While many Hillsdale students are struggling to learn a new language as part of the core curriculum, some of the town’s youngest residents are already fluent in two. 

Several professors are raising their children to speak more than one language. Some chose to do so because their native language is not English, others to give their children exposure to foreign languages and cultures.

Anna Vincenzi, assistant professor of history, explained some of her experience raising her three kids in an Italian-speaking home.

“My husband and I are both Italian, so we only speak Italian among ourselves and we only speak Italian to our kids,” Vincenzi said. “I don’t know if you would count it as a bilingual house because it doesn’t even come naturally to me or my husband to speak English at home.”

Vincenzi said that she must be intentional about raising her kids to speak Italian, especially now that her oldest is school-aged and learning more English at school every day.

“My kids speak and understand Italian very well, but among themselves they speak English because, when they go to school, English becomes the language they speak with other kids,” she said.

Still, her children usually address her in Italian.  

“If you as a parent start speaking to them in English and they get used to speaking to you in English and then you automatically answer to them in English, then their Italian is gone,” she said. 

Associate Professor of Spanish and Department Chair Todd Mack and his wife, Betty Mack, both speak Spanish and have raised their five children speaking Spanish and English. Mack said there are many benefits to learning two languages. When traveling in a Spanish-speaking country, for instance, his family has no language barrier.

“It’s cool to be able to take my family and not have to worry about ‘Oh, will they understand what’s going on?’” Mack said. “I think it gives them a lot of confidence. I think it makes them more open to the world.” 

He said his children’s fluency has aided them in comprehending vocabulary and fostering a love for language itself.  

“I think they pick languages up pretty easily, so I think that’s another benefit,” Mack said. “They think it’s cool to speak in other languages.”

Sherri Rose, associate professor of French, said she taught her two daughters French so that they could experience the world in a different way. She found it to be a bridge between her role as teacher and mother. 

“Kids’ brains are like little sponges when it comes to learning language,” Rose said. “I wanted to expose my daughters to a second language from birth at the point in their lives when it is easiest to pick up since all sounds and words are new.”

Rose said she only spoke French to her daughters and that they learned English outside of the home. 

“It is fun to watch them play with sounds and compare words in French and English. I like seeing which French words they insert into English sentences because that word has a stronger association for them in French,” Rose said.

Rose admitted that it is difficult finding French content for her daughters to consume.

“It is challenging to expose them to a variety of French speakers and authentic texts living in the rural Midwest but streaming Disney Plus in French and ordering French books on Amazon make it easier,” Rose said.

Although Rose is not a native speaker herself, she and her family travel to France frequently, which Rose said improved the quality of her children’s spoken French. 

“Obviously, English is their dominant language living in Hillsdale,” Rose said. “However, I know from past experiences that even just a few months of immersion during a summer in France is enough time for the languages to flip and for French to be their choice of expression. It’s fascinating to watch that happen.”