Interview with Rebeca Imberg: On Multilingual Families and Letting Go of the Mom* Guilt

Rebecca Imberg Linguist Family Language Consultant www.bilikids.de Instagram: @bilikids_de Facebook: Bilikids Deutschland

When I first stumbled on her Instagram page, I was instantly hooked. Rebeca Imberg, Spanish language teacher and family language consultant, is a life force. Armed with positive messages and the scientific data to back her up, Rebeca’s mission is to provide multilingual families with the knowledge and confidence they need to build up their family life in whatever languages they want to.

Afloat: Rebecca, tell us a little about yourself. What brought you to Germany? And what does life look like here for you?

Rebeca: Hi Andrea, well this year it’ll be 11 years that I’m living in Germany. Love brought me to Germany. My husband is German and we met in Costa Rica and I decided to come here to get a Master's degree and, well, life left me here, but all my family is still back in Costa Rica. Now we have a 4 year old girl who is growing up bilingual and bicultural. I have been a teacher of Spanish as a second language for more than 15 years, but I also offer training courses for professionals in the area of pedagogy, and do language consulting for multilingual families.

Afloat: Can you explain a bit what language consulting looks like?

Rebeca: Sure! Essentially families look to me to fix their “language salad" at home, as one of my clients put it. I do this by first conducting an analysis of the linguistic profile of the family, of the goals they want to achieve in each language, and we talk a lot about the family dynamics so that later we can start to implement strategies that will help the families to achieve the multilingualism that they want.

Afloat: You recently started a company, Bilikids, to cater to families with “language salads”, as you say. What drove that decision for you?

Rebeca: When I was doing my Master’s thesis, I had the chance to work with many Spanish-speaking families here in Germany and I realized how much this topic concerns them on a daily basis. Being at one of these famous "symposiums" at the university one day, seeing so many academics and scholars there, I was sure of one thing: what I am learning here cannot stay within the four academic walls. I have to get this knowledge to the people who really need it. And so I decided to start Bilikids with the idea of being able to support families with a migration background, and pass on that knowledge in a simple way without much theory and technicality, but with a scientific basis.

Afloat: Why do you think there is so much interest in the topic of multilingualism for families living in Germany?

Rebeca: I think that Germany is a very multicultural country and with a very large and clear migratory flow, where people bring their languages and their cultures with them. That's why the issue of multilingualism has become so important, because people (also in politics) are more aware of how this influences society, and they understand the importance of establishing programs and classes where minority languages are also supported.

Afloat: What are the issues that parents are most interested in or concerned about?

Rebeca: One of the concerns of parents is the eternal myth that "multilingualism causes language development to be delayed", "or that bilingual or multilingual children start speaking later". These two topics are one of the first things families always ask me about. On the other hand, parents want their children to be able to speak their mother* tongue and to be able to communicate with their relatives outside Germany. This is what makes many of them insecure. And above all, they worry about how to handle languages once their children enter school. Through my consultation, I try to give them scientific information to break down these myths, as well as practical strategies for handling languages at home.

Afloat: We recently invited you to give a talk for Afloat. At Afloat, we place a large focus on mater*nal mental health, and a big topic in our support groups is the question of how to handle the mother* tongue when it is the minority language. Many mothers* feel insecure because they suddenly find themselves raising their children not only outside of their cultural context, but also outside of their linguistic context. How do you think the topics you touch upon as a linguist can contribute to good mental health?

Rebeca: What a good question! I think that we mothers* are incredible beings who always try to do our best in everything and when we feel that we are not doing something right in one of the thousands of areas of our lives, we begin to question ourselves and blame ourselves for this or that. My goal here is to provide them with the necessary linguistic information to help them stop feeling guilty because the pediatrician, the friend, the grand*mother, the teacher, or whoever, said that their child is not living up to his/her standards because of the number of languages they are exposed to. I help these mothers* to let go of their guilt when the child does not respond to them in the language they expect, or refuses to speak their mother* tongue. And I also teach them that these are all normal processes and that there are ways to correct certain patterns without it causing emotional distress, or having to give up their linguistic and cultural roots.

Afloat: Thank you so much for talking to us. It was truly a pleasure,

Rebeca: Thank you!

You can follow Rebeca’s teachings, tips, and unique life view via her Instagram channel. And visit her website at Bilikids.de.