population. When he visits relatives in Spain, he communicates with them in Catalan. “Some people don’t get out of their town, like Asheville, so they only speak English,” Gabriel said.
"0)>? + 5 : = ; @ ) %0<0$>
A smaller world A growing number of parents are raising children to speak a second, and like Gabriel, sometimes a third language. The world, they say, is becoming more connected through technology and children should learn and understand other cultures and languages. In the United States, 82 percent of the population speaks English as a primary language, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Spanish is the second most popular primary language, which is spoken by 12 percent of the population. Chinese is a distant third. Fewer than 10 percent of people in the United States are bilingual but a larger percentage do speak varying degrees of a second language. Gabriel’s mother, Michelle Bettencourt, was raised in California in a “very monolingual Caucasian family.” She studied Spanish in college and lived after graduation in Spain, where she taught English as a second language. Michelle met Gabriel’s father, Esteve Coll-Larrosa, while living in Spain. Michelle eventually returned to the United States to study Spanish and Esteve followed her. “I was too comfortable in my life and wanted to do something different,” Esteve said. The couple eventually married and Gabriel was born several years later. They decided to teach Gabriel three languages, partly to honor Esteve’s heritage, but also to teach him about the world. “I don’t think we are making a political statement,” Esteve said. “It’s part of our culture. It’s a gift I can give him.” The story is similar for Kari Sickenberger, who is raising her daughter, Rosa Sickenberger, bilingually. She and Rosa’s father are no longer together but have joint custody of their daughter. Rosa, 7, speaks English at her father’s house and Spanish at her mother’s house. Continues on Page 16
*,+/$..,-( )$"-+(+& #$+/$- ,% ".'$0())$
03:+(<7: #C7'+:<;76) %4* "63 7. @76*76 >%9) B$6 -5+:3($6 A76<+;;7:3 &+:<3/+*
;=: %0<0$>)@ 5+ "0)>? 2* /27.1,/9 4-( ('6&#4.1, '3 8-2/( &-./ 76<2; -1+; 8, 5 +6 *+:1$:< 36 ? 2 1 = 7 : <2
@?(* 4 A$<??> ';8 ' 9 0 > > = " 0 (A< ''; 2 2 ) 9 ' 9 ' /&536+ / . : & , 7 # % / 1 ()"####%'%$'&
W N C PA R E N T. C O M
15