Need advice: Raising a multilingual child (Turkish/German/English/Polish)
I’m from Germany, and German is my most comfortable language. My parents are from Turkey, so I speak Turkish fairly well (though not fluently) and understand it perfectly. My husband is from Poland and recently moved to Germany; Polish is his most comfortable language.
At home, we speak English since neither of us plans to learn the other’s native language (he intends to learn German professionally in the future, but for now, his skills aren’t notable).
My original plan was to speak only Turkish to my unborn child, assuming German would come naturally through friends, family, and the environment.
However, I’ve realized I don’t enjoy speaking exclusively in Turkish. I’ve become more self-conscious about my Turkish and try to avoid mixing in German words, but I end up Googling a ton of basic vocabulary just to explain things properly. I love describing my surroundings and explaining concepts, so I don’t want my child to learn broken Turkish from me.
Now I’m considering ditching Turkish as the dominant language at home and instead:
- Speaking German (my strongest language, and the language of the country we live in and plan to stay in).
- Reading Turkish books to my child (at least the language will be correct).
- Sending my child to Turkish language school when they’re old enough.
- English will likely come naturally as our family language.
- Polish will be my husband’s exclusive language with our child.
My dilemma:
Should I drop Turkish and focus on perfect German first?
Or should I try to include both languages and improve my Turkish alongside my child? (I’ve already started reading more Turkish books and watching Turkish movies, but German remains my strongest language.)
What are some good approaches for raising a multilingual child in this situation?
Any tips or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!
(Note: I used AI to clean up my original text.)