It is hard to imagine our society without multilingualism. In Germany, many people grow up speaking several languages from birth, for example, when they speak Greek with their mother and German with their father. Or they speak Turkish with both of their parents at home, and German in school or elsewhere. Even people who speak a German dialect at home have to learn a different kind of German at school. 

What does it look like in your family or your friend group? Does code-switching, which is when different languages are used within one sentence, happen in your daily life? And what do those code-switches mean? Do you speak the same with everyone, for example with your parents, friends and teachers? And do you speak your family language the same way as your grandparents or parents?

We are dealing with these and similar questions in our project “Familien und ihre sprachlichen Dynamiken” (“Family language dynamics”). Our work involves informing children and adolescents in school and nurseries and parents about how languages can be acquired and how they develop. We also create videos, games, audio material and texts that you can access and read or listen to on our website, www.ruegram.de . There is content in German, English, Greek, Russian and Turkish. 

Do you already have questions about languages and language learning that you want answers to?

Just come back to www.ruegram.de frequently – you will find interesting answers to your questions about your daily multilingual life.