One parent, one language (OPOL, also called one person, one language) means each parent speaks their own language to the child. It is the best-known plan for raising a bilingual child, and it works best when it fits your family rather than the other way round.
In OPOL each parent consistently speaks one language with the child, for example Croatian with Mum and English with Dad. It is one good option, not a requirement: research summarised by psycholinguist François Grosjean found that children of parents who both use both languages become bilingual at similar rates. What matters most is that your child hears each language often.
Each parent picks one language and uses it with the child: at meals, at bath time, in play. The child learns to link each language with a person. Many families add a "family language" for times when everyone is together.
OPOL is often traced to linguist Maurice Grammont, who advised in 1908 that "each language must be represented by a different person". Psycholinguist François Grosjean notes that the advice was never tested, and that in Annick De Houwer's large study of about 2,000 families, a quarter of children raised this way did not become actively bilingual, usually because one language was heard much less.
Source: François Grosjean, One Person–One Language and Bilingual Children, Psychology Today.
The language your child hears less (often the one only one parent speaks) needs extra time: books, songs, grandparents, video calls.
Strict rules can be stressful. Many families adapt OPOL, and switching sometimes is normal.
Seeing one picture with both words shows a child that one thing can have two names, one from each parent.
In EveryLingo each parent can record words in their own language and voice, so the child hears Mum's words and Dad's words on the same cards.
OPOL means one parent, one language (or one person, one language): each parent consistently speaks their own language with the child, so the child links each language with a person.
It can, but it is not the only way. Psycholinguist François Grosjean notes that children of parents who both use both languages become bilingual at similar rates, and that in a study of about 2,000 families a quarter of OPOL children did not become actively bilingual, usually because one language was heard much less.
Give that language extra time: books, songs, grandparents and video calls. In EveryLingo that parent can record words in their own voice, so the child hears them every day.
There is a free version with no sign-up and no time limit: play the games with a starter set of words in any language or language pair, and make your own word cards too. Full access unlocks all 720+ words and more of your own cards for a one-time payment of $29.99 USD (lifetime) or $4.99 USD (1 month). No subscription.
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