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Multilinguals are?., Madalena Cruz-Ferreira, Battlebridge Publications, London and Colombo (2010). vi 90 pp.
In our multilingual world, it is not surprising to see the growing interest in bilingualism and multilingualism (both
addressed under the umbrella of multilingualism by Cruz-Ferreira). The increasing attention given to multilinguals
and their language skills, or lack thereof, has also engendered several sets of beliefs about these unique individuals.
Multilinguals are funny, states Madalena Cruz-Ferreira. They are also semilingual, odd, unbalanced, split and yet
gifted, clever, skilled, and special e as seen through our rather distorted lenses. But what are they after all? In this
accessible and humourous book, Cruz-Ferreira attempts to answer this question by deconstructing several myths about
multilingualism in light of academic research and her daily experiences as a multilingual, freelance applied linguist,
and mother of multilinguals.
The purpose of Multilinguals are.? is to discuss the various misconstructions and value-laden labels
associated with multilinguals, especially as they relate to the acquisition of languages. The author explains the
various reasons behind such fantasies, pointing out how this range of beliefs streams from the illogical comparisons
made between multilinguals and monolinguals. The language skills of people who speak two, three, or however
many languages are judged according to those of people who need and, thus, live with just one language. Thus, in
Multilinguals are?., Cruz-Ferreira calls for an apples to apples comparison.
The book begins with a foreword in which Cruz-Ferreira lays out her purpose: to raise awareness about what
multilinguals really are (p.3). She also justifies her decision to use lay-terms and not directly cite research sources in
her discussions since her book targets a wide range of people outside the applied linguistics community.
Multilinguals are?. is divided in thirteen chapters filled with witty pictures, cartoons and quotes related to
languages and multilingualism. Throughout the work, the author addresses issues which are at the heart of so many
word-of-mouth and difficult to dislodge beliefs, such as the fallacies that multilinguals must have balanced
languages but one of them must be dominant, that multilinguals have no mother tongue because they are not native
speakers of any one language, or that multilinguals can learn new languages easily, but only in childhood (Chapters 2,
4, and 5 respectively).
More specifically, in the first chapter, Cruz-Ferreira presents the starting place for the development of these myths:
the old tradition of equating monolingualism with normality (p.7, original emphasis). In the remaining chapters,
she attempts to debunk accepted theories [which] are in dire need of a thorough spring-cleaning (p.7). Other
commonly held misconceptions discussed are: multilinguals must develop one main language, but that wont let them
develop other languages; becoming multilingual is both a drain and a strain in your brain; in order to raise multilingual
children, you must speak to them in only one language, as with the one-person-one-language (OPOL) policy in
multilingual homes; multilingualism should be encouraged, but only in languages that matter; multilinguals are
multilinguals because they are gifted for languages, among others (Chapters 3, 8, 10, 11, and 12 respectively). Several
of these discussions were motivated and based on Cruz-Ferreiras previous work on the mastery of Portuguese by three
siblings raised in a trilingual home (Cruz-Ferreira, 2006).
The chapters follow a similar scaffolding organization that aims at fostering the readers critical thinking. First, the
author exposes the myths to be analyzed in the chapter and then explains the reasoning behind them, playing at times
with the possibility of these being true as she jokingly tries to think through such beliefs. Only after demonstrating
through her everyday observations as a parent, educator, and scholar that the attempts to make sense of such
misconceptions simply do not make any sense, does Cruz-Ferreira offer generally compelling answers to the matters
in question. At the end of each chapter, she brings in new myths that are related to the one just discussed, creating an
apparent smooth segue into the following chapter. It is important to note, however, that such a well-crafted structure
may not merely serve the purpose of entertaining or instigating the audiences thought processes as much as it may in
fact help frame Cruz-Ferreiras arguments so they can in turn be easily dismantled.
For instance, the common idea that multilinguals dont have many languages but many half-languages is addressed
in the following manner in Chapter 7: First, Cruz-Ferreira links the myth to be addressed, semilingualism, to the one
just reviewed in the previous chapter (that mixing different languages, or code switching, in speech is a sign that the
overall command of the language is mixed and likely to be taken as deficient). Semilingualism is a term that refers to
a pathological deficiency in expressing oneself through language, but it has been misappropriated to represent
speakers of more than one language (p. 42). Cruz-Ferreira explains how this myth works in its circular logic trap as
seen below:

