Bilingualism and

Multilingualism

 What is Bilingualism?
 What are kinds of Bilingualism?
 What is Multilingualism?
How can someone has a potential
become multilingual speakers?
 What is Bilingualism?
People use the term “bilingualism” in different ways.
For some, it means an equal ability to communicate
in two languages. For others, it simply means the
ability to communicate in two languages, but with
greater skills in one language. In fact, it is more
common for bilingual people, even those who have
been bilingual since birth, to be somewhat
"dominant" in one language.
Receptive bilingualism

Being able to understand two languages but express

oneself in only one. Children who had high exposure to
a second language throughout their lives, but have had
little opportunity to use the language would fall in this
category. For example, many children in Chinese or
Mexican immigrant households hear English on TV, in
stores and so on, but use their home language (Chinese
or Spanish) in everyday communication. When they
enter preschool or kindergarten, these children are
likely to make rapid progress in English because their
receptive language skills in English has been
developed.
 Kinds of Bilingualism

Simultaneous bilingualism

Learning two languages as "first

languages". That is, a person who is a
simultaneous bilingual goes from speaking no
languages at all directly to speaking two
languages. Infants who are exposed to two
languages from birth will become
simultaneous bilinguals.
Sequential bilingualism

Learning one language after already

established a first language. This is the
situation for all those who become
bilingual as adults, as well as for many
who became bilingual earlier in life.
What is Multingualism?
Multilingualism is the act of using, or
promoting the use of, multiple languages, either
by an individual speaker or by a community of
speakers.

Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual

speakers in the world's population.

The generic term for a multilingual person is

polyglot. Multilingualism is becoming a social
phenomenon governed by the needs of
globalization and cultural openness.
How can someone has a potential
become multilingual speakers?

• People who find it necessary to acquire a

second language for practical purposes
such as business, information gathering
(Internet, mainly English or Spanish) or
entertainment (foreign language films,
books or computer games).

• Language immersion children (or any adult

who chooses to immerse in a foreign
language).
• Children of expatriates. However, language loss of the L1 or L2 in younger
children may be rapid when removed from a language community.

• Residents in border areas between two countries with different languages,

where each language is seen as of equal prestige: efforts may be made by
both language communities to acquire an L2. Yet, in areas where one
language is more prestigious than the other, speakers of the less prestigious
language may acquire the dominant language as an L2. In time, however, the
different language communities may be reduced to one, as one language
becomes extinct in that area.

• Children whose parents each speak a different language, in multilingual

communities. In monolingual communities, when parents maintain a
different-parent/different-language household, their children may become
multilingual. On the other hand, in monolingual communities, where parents
have different L1s, multilingualism in the child may be achieved when both
parents maintain a one-language (not the community language) household.
• Children in language-rich communities where neither
language is seen as more prestigious than the other and
where interaction between people occurs in different
languages on a frequent basis. An example of this would be
the city of Montreal, Canada and some border towns in the
Canadian Province of Québec, but English is rapidly
becoming to be seen as the more "useful" language by some .

• Children who have one or more parents who have learned a

second language, either formally (in classes) or by living in
the country. The parent chooses to speak only this second
language to the child. One study suggests that during the
teaching process, the parent also boosts his or her own
language skills, learning to use the second language in new
contexts as the child grows and develops linguistically.
• Immigrants and their descendants.
Although the heritage language may be
lost after one or two generations,
particularly if the replacing language has
greater prestige.

• People who learn a different language

for religious reasons. (see: Sacred
language)

• People who marry into families where

their first language is not commonly
spoken.