Raising a Multilingual Bookworm, One Sticker at a Time

One of my proudest parenting wins so far is this: my toddler, Lewis, is a certified book lover. From the moment he could focus his tiny eyes, books became his jam. His very first “book”? A black-and-white watercolor creation by yours truly. Picture this: heavily pregnant me, painting pages of simple shapes and lines, trying to stay zen while waiting for him to make his debut. (Spoiler alert: the book was a hit with my one-month-old audience!)

As Lewis’s vision sharpened, I became a charity shop regular, hunting down second-hand book treasures. His favorites? The “That’s not my…” series, “Dear Zoo,” and anything with flaps to lift. Even now, he’s a flap fanatic—gleefully uncovering hidden pictures and, dare I say, hidden meanings.

Oh, and did I mention we’re raising Lewis to be trilingual? (Ambitious, I know.) I speak Vietnamese, my husband speaks German, and nursery handles the English. We’re using the “one parent, one language” method, which sounds fancy but really just means we stick to our linguistic swim lanes.

At first, translating picture books into Vietnamese was a breeze. The limited text—single words or simple phrases—was perfect for building his vocabulary. We were overjoyed when he started recognizing objects in all three languages! A trilingual toddler? Gold star parenting moment.

But then came the longer, more complicated books. You know, the ones with actual sentences. Suddenly, my brain was doing linguistic gymnastics mid-story. Pauses, fumbles, and awkward phrasing started creeping in, breaking the flow. I could see the “Mama, get it together” look on Lewis’s face.

Determined to keep his Vietnamese learning fun and natural, I scoured the internet for bilingual books. Unfortunately, they’re either wildly expensive or completely out of reach (literally—I’m not jetting off to Vietnam every time we need new bedtime stories).

Enter my DIY moment of genius: translation stickers. I typed up Vietnamese translations, printed them on transparent A4 sticker paper, cut them out, and stuck them in the books right beside the English text. It was like magic—no more awkward pauses, just seamless bilingual storytelling. It looks like this!

I was so excited about this breakthrough, I shared it with my Vietnamese parent friends, who loved the idea too. Now, I’m taking it a step further. Why stop at my circle when there are parents everywhere who want their kids to love books in their mother tongue?

So here I am, sharing my journey and creations. If you’re a fellow parent trying to juggle languages and foster a love of reading, welcome! Let’s make raising little bookworms in multiple languages easier—and way more fun.