Normalising multilingualism in Australian families: A chat with Sheila Ngọc Phạm

Our guest in this episode of Language Chats is Sydney-based writer, editor, producer and scholar Sheila Ngọc Phạm who has worked across radio, print, online and film. Languages are a big part of Sheila’s life, as a bilingual English/Vietnamese Australian whose interest in language led her to study linguistics and learn a number of other languages through her travels and experiences in life so far.

We chat about her linguistic background as the child of Vietnamese parents growing up in Sydney, her love and enjoyment of language, her work on two particular podcast series (Tongue Tied and Fluent on ABC Radio National and My Bilingual Family on SBS) which focus on language in Australia, the challenges for those trying to raise children bilingually, multilingualism in Australia, and more.

Sheila is also a member of our community on Facebook, Language Lovers AU Community - join us there too if you’d like to be a part of the conversation and connect with other like-minded language lovers!

We loved this chat (and could have spoken with Sheila for hours!) so we hope you enjoy it. Contact us here to let us know your thoughts about this episode or if you have any questions for us or Sheila.

Episode Links

• Find out more about Sheila on her website here / Twitter: @birdpham

• Tongue Tied and Fluent podcast (ABC Radio National), produced by Masako Fukui and Sheila Ngoc Pham

• My Bilingual Family podcast (SBS), produced by Masako Fukui and Sheila Ngoc Pham

• Some of Sheila’s writing on multilingualism:

  • Bringing up a bilingual child is hard work. But passing on your mother language is a gift beyond words by Sheila Ngọc Phạm for Tongue Tied and Fluent on Earshot (ABC Radio National)

  • Five common myths about raising bilingual children by Sheila Ngoc Pham, Masako Fukui

• Language Death by David Crystal