Experiences with Language Education

For many years, the ability to speak two or more languages has been measured in terms of

how proficient and fluent bilinguals are and the ability to easily switch from one language to

another. However, “Bilingual/ multilingual individuals share one key characteristic: they have

more than one language competence. They are able to function (i.e. speak, understand, read, or

write) even to a very limited degree in more than one language”. (Garcia cited in Baker and

Wright, 2017). Thus, bilingualism or multilingualism is measured in terms of functionality of a

person in everyday situations where then context would play an important role. This is evidenced

in the answers provided by interviewees concerning the question related to which languages they

think and dream, both multilinguals agree that context affects the language choice in these

situations.

To illustrate, multilingual 2 stated “if I am in Netherlands with colleagues I think in Dutch

but if I am traveling abroad I think in English because English is the main language in those

environments. I usually have to travel to Africa and UK for work”. While Multilingual 1 referred

that she has found herself dreaming in Spanish while traveling to an Spanish speaking country.

But something different happened when she prays, for example. She indicated to feel automatically

connected to God in English because it is her first language and she feels more comfortable and

part of it, its cultural. She thinks that people that speak Spanish and Haitian Creole have different

perspectives when praying and understanding the bible.

This is an evidence that language use can be a matter of choice and context more than a

matter of feeling proficient or fluent enough in one or another language. The same happened when

I asked them about whether they considered to be balanced in all languages they spoke. Both

agreed that a multilingual person could never be balanced in all languages. They usually prefer to
speak or write in one language over the other because of their confidence when using it.

Multilingual 2 referred that maybe he could have equal proficiency in English and Dutch because

most of his education was received in both languages. Here it is necessary to mention that reasons

for language learning is not always a choice but matter of surviving in a society. He had to speak

Dutch in his community to communicate but as he lived closed to Germany he had to be able to

speak German for commercial and survival issues. Germany, he said, was the dominant culture

while the Netherlands for being a small country, he cannot easily survive by only speaking Dutch.

Likewise, to be able to study high school he must learn English. As Baker and Wright (2017) The

majority language will often be perceived as the more eminent, elegant, and educative language.

It is usually seen as the door to both educational and economic success (p.62).

While with multilingual 1 is a totally opposite situation, she learned different languages

because she wanted to, as an adult. And when I asked the question of what motivates her to learn

Spanish and Haitian Creole, she answered that when traveling to those countries she feels the need

to be able to get closer and connect directly to people by speaking their languages. Language, in

this case, is a way to get into someone else’s culture easily.

Concerning this cultural perspective, when interviewing monolinguals, even when they just

can speak one language, English and Spanish respectively; they brought up how they felt about

that. They think that speaking another language is definitely “helpful and it opens up the line of

communication and different cultures” (Monolingual 1). However, when asked about the

importance of learning another language, they both agreed that it is not necessary “if you never

leave US. But it doesn’t hurt if you learn more than one language”. Thus, the meaning they attach

to language learning relies on the idea of travelling and communication.

In general, both interviews with monolinguals lack of substantial content. They went
straight to the point and did not provide many details in their answers. However, there is a crucial

aspect in the information provided. Both emphasized that the best way to learn a language is by

explicit instruction, “The formal classroom structures are important when learning a language.

Since it is completely foreign. I need someone to explain that to me” (Monolingual 2). He basically

referred to what Baker and Wright (2017) describe as monolingual education in a second language.

That also connects to a monolingual/ monoglossic perspective in which the languages are treated

as two separate distinct systems, and the second one is just added to the first language. That is a

very common and old view of bilingual education or bilingualism.

Another opinion to highlight from the monolingual interviews is when they were asked if

they thought that learning another language would change the way they see the world. They

immediately gave an affirmative answer. Especially monolingual 2 expressed “because you get a

different take on a whole different culture and maybe dialects, communities that have a very

different way to live. And that’s a different outlook on how people around the world communicate”.

Once again, they give importance to external factors such as culture and communication. Speaking

another language would give them the chance not only to have different perspectives of the world

but also broaden their horizons.

In short, as the new trends in bilingualism education state, being bilingual is not be

measured by the ambiguous term of language performance. The experience of these bilingual

people interviewed and the perspectives of monolinguals evidenced that language use and

functionality is what matters. The ability to speak one or more languages is influenced and shaped

by the context (location, socioeconomic needs and status, motivation, etc), the choice made by the

speakers more than cognitive skills reflected in what is called language proficiency or

performance.
 References

Baker, C. and Wright, W. (2017) Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism. Channel

View Publications. Kindle Edition.

Yohimar Sivira