Just got this in from a family friend, Anna Winger. If you’re interested, drop me an e-mail at rob at robcottingham dot ca, and I’ll be happy to hook the two of you up.

i’m doing an article for a magazine about the second languages that children are learning nowadays in the western world. in the past we all learned french, but now parents are encouraging their children to learn chinese, japanese, arabic, russian, english, etc. as they feel these languages will be more useful in the future than the “old european” languages. apparently they are even hiring native speaking nannies specifically to improve their children’s language skills. also, to meet demand schools are developing early education in languages, like mandarin, that they never offered in the past.

do you or your friends have young children who are learning a really difficult language? do you know people who have gone to great lengths to ensure fluency in their children, even in english (if their native language is german, etc)? i am trying to get a broad perspective on this so i would like to interview people in different places. if you know anyone i could interview in berlin, new york, london, paris, etc, who has interesting experience related to this subject please let me know.