#monolingualism

[thisisracism]

Am not Indigenous American but every time I talk about indigenous languages (im very interested in language learning) my father makes fun of them and insults their names. He said: "Puruborá (Tupian language) sounds like the name of an contagious illness" and I'm pretty sure this is racism

This is racism.

[seashellsandteacups]

Feliz día de Independencia México! 🇲🇽

As a very whitewashed “no sabo kid” chicana (half-Mexican, half white) I’m feeling this article today.

Proud of my Mexican heritage. Embarrassed about my monolingual English-speaking 🙃 Gaining fluency in Spanish has been a goal for years. I think I need to buckle down and take a conversational class this year, because language apps don’t do it for me…

We're Redefining What It Means to Be a “No Sabo” Kid

Spanish is not the only language spoken in Latin America, and it’s not even native to it. However, language proficiency is an imaginary metr

[lurkingteapot]

Being monolingual isn't a privilege, but being able to live and use the internet and travel internationally and have a career without needing to know a second language, ever? Even at basic conversation level? that … that sure is.

[art-of-mathematics]

The bilingual brain

Growing up in two multilingual cultures inspired Saima Malik-Moraleda to delve into the mysteries of language processing.

[mali-umkin]

I'm just baffled by these numbers. I knew the UK education system was failing in this respect, but I wasn't expecting it to be such a disaster.

'Fewer than 3,000 students sat A-level German in 2018. That’s about 5 percent of the number of people who would attend one average football match in the UK. French and Spanish prove more popular, but with just over 8,000 entries for both languages, it is clear that this is a systemic problem within the education system.'

'As Britain marks the 17th anniversary of making foreign language learning optional for secondary students, in 2018 alone more than 96 percent of pupils in upper secondary education in the EU learnt English as a foreign language. If learning one language were not enough, three in five of the same students learn a second foreign language in addition to English.'

When a country allows nearly all of its native researchers/PhD holders to be monolingual, something that's absolutely unthinkable anywhere else but the US, the consequences are cultural isolation and academic lag.

Monolingualism: the thorn in post-Brexit Britain’s side

[tundrainafrica]

I find it so sad that there are so many migrant kids bullied into monolingualism because native English speaking kids are assholes.

[bourbakiaxiom]

How lost they must feel in the world, where all instructions, all the lyrics of all the stupidest songs, all the menus, all the excruciating pamphlets and brochures - even the buttons in the lift! - are in their private language. They may be understood by anyone at any moment, whenever they open their mouths. They must have to write things down in special codes. Wherever they are, people have unlimited access to them - they are accessible to everyone and everything! I heard there are plans in the works to get them some little language of their own, one of those dead ones no one else is using anyway, just so that for once they can have something just to themselves.

Flights, Olga Tokarczuk (trans. by Jennifer Croft)

[lingthusiasm]

Join Lingthusiasm on Patreon to get access to this post and more benefits.

For many people in the world, raising kids who are bilingual or multilingual is the norm - it's the only way to navigate life. For others, especially in predominantly English-speaking areas, it's a conscious decision made for one of many different reasons.

In this bonus episode of Lingthusiasm, Gretchen and Lauren take you through several ways to raise children who speak more than one language: the one-parent, one language method, immersion schools, and speaking different languages at home and in the public sphere. We also talk about the psychological aspect: what do you do when a slightly-older kid starts trying to get their parents to speak the dominant societal language instead of the carefully-cultivated minority one?  

Bilingualism in a monolingual society can be challenging, but the rewards are great. As Gareth Roberts said recently on twitter, "The evidence for bilingualism having cognitive benefits beyond the ability to speak another language is very poor, but I'll tell you this: I've never ever met anyone who regretted being bilingual. I've met many people, however, who regret that they're not."

To listen to this episode and 19 previous bonuses, support Lingthusiasm on Patreon!