Abstract
USD 254,000: that is the cost of raising two children bilingually in English and German in Denver, Colorado. That’s a lot of money, and inspired me to do some number-crunching of my own. To begin with, it’s a reminder that language learning doesn’t come cheap. The core English-speaking countries (Australia, UK, USA et al.) largely privatize the cost of language learning, i.e. if you want to raise your children bilingually, that’s by and large treated as parents’ own private responsibility: if they can afford it, they can choose bilingual education, or violin-playing, or ice-skating, or whatever. If they can’t afford it, ‘Well, tough!’ At least, that’s how the reasoning behind public education provision in these countries largely seems to work.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Specialist publication | Language on the move |
| Publisher | Language on the move |
| Publication status | Published - 25 Nov 2011 |
Bibliographical note
Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.Keywords
- 200401 applied linguistics and educational linguistics
- 200405 language in culture and society (sociolinguistics)