What Does Bilingual Actually Mean?

In America, there is a predominant growth in multiple ethnicities and cultural backgrounds; leading to the usage of multiple languages in the American culture. There is a growing need for many people to learn and utilize multiple languages within the workplace and within one 's own personal life. The importance of bilingualism and the knowledge of multiple languages is ever increasing, and therefore becoming more important for the younger generations. The push for knowing multiple languages and becoming bilingual has many potential negative and positive effects.

Extensive research has been done on learning and speaking languages, and its known that people who speak multiple languages have better cognitive abilities than those who speak one language. Adults that speak many languages have higher intelligence, more perspective of

In my opinion bilingualism plays a major role in the educational development of children. This is because research has shown that children who are fluent in their home language are more successful in learning a second language. Furthermore, being bilingual offers greater sensitivity to language, more flexibility in thinking and better ear for listening. It also improves a child’s understanding for the native language. Moreover, knowledge of other languages increases a career of opportunities offering several job options.

Having the ability to speak more than one language influences one’ life deeply. Speaking two or more languages can affect someone from being infants to old age. Bhattacharjee continues with, “The bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infancy to old age (and there

Kids that learn a second language at an earlier age tend to have the ability to multitask with ease. In a video called The benefits of a bilingual brain - Mia Nacamulli, she explains how although being bilingual would not make you smarter it does keep your brain healthy and more active and

Bilingualism has to do with an individual being fluent in two or more languages at work or educational facilities.

Bilingualism is the ability to speak and understand two different languages. You don’t have to speak both languages fluently to be considered bilingual; most people will still have a dominant language. People used to think that learning a second language is something you can do only when you get older.

Bilingualism makes you more open-minded and sensitive to others. You learn two languages. Most of the time, inflection on certain words and the way you say them may hurt or cause pain, rather than soothe and make happy. Social studies say that bilinguals have an enhanced awareness of other people’s points of view. They learn from early on in their learning of another language that some people take things differently.

Language is used every day in our everyday lives all over the world. Marian and Shook state that “language is used to communicate our thoughts and feelings, connect with others, identify culture, and understand the world around us” (Marian & Shook ,2012,para.1) There are many languages all over the world and some people understand more than one language such as understanding both English and Spanish. People that are Bilingual are exceptional in a way that they are intelligent, helpful, and have advantage openers.

Rampton (2009) stated that Bilingualism is the ability to use two or more languages. Definitions of bilingualism range from the basic ability to communicate in two or more languages to a fluent level using those languages, which allows the speaker to function

Throughout the years, time has showed us that being bilingual has gain importance and is consider to be more of a necessity now. A brain that understands more than one language is more alert than one who knows just one language. Being bilingual has many benefits. A couple advantages of being bilingual would be greater job opportunities, comfortable traveling and higher test scores.

Bilingualism is a person’s ability to speak two or more languages fluently. Initially it was believed that bilingualism had negative effects on an individual’s intelligence and speech and it was thought that the knowledge of multiple languages would complicate one’s thought processing rather than improve its functioning. This theory

Because of the internationalization trend nowadays, being bilingual definitely is an advantage when it comes to jobs. Most of employers prefer to hire employees with two or more fluent languages, and are willing to pay them a higher salary; but this is not the only perk. the brain gets advantages by speaking two or more languages from improved cognitive skills, which helps it develop denser grey matter, improve decision making skills , and delay the onset of dementia. This can be considered as brain training which pushes your brain more flexible.

Bilingualism is simply able to communicate in two languages. Therefore, bilingualism to me, means being able to communicate with different people and discovering their cultures. Most importantly, being bilingual gives me a different perspective on the world. I am able to relate and feel more connected because it makes me become more open-minded. My parents are from Cambodia. So, Khmer is my mother tongue, and English is my second language. Being able to speak two languages is definitely an important part of my identity. For instance, my native language relates back to my deep connection to my roots and speaking another language shows my willingness to embrace other culture. I can proudly say that I am Cambodian-American. Not to mention, bilingualism

We define multilingual speakers as having the capacity to identify and communicate using three or more languages. The term bilingualism is used to label a person whom has the ability to interact using two languages; these languages are not always at an equal advancement, skill and communication level between these languages can differ.