THE VIEW OF A BILINGUAL PERSON
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Most of my friends are bilingual or even; able to speak more than two languages. My dad is bilingual, although my mom is not. My siblings are bilingual.I took a test recently and was determined as "native fluency" for English. Apparently I watched too much American series, somehow it helps. Amongst my friends we had this joke circulating; how do you know when you actually speak more than a language? When your shopping list starts to look like this;
A typical introduction to another bilingual person (of the same languages) will be something like:Hi, I am Alia. I new staff dekat department ni. If you need any help, I duduk dekat Meja belakang XXX