Research showed that there is really wide spectrum of bilingualism, which can be categorised according to different criteria, but all forms of bilingualism share some common aspects and, most importantly, carry benefits.
Most people who grew up monolingual think that bilingualism means something like “to speak two languages like a monolingual”. This definition is wrong and misleading, it’s because built on the concept that a bilingual is like a double monolingual, which is never the case.
CATEGORIES BASED ON THE AGE AT WHICH A SECOND LANGUAGE IS LEARNED
Infancy Bilingualism if the second language is introduced before the child is 3 years
Childhood Bilingualism if the second language is introduced after 3, also in a school environment
Late Bilingualism is the second language is introduced after puberty
Experts say that those who start learning a second language in infancy or childhood can be considered native speakers, but the same is not true for late bilinguals. The age at which a second language is introduced has a dramatic effect on how the brain develops and works, hence an infancy and a childhood bilingual might have a very similar command of a language yet different is the way their brains work, which ultimately impacts how easy it is for them to speak the second language. Moreover people who become bilingual in infancy and childhood often acquire a native-like accent, but this happens very rarely to late bilinguals.
CATEGORIES BASED ON LANGUAGE SKILLS
Language skills are measured as abilities to understand, speak, read and write a language. Each of this abilities can be mastered at a different degree depending on the person and the circumstances, creating a continuous spectrum of bilingualism, which only with great simplification can be organized in four main areas:
Balanced Bilingualism: a person who can understand, talk, read and wrote equally well in both languages
Dominant Bilingualism: one language is dominant, native like, while the second klanguage is weaker
Unbalanced Bilingualism: typical of immigrants, whose mothertongue becomes the weaker language while the language that has been learned later becomes the dominant language, and often the only language in which the person is literate, i.e. can read and write
Passive Bilingualism: One language is fully developed, i.e.e the person can talk, read and wrote like a natiove speaker, the second language is fully understood but cannot be activeky used, i.e. cannot be spoken or written
Research showed that there is really wide spectrum of bilingualism, which can be categorised according to different criteria, but all forms of bilingualism share some common aspects and, most importantly, carry benefits.
Most people who grew up monolingual think that bilingualism means something like “to speak two languages like a monolingual”. This definition is wrong and misleading, it’s because built on the concept that a bilingual is like a double monolingual, which is never the case.
CATEGORIES BASED ON THE AGE AT WHICH A SECOND LANGUAGE IS LEARNED
Experts say that those who start learning a second language in infancy or childhood can be considered native speakers, but the same is not true for late bilinguals. The age at which a second language is introduced has a dramatic effect on how the brain develops and works, hence an infancy and a childhood bilingual might have a very similar command of a language yet different is the way their brains work, which ultimately impacts how easy it is for them to speak the second language. Moreover people who become bilingual in infancy and childhood often acquire a native-like accent, but this happens very rarely to late bilinguals.
Language skills are measured as abilities to understand, speak, read and write a language. Each of this abilities can be mastered at a different degree depending on the person and the circumstances, creating a continuous spectrum of bilingualism, which only with great simplification can be organized in four main areas:
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