Our family and how we started
With so many of us moving around the globe, through travel, work and migration, speaking several languages and experiencing different cultures has become the norm.
Our family roots span four different continents and over the past few generations six languages have been spoken. Far from being unusual, our children are in good company.
Language isn’t just spoken or words on a page. We learn through pictures, stories, songs, games, toys, films, food, culture… and everything in our homes and the world around us. From 6 months, children can recognise and learn up to five different languages. There are 6,500 languages spoken in the world, and over 100 spoken in the UK alone. Language is so important for everyone, especially when we are learning how to communicate and socialise at an early age.
When we were expecting our first child, we looked for fun, beautiful products in both English and Italian. It is important to us that our children can engage with both languages in an enjoyable way. We struggled to find what we were looking for so I decided to create products myself. I have a background in product design and after interest from other families decided to create Lil’ollo. Since then I have been working with language therapists, teachers, film makers, artists and designers to develop this exciting business.
We speak Italian, Spanish and English at home. Our two year old now understands and is beginning to speak all three. I am continually amazed at how children’s brains grow and develop. For a brilliant TED talk and more on early language learning please see our resources section >>.
