“ The problem here stems from the home . It's the parents fault that their children don't speak the mother tongue , because of the erroneous thinking that children born overseas should speak English because they are citizens of an English speaking country , and so the parents will always speak English to the children instead of the native tongue , most probably so they could practice their English on the children . which benefits no one , the children don't speak the mother language but speak fluent English the parents on the other hand still speak broken English . That's why parents can't explain the history or custom of their homeland to their offspring in the mother tongue because the children don't speak the language nor in English 'cause the parents them self can't speak proper English , so the children who are born abroad are the ones who lose out in the end because of the shortcoming of the parents . Families who speak the mother tongue at home to their children give their children the advantage of being able to read and talk two languages , but not all . Yes a good idea . ”