Who are Bilinguals?

A bilingual refers people who can speak and understand two or more languages. In this article, we will explain basic facts of bilingualism, including what it is, why more and more people become bilinguals, its global popularity, and the complementarity principle of using or switching the languages.

Bilingualism can be defined as the capbility to use two languages effectively and use them in everyday living. This proficiency does not mean to cover all, like grammar, vocabulary, and literacy; On the countrary, if a person only can speak and read (but cannot write) in two language, which is also a case of bilingual. Importantly, bilingualism does not require equal mastery of both languages; one may have varying levels of proficiency in each language. The most important point is that each language (of a bilingual) has contribute the communication or information access in some contexts in everyday life.

How Popular Bilinguals Are?

Bilingualism is far from rare; it is a common phenomenon worldwide. In fact, the world may have more bilinguals than we think.

A survey of language use in the United States
obtained from the American Community Survey in 2007 reported that approximately 20% of the population spoke a non-English language at home, a proportion that has increased by 140% since 1980 [from: Shin, H.B., & Kominski, R.A. (2010). Language use in the United States: 2007. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration]. Considering the increasing popularity, the rate today should be much higher than 20% in the United States.

It is well known that in European many people speak more than one language amount the most popular ones, like French, Italian, German, English. In Asia, a lot of poeple speak more than more language. For example, If not everyone, should more than 90% of population speaks more than one language. The most popular languages includes Chinese, Malay and Hindi (other than the official language English).

The popularity of growing bilingualism is rooted from its benefits. The benefits does not only contain visuable ones, (e.g., more chances in communication, career development, travel) but also invisialbe ones (e.g., culture identity, brain development, opportunities to connect people).

Why People Become Bilinguals?

Cultural Heritage

For many individuals, bilingualism is a natural outcome of their cultural heritage. Growing up in a two-language household have chances to lead to children grow up to bilingal (not always). Another example is that the household speaks one language which is different from the language of their local community, kids or adults may develop into bilingual in this case.

Globalization and Career development

In our increasingly interconnected world, globalization plays a significant role in driving bilingualism. Learning a second language is valued as an asset, enhancing career prospects and enabling communication with a wider range of people.

We can see many people starts learning popular langauges, though they are not official languages in local community, like English in China and Chinese in United States.

Education

Education is another common route to bilingualism. Students often study a second language in school, and higher education institutions often offer courses in a different linguistic environment. Researches show bilingual students has an advantage over monolingal students in many contexts. Please note that a student who learns another language as a subject in school does have a chance to become a bilingual, but it does not always. It usually take years to develop habits of using a language to complete some task in everyday life.

Migration

Immigration often leads to bilingual as individuals adapt to a new linguistic context. Learning the dominant language of the host country becomes essential for daily life.

The Complementarity Principle in Bilingualism

Being a bilingual does not mean equally proficiency in both languages in all contexts. Bilingualism often have languages strategically to complement each other's linguistic gaps, which is relevant with how a kid is exposed to languages. This principle can be observed in various contexts. Here are some examples.

Arithmetic

A bilingual may find it easier to perform mental arithmetic in one language over the other, depending on which language was primarily used for mathematical education. For me, I always use Chinese to count. I can do mindful counting in English, but it is definitely more effortful.

Work-Space

In a professional setting, bilingual individuals may use one language for technical or specialized discussions and the other for general workplace interactions depending on context settings.

Study

In an academic context, bilingualism can play a crucial role. For instance, when discussing presentations (e.g., PPT) and other complex concepts, it is often more natural to use English as concepts were taught in English. When I was a Teaching Assistant in Singapore, in discussions with students from China, we often started in Chinese, but usually transitioned to English due to the prevalence of English-taught concepts. I also saw some discussions in Chinese, but code-switch (say words/phrases in another language) happens very often.

Communication with People

Some bilingual kids only speak one language with grand-parents or language teacher or parents. Even in their local community, they may have strong preference for language when communicating with people.

Prayer

In religious contexts, individuals may use one language to connect more deeply with their faith. This is an interesting observation.

Phone Number

Finally, bilingualism usually stick to one language for remembering phone number, similar as Arithmetic.

Conclusion

Being a bilingual is a life-long valuable asset for a person. It becomes more and more popular. Whether you're already bilingual or desire to become one, understanding the intricacies and principles of bilingualism can enrich your culture identity and enhance your interactions with a diverse and interconnected world.