AND MULTILINGUALIS M

To be bilingual or multilingual is not the aberration

supposed by many; it is rather normal and unremarkable necessity for the majority in the world today ~Edwards

Aisulu Rysbekova

Countries that are officially or unofficially multilingual PURPLE Multiple official languages GREEN Single official language, functionally multilingual BLUE No official language, functionally multilingual

Incidence Of MULTILINGUALISM

There are about 212 countries in the world today. These countries share approximately 6809 living languages. It should be obvious by these statistics that MULTILINGUALISM IS THE RULE rather than the exception in the world today.

Multilingualism

rigidly defined as being native-like in two or more languages. loosely defined as being less than native-like but still able to communicate in two or more languages.
Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's

Bilingualism

a common human condition that makes it possible for an individual to function, at some level, in more than one language. someone who speaks two languages. one who can, to whatever degree, comprehend or produce written or spoken utterances in more than one language.

Various types of multilingual competence

For compound bilinguals, words and phrases in different languages are the same concepts. That means that chien and dog are two words for the same concept for a FrenchEnglish speaker of this type. These speakers are usually fluent in both languages.

Various types of multilingual competence

For coordinate bilinguals, words and phrases in the speakers mind are all related to their own unique concepts. Thus a bilingual speaker of this type has different associations for chien and for dog. In these individuals, one language, usually the first language, is more dominant than the other, and the first language may be used to think through the second language. These speakers are known to use very different intonation and pronunciation features, and sometimes to assert the feeling of having different personalities attached to each of their languages.

Various types of multilingual competence

subordinate bilinguals, beginning second language learners.

William James Sidis (Child prodigy, said to be able to learn a language in a single day) he entered Harvard early at age 11, and as an adult was conversant in over 40 languages and dialects

"Being bilingual is like being able to see a magic eye picture. You squint a bit but still see more."

Speaking two languages is thought to increase cognitive abilities. In other words, bilingual children often get better marks! Bilinguals are more employable, and earn more on average than monolinguals. They're even healthier in old age! A study at the University of York in Canada in 2004 suggested that speaking two languages can help keep you mentally agile. Bilingual volunteers had faster reaction times than their monolingual counterparts and were less likely to suffer from mental decline in old

However

There is also a phenomenon known as distractive bilingualism or semilingualism. When acquisition of the first language is interrupted and insufficient or unstructured language input follows from the second language, as sometimes happens with immigrant children, the speaker can end up with two languages both mastered below the monolingual standard. The vast majority of immigrant children, however, acquire both languages normally.