Multilingualism and Code-switching: Good or Bad?
Anyone who, like most South Africans, speaks more than one language will know the feeling. You simply cannot produce the word in the particular language, because your vocabulary temporarily abandons you and instead it pops out in another. This phenomenon is called code-switching and it can be very useful in many contexts. If like me, you grew up with three languages this happens often. More often than many of us would like. However, why do some dislike it?
One group of people that may really dislike code-switching are monolinguals. They those of us who only speak one language and so are unable to code-switch. On the other hand multilingual individuals who speak two or more languages. These are the individuals who will code-switch using the primary language and any additional languages their conversation partner understands. This is possible because more and more people speak at least two languages.
Mandarin, for example is on the rise as a first and second language as an enormous amount of individuals speak it and are thus spreading it. With growing globalization and the spread of certain commonly spoken languages (especially colonial ones), such as English, French and Spanish, we are moving more and more into a world with less mono-linguist individuals and more bi- and multi lingual ones. This is the case as most will learn their home language at home and an official language in school and then possibly also learn a business language that is used internationally. If you are English then these may be the same with just a slight variation in dialect. If not you may suddenly be sitting in the middle of three languages and potentially more dialect and this can become both problematic and useful.
Code switching can be extremely useful. For example to me the word “lekker” or “vrot” does simply not translate into German or English (my other two languages) and the same goes for something like “lebensmüde” in German or “pudge” in English. While there may be ways to correctly translate them but the feel is different. It allows us to convey the precise meaning and feeling belonging to a word with others that also speak the other language or understand the words at the very least.
However this becomes problematic when we begin to do it unconsciously around individuals who don’t speak the other languages and thus have a breakdown in communication. Additionally when we start to mix up sayings and simply translating them when they don’t exist in that form in that specific language. To me this happens more often in Germany than it does in South Africa, as German has incorporated its fair share of Anglicisms. Another problem occurs when the code-switching begins to influence our vocabulary, as it begins to atrophy, when we forget individual words and replace them with the ones we has been code-switching with.
In the end Code-switching is an interesting phenomenon that is both useful and problematic. It simply depends on one managing the balance between the two and making sure to strengthen the use of both languages to prevent the atrophying of the vocabularies. Code-switching and being a purist both have a place in life and should continue to flourish in their respective areas.
