linguist decided to revive her high school French to speak at home with her baby.

Six years of shared fluency

Six years later, her daughter speaks French as fluently as English. The linguist's own French improved gradually alongside her daughter's, and they rarely speak English when alone together.

Critics question her grammar

Online critics warned that the linguist's grammatical errors, like saying le vidéo instead of la vidéo, could harm her daughter's development. Some questioned whether speaking a non-native language damaged their emotional bond.

“If I wasn't fluent enough to not make errors, I would not be speaking that language to my child one hundred percent of the time.”

Children correct, not imitate

Research showed that children learning a language mostly at home benefit from parental input. The linguist's daughter doesn't imitate her errors but corrects them, once telling her mother that le vidéo doesn't make sense.

“Le vidéo doesn't make any sense, maman.”

A stronger bond than feared

The linguist's husband dismissed concerns about emotional damage, saying they were unusually close. She suspects their shared language journey strengthened rather than harmed their connection over six years.

“If anything, you have the opposite problem. You two are weirdly close.”

A year in France ahead

The family moved to France for a one-year sabbatical this summer. The linguist now worries whether her French will be strong enough for adolescence, but finds reassurance in her daughter's ability to switch between languages.