Benefits of Being Bilingual in English

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there are a lot of people working to

learn another language

but there are also a lot of people who

grew up speaking two or more languages

without even thinking about it

if you’re able to speak two languages

you’re bilingual

if you can speak more you’re

multilingual in many countries being

bilingual or multilingual is normal or

even expected

but in some countries people grow up

speaking and learning one language

if you speak one language you’re

monolingual so

what can monolinguals learn from

bilinguals or multilinguals

this video will look at what it’s like

to be comfortable in two or more

languages

here are six pieces of information

relating to bilingualism and

multilingualism that you can use in your

language learning

first bilingualism and the brain

how does being bilingual or multilingual

affect the brain do you dream in both

languages

do you see subtitles in your head for

the other language as somebody’s talking

the answers to questions like these are

different for everyone

some people may dream mostly in the

language they’re most comfortable with

and occasionally in another language

some people may be able to effortlessly

move between the languages they know

while others may get stuck from time to

time these are all normal parts of

knowing more than one language

people who were exposed to another

language since birth may

have certain advantages in language

acquisition over monolinguals

they may already be familiar with

certain sounds and sound combinations

that monolinguals are not familiar with

as a language learner you’re probably

quite familiar with this

if you’ve already mastered a language

and have decided to start learning a new

one

you’re probably going to unconsciously

make connections to words in different

languages

you’ll think to yourself this word has

the same vowel sound as another word i

know

so it should sound pretty similar when

it comes to studying things like new

vocabulary words and grammar however

monolinguals bilinguals and

multilinguals all need to spend time

learning

and memorizing so in your own learning

don’t be discouraged by people who speak

your native language and your target

language

they may have had a totally different

learning experience than you

consider your language studies not

language abilities

second language mistakes and confusion

you may be wondering if bilinguals ever

confuse languages in their heads

generally people who are fluent in

multiple languages can separate the

languages mentally

however there are situations where

people momentarily forget words even in

our native languages

or we think of a word in one language

but not in another

in some cases we might even want to use

a word that exists in one language but

not in the other

an interesting concept from academic

literature on this topic is perfect

bilingualism

it’s the idea that someone can speak two

languages perfectly

at an equally high level many people

assume that someone who grew up speaking

two languages would be able to use both

of them perfectly and sound flawless

but this is generally not true bilingual

people are often more comfortable

talking about certain topics in specific

languages

there are also situations where

bilingual people may pronounce words

with a slightly different accent than

monolingual people

interestingly enough there’s also a

similar pattern among bilingual couples

bilingual couples usually have a single

dominant language

even if they can speak another language

with fluency and ease

people will usually use the language

that’s most efficient and comfortable

third bilingual societies

can you imagine a place where you talk

to your family in one language

your neighbors in another your boss and

a third and write letters and a fourth

this might sound like a dream for many

language enthusiasts but in some

societies it’s normal

this type of multilingual society occurs

on border regions all throughout the

world

in northern iraq for instance people

usually speak kurdish

turkish and iraqi arabic and many of

them use modern standard arabic and

english at school

in some parts of china people might

learn english at school

speak their city’s dialect of mandarin

when out shopping speak standard

mandarin at work and perhaps even speak

another

language when at home with their

families some of these people might even

say they’re bad at languages

when people say this it’s often because

they grew up using these languages

not learning them in school when they

were using a language at a friend’s

house and got their pronunciation

corrected there was no anxiety involved

this kind of learning is different than

learning in a school setting where tests

in classrooms can cause pressure and

discomfort

media exposure plays a huge role too

many people around the world are

functionally bilingual in english thanks

to tv and youtube

sometimes parents even in societies

where people speak several languages

will put on educational english videos

for kids to watch

but what’s even more fun is something

that’s enjoyable for the kids that’s

already in english

you can do this too as an adult language

learner there’s a time and a place for

coursework

but if you’re able to shut off the

learning part of your brain and simply

absorb content you’re interested in

you’ll be surprised at what you can pick

up after a couple of months

fourth heritage languages

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you might know someone from an immigrant

family who speaks a different language

at home than they do with everybody else

that language is referred to

academically as a heritage language

basically a language that someone

learned at home without using it very

much anywhere else

you can imagine that such an arrangement

would produce huge variation in language

ability

some people have heritage languages that

they learn from visiting their

grandparents once a week

others learn through rigorous

homeschooling routines enforced by their

parents

heritage learners often have some marked

differences in their speech

compared to speakers who grew up in a

monolingual environment

they might have an accent that’s

affected by the dominant language they

grew up with

or they might feel uncomfortable using

some grammar or vocabulary

that they’re not as familiar with but on

the other hand they might be able to

smoothly use things like tone

grammatical gender and other aspects of

language that are extremely difficult

for learners to master

their listening comprehension is also

likely good

another big difference is in reading and

writing you probably don’t remember

but reading and writing took time to

learn

it may be difficult to motivate yourself

or a child to learn to read or write in

a new language

especially if that language has a

different and complicated script

we may be tempted to rely on the reading

and writing skills we already have

instead of learning something new if you

have a heritage language

and you’re working on reactivating it be

kind to yourself

maybe you feel like you should know how

to read or write in your heritage

language but you don’t

and that’s okay you can work on building

those skills as any other language

learner would

a great way to build literacy is to read

text with audio that you can listen to

at the same time

you can use the lesson notes from our

language learning program or

watch videos with subtitles this is easy

to do from the comfort of your home

fifth gaining fluency in a second

language

there’s a lot of divided discussion

about whether it’s possible to learn a

language to a native level

it’s important to consider what native

level means

maybe a native speaker of your target

language can talk about their work

flawlessly

but they can’t speak in depth about a

topic beyond their field

you don’t expect yourself to be able to

talk about absolutely

everything with 100 perfection in your

native language

so don’t expect that you’ll magically be

able to communicate perfectly in the

language you’re learning

either moreover it’s important to

remember that nobody speaks flawlessly

all the time

we all make mistakes and we know how to

correct ourselves and clarify

information

the best speakers in the world make

mistakes even on stage

everybody stumbled over their words

before does that mean they’re not fluent

in their

own language of course not you can do

some amazing things to get a native-like

accent in a foreign language

but they all take a great deal of work

lots of people convince

others that they’re native speakers for

the first few minutes of conversation

does it really matter if you end up

making mistakes after 40 seconds

40 minutes remember the perfect speech

is not required to speak like a native

as we’ve talked about in this video lots

of bilingual and multilingual people

have strengths and weaknesses too

can a bilingual person forget a

language

language skills can deteriorate over

time if they’re not used

if you’re very busy with one language

and rarely use the other you might see a

drop in your abilities in a language you

don’t use as often

completely forgetting a language takes a

very long time though

while you might forget a word here and

there in one language you likely won’t

lose a language completely

unless you don’t use it for decades this

is something to think about for anyone

who is considering spending their life

in another country

make sure to keep your language skills

up otherwise as time goes on

things may be harder and harder to

remember being bilingual

or multilingual is pretty interesting a

lot of language learners compare

themselves to bilinguals or

multilinguals

remember that bilingual and multilingual

people put in work too

when they were kids so don’t feel

discouraged if it seems like your own

learning is slow

it simply takes time and that’s true for

everyone

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