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Should We Speak English The Only Language To Talk In America?

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Too many times growing up has the phrase been said, “Speak English! This is America”. If the United States has always been the home to hundreds of immigrants, with different nationalities, can we say English is the only language to talk in America? Absolutely not. For many years, the United States has preferred monolingualism, the knowledge of one language however from hospitals to courts, the assistance to interpret different languages is now offered. Schools have now begun to implement programs that consist of teaching in two different languages, known as dual language classrooms. All coming together to push forward the rewarding benefit of knowing more than one language, of being bilingual. Just like manners, the knowledge of a second language must be taught at an early age by our first teachers, our parents. …show more content…

There are three types of bilingualism; simultaneous bilingualism, receptive bilingualism and sequential bilingualism (Trejos-Castillo & Merle, 2014). Simultaneous bilingualism is the introduction of two languages at the same time. Infants learn this way through exposure of both languages. Receptive bilingualism is knowing two languages but only being able to use one. This occurs to many children before entering preschool. They’ve been exposed to the language at home, and have only heard of English through television shows, music, etc. They know it’s English and can differentiate between the language however they lack the knowledge to be able to use English as a way to communicate with others. Sequential bilingualism is learning a second language after being fully fluent in a first language. In order to say a person is fully competent in another language, they must be able to comprehend, read and write the other

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