How a British Canadian who's raising her child in Italian is helping to boost the Welsh language
Heather Broster's son, Elis, isn't quite five years old, yet already he speaks four languages - Italian, French, Welsh and English. Although Heather is British Canadian and Elis was born in Wales, his mother tongue is Italian. That's because Heather, who's fluent in the language, was determined her son would be bilingual - something she wishes had been her experience. Because her husband, Mathieu Gasquet, is half-French, half-Italian, it made sense for her to raise Elis in Italian, with Mathieu focusing on French. Since starting school in Tywyn last September, Elis has picked up Welsh quickly and easily. In fact, says Heather, the language in which he's least confident is English! "Long before I became a parent, I was passionate about raising a bilingual child," she explains. "As a young girl, I remember being fascinated by those in my class who were able to speak more than one language. It seemed to me like a mythical power to which only a select fe...
