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While researching for this article, I came across so many questions and doubts about raising a bilingual child in the US or Europe. “Bilingual?” I thought to myself. “They’re concerned about their children learning two languages? They should look at our Indian children, where two languages are the minimum a child knows!” I didn’t nullify their very valid concerns, but I marveled at the ease with which most families in India switch from one language to another and then to yet another.

Consider the case of Abhilasha, a Bengali, married to a Gujarati, who was raised in Mumbai. Three languages there already. Add Hindi and English to that, and you have a total of five languages that their child has grown up listening to. “My mother