This contribution is interested in the question, how multilingual families in migration societies construct social spaces which do not follow national logics but are situated 'in between'. The lived language experience of parents and children is in focus, as it contributes to the construction of multilingual social spaces and languages as local practices (Pennycook 2010). The research is based on linguistic repertoires and deals with family language policy and practice (King/Lanza 2017) in moments when decisions on education in light of different languages and transnational alignments need to be taken and justified. Especially in view of national educational institutions, family decisions on language transmission and use are reflected upon and at times reevaluated (Purkarthofer 2017). Expectations, language ideologies and perspectives that transcend one's own family spaces gain relevance while some national institutions also call for changes in language regimes and practices. The research is based in data from six families from Germany and the Democratic Republic of Congo who have migrated to the south of Norway. Biographical interviews with the parents and multimodal and creative methods in the family are used to acquire interpretations of multilingual family life and motivations. In some families audio recordings of interactions and interviews with the children allow for deeper insights. Addressing multimodal data, biographical and thematic analysis is used for the interviews and inspiration from conversation analysis serves to access microlevel elements in interactions and selected interview parts. Focusing on two topics, namely motivations for the choice of school and narratives about holidays and travel, I want to exemplify how biographical constructions are used by parents and children. These specific examples are interesting as the transnational orientation becomes particularly salient as longterm perspectives are called for or earlier experiences are to be reproduced. The analysis shows how both continuity and change are relevant for the parents as they try to produce an uninterrupted family biography but at the same time need to be open to adaptations to new situations. In their children's biographies, they find themselves responsible for transmitting experiences but they also voice their role as enabling change, often in connection with children's agency.
