What Does It Mean You Be Bilingual Or Multilingual?

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.

Everyone in America has had to learn a second language in order to obtain a high school diploma, however this ‘learning’ of a language is merely a short class that does little to tie one down to a second language. There are few students who continue to seek more and more knowledge about their intended language. Some lose interest, while others make excuses by saying that it is too hard. However, learning more than one language has so many benefits that it is mind boggling to me that more people like to remain monolingual. Obviously time and resources are a concern, but there are so many ways to learn a language that can be catered to one’s individual needs. Think about all of the people in our nation whose first language is not English.

Bilingualism is the ability to communicate in two different languages. Bilingual education is the use of two different languages in classroom instruction. According to the Encyclopedia of Children’s Health, and many other researchers, “languages are learned the easiest during a child’s youngest years. Therefore, when a child is growing up in a bilingual home or is receiving bilingual education, can easily speak both languages. Children who grow up in a household where two languages are spoken, usually acquire both languages simultaneously. Although their ability quality and skill of each language may be somewhat slower than a child that is

Although bilingual education has some merit, avoiding the implementation of the more popular language of a community is detrimental to the incorporation of mostly you people in society and hinders their ability to develop a keen sense of identity. For example, "language gets learned as it gets used (7).” In other words, one masters the language as he speaks it. Speaking and language skills tend to sharpen if they are used regularly. Rodriguez argues that learning both languages and using them rather than leaving one begins to lead to a better sense of identity and freedom. But according to Rodriguez it makes one become insecure, growing up

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

There are many variations of the word bilingual, one of the meanings is the ability to be able to speak two different languages, while also understanding the culture of the people that speak it. The second variation of the word bilingual is being able to understand the difference between private and public language. These are the topics the authors Martin Espada and Richard Rodriguez speak about in their essays The New Bathroom Policy at English High School and The Hunger of Memory.

How does our native language affect we think about the world and our place in it? How is speaking more than one language difficult? Tom Munnecke’s purpose was talking about how learning many languages frustrated him, and how each language frustrated him. Each of these languages he saw as “shells,” and he goes on to talk about each language and its limitations and/or opportunities. The audience for Nothing is Missing are people who are interested in learning one, or more than one, different language. This article could also apply to people who are already bilingual, or already know multiple languages. Munecke would like people who are interested in learning more than one language to know how the first language we speak affects the way we

Monolingual is referring to a person who can only speak one language which, believe it or not, makes for the smallest minority in the US and in the UK according to the article. Most individuals in the US and UK are bilingual. Bilingual is not just about being fluent in speech and writing in two languages. There are different types of bilingualism for example, myself. I can speak and write fluently in English but I am very limited with my Spanish skills.

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

Communication, education, buying, selling, asking for directions, businesses transactions, etc, are all reasons why language is necessary. However, there could easily be a barrier between people that can impede on and dictate how these interactions will progress without the correct language. Bilingualism or multilingualism is a common asset that most of the people in the world use and rely on every day. Bilingualism will be described in this paper as the ability to speak two or more languages proficiently, however bilingualism and multilingualism will be used interchangeably. The second (or nth) language can be acquired at home at a young age (for example, if the parents/caregiver

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

The definition to bilingual is the ability to speak two languages. Monolingual is the complete opposite. The fact that our world revolves around money makes this topic very important. The workforce prefers that when a person is hired for a job that they know both Spanish and English, this is recommended because in South Texas you will find both the languages used at a 1:1 ratio.

Language is a key part of any family, community, culture and the human race. Without language the world today would be much different. From cavemen, to the Egyptian use of hieroglyphics, to Old English, to more than 6,500 languages spoken around the world today, the advances that humans have made in language is remarkable and inspiring. The ability to speak, read, write and understand more than one language is also remarkable and expands the liberties in life, especially for young people. High school students should be required to take at least two years of a foreign language class in order to graduate, as many recent studies support the benefits of doing so. Students who have learned a foreign language in high school have proven to have a

There are more than 6500 language around the world. We cannot control or decide where we are going to be born or we cannot decide our mother language. But we can choose which language we are going to use as our second language. The existence of large numbers of people who speak more than one language but who do not exhibit native-like control in both languages raises the question of how proficient a person must be to be classed as bilingual. Bilingualism may be defined as having some ability to use two or even more languages. Being of bilingual has practical benefits in globalize world and it is not limited to having conversations with more people around. In 1922 the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said, “The limits of my language mean

All these reasons result in social interaction between speakers of different language, which helps predict language contact may result in multilingualism. It is estimated that over half of all countries are multilingual. An example of a multilingual society is Switzerland with three main languages: French, German and Italian and each language is dominant area of its own. John Edwards believes that everyone is bilingual, even if someone can only speak or understand, he believes that you have “some ‘command’ of a foreign tongue” therefore there is no clear monolingual country. Therefore multilingualism is useful in showing how the social interaction between people of different languages help us predict the linguistic results of language contact as it is an example of what happens when multiple languages exist and interact in the same country.