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The reasoning that associates mixing your language with semilingualism goes roughly like this: you mix because
you have an incomplete knowledge of each of your languages. If you knew those languages through and through you
wouldnt need to import into them words and expressions that do not belong to them in order to say what you mean.
This reasoning is, to put it charitably, thoroughly circular: you mix because you are semilingual, therefore you are
semilingual because you mix. (p.41).
She then goes on to address the many questions raised by such reasoning, such as What does complete knowledge
of a language mean?, or Can a language ever be said to be complete at all?, and Was English less complete before
words of it like fluorescent or blog were invented? (p.42). Next, Cruz-Ferreira discusses the label semilingualism
itself, which, she concludes, affects monolinguals just as multilinguals. However appealing, the construction of this
myth may in effect help set up its own discrediting given the overgeneralization painted. Although such illogical
beliefs still seem ingrained among certain groups of people, most informed individuals in academia, and perhaps
elsewhere, do not go along with this thinking. Code-switching has long been attributed to social and cultural reasons
and seen as an advantage we multilinguals like to capitalize on.
A more pressing issue with the book, however, seems to be the oversimplification of the complexity and richness of
learning multiple languages. The author puts a great deal of emphasis on the fact that multilinguals all over the globe
who need different languages for daily communication simply learn them, functioning successfully in their
environments. Nevertheless, while the main reason for language acquisition does indeed seem to lie in authentic,
interactional needs, the different functions and usages of a language cannot be measured only by oral communication
skills, which appear to be the only type of linguistic success Cruz-Ferreira is referring to. As a composition teacher
currently working primarily with generation 1.5 learners (i.e. students who arrived in the U.S. at an early age and
have had most of their education in U.S. K-12 settings; Harklau et al., 1999), I have witnessed my very much
native-like, multilingual students face great challenges with reading and writing as they learn to navigate new
academic literacies. Therefore, even a brief explanation about the different cognitive demands of language as well as
the various layers of what is meant by linguistic achievement would have been in order.
Finally, while the book is certainly entertaining, it may not completely live up to its goal of awareness-raising as it
does not openly acknowledge the origins of the misconceptions it exposes. Cruz-Ferreira fails or chooses not to
explicitly state that the monolingual bias e the root of all the nonsense about multilinguals e is not a privilege of the
uneducated masses, but that it has permeated the field of applied linguistics, in particular SLA, since its inception. The
language skills of second language learners, who are often learning their 3rd or 4th languages, are persistently
compared to those of monolinguals who supposedly speak a language perfectly. According to Ortega (2010), the
monolingual bias or nativespeakerism has been severely criticized in other sub-fields of applied linguistics (e.g.
Firth and Wagner, 1997; Canagarajah, 2004; Jenkins, 2006) while it has stubbornly lingered among SLA researchers.
That is not to say that the field of SLA as a whole does not recognize the shortcomings of equating bilinguals and
multilinguals to speakers of just one language. Yet, in the quest to better understand how languages are acquired and to
design rigorous research with reliable baselines, language acquisition research has traditionally bought into the
illusion that native speakers are golden and benchmark references (Ortega, 2010).
Overall, Multilinguals are.? is a timely book written in a tongue-in-cheek fashion that touches upon important
issues. However, Cruz-Ferreiras goal of awareness-raising may only partially be accomplished. While she certainly
tackles ingrained beliefs about language and language users, how these have come about and the different spheres
where they might dwell are issues never really addressed. Despite these shortcomings, Multilinguals are.? could still
be fruitfully used in teacher training and applied linguistics programs as a first step to helping future teachers and
researchers to think about their own beliefs and the general myths encountered not only in society but also in our field.
The book would also most certainly be an enjoyable read for anyone interested in languages and/or multilinguals.
References
Canagarajah, S., 2004. Subversive identities, pedagogical safe houses, and critical learning. In: Norton, B., Toohey, K. (Eds.), Critical Pedagogies
and Language Learning. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 116e137.
Cruz-Ferreira, M., 2006. Three Is a Crowd? Acquiring Portuguese in a Trilingual Environment. Multilingual Matters, Clevedon, UK.

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Firth, A., Wagner, J., 1997. On discourse, communication, and (some) fundamental concepts in SLA research. The Modern Language Journal 81,
285e300.
Harklau, L., Losey, K.M., Siegal, M. (Eds.), 1999. Generation 1.5 Meets College Composition: Issues in the Teaching of Writing at U.S.-educated
Learners of ESL. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey, USA.
Jenkins, J., 2006. Points of view and blind spots: ELF and SLA. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 16, 137e162.
Ortega, L., 2010. The Bilingual Turn in SLA. Plenary Speech Delivered at the American Association for Applied Linguistics Conference, Atlanta,
GA, March 6e9.

Luciana Junqueira
Department of Applied Linguistics and ESL, Georgia State University,
34 Peachtree Street Suite 1200, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
E-mail address: ljunqueira1@gsu.edu
doi:10.1016/j.system.2011.12.006