Cate & the birth of Babel Babies

Dr Thomas Bak is a neuroscientist investigating how bilingualism affects our brains, and the benefits that this can have in later life. He has researched how bilingualism impacts people’s cognitive ageing, recovery from stroke and – significantly – can delay the symptoms of dementia by up to 5 years.

Thomas H Bak started life surrounded by language and has cherished a life-long interest in the subject ever since. Born in Poland to a German-speaking mother and Polish-speaking father, Thomas’s studies and work have taken him around the world, studying medicine in Germany, the UK and Switzerland before working clinically in psychiatry, neurology and neurosurgery in Berne, Berlin and Cambridge.

Later on, as part of his role as president of the World Federation of Neurology Research Group on Aphasia, Dementia and Cognitive Disorders, Thomas organised teaching courses in cognitive neurology (“Cognitive Clinics Worldwide” scheme) across the world, from South America, through the Middle East and India to East Asia.

Now based at the University of Edinburgh, Thomas’s current work is mainly concentrated on developing a link between multilingualism and improvements in cognitive functions. He works across a wide range of populations, from young adults to octogenarians in countries around the world and is a highly respected voice in the world of linguistics, appearing on television, radio and podcasts.

An additional dimension in his life with languages is his now 7-year-old daughter Alba, whose questions about the three languages she has been exposed to (namely Spanish, Polish and English) has been a constant source of inspiration for thinking about languages and multilingualism.

Thomas is a supporter of the Babel Babies multilingual approach, and he and I have collaborated on the ‘science’ behind Babel Babies. We also run the International Day of Multilingualism together on 27th March every year with the #multilingualisnormal hashtag. I am delighted that he is adding his extensive knowledge and experience in the field of multilingual neurology to the Babel Babies team.

Eowyn Crisfield is a Canadian-educated specialist in teaching English as a second or foreign language, teacher training, and bilingual education. She has been working with schools and families in international settings for over 15 years.

Other than hearing Spanish on Sesame Street, Eowyn was hardly even aware that there were any languages other than English. Things changed when, in 7th grade, she discovered French and was radically transformed from a monolingual into an aspiring multilingual.

By her early 20s Eowyn had become fluent in French and had evolved from student of languages to teacher. Such was her interest in the subject of languages that she embraced sociolinguistics (the study of languages in relation to social factors) with specific interest in the relationship between sociolinguistic factors and children’s developing bilingualism.

As a new mum to her first daughter, she moved to Europe and these simultaneous life events provided fertile ground for her own family language planning experiments, but also for developing processes to help other families who wanted to raise their children as bi/multilingual as well.

Understanding the crucial role that schools play in the success or failure of bilingualism, Eowyn has spent the last 10 years helping to develop strong partnerships between parents and schools to best support the linguistic, educational and social needs of multilingual learners’ development.

Eowyn says: “My work with families combines my academic knowledge with the practical knowledge of the hard graft that goes into raising multilingual children. My own three children have taught me how individual each child’s journey to languages is, and even when you’ve (literally) written the book, you may still not end up where you want to be – and that’s okay.”

Ronni’s grandparents were Polish and her parents, who were born in England, spoke Polish and English, but she and her siblings were raised monolingually in English. She met and married Sefer who is Kurdish and speaks four languages: Turkish, English and two Kurdish languages, Kurmanji and Zazaki. Ronni’s own regret over not being raised bilingually is part of her motivation to raise their four children to speak both English and Turkish, as well as increasing public awareness of the benefits of bilingualism.

Having always loved languages, Ronni studied French, German, Italian and Latin at school. After graduating in 2012, she went on to do post-graduate research on language and cognition in bilingual children with autism at the University of Reading.

When she became a mother, Ronni realised that a lot of parents worry about their children’s speech and language development. This is especially true in multilingual families where parents may have specific worries and are often given incorrect information about raising a multilingual child. For the last 8 years she has been working to bust these multilingualism myths, providing multilingual families with accurate and appropriate information, and making sure everyone understands that multilingualism is normal!

Ronni homeschools her four children, a decision based on many factors including increased time abroad, visiting family in Turkey. This immersion in Turkish culture and language naturally boosts the children’s language skills and confidence. When at home, she follows the Charlotte Mason philosophy of homeschooling which promotes short lessons, good literature and plenty of time outdoors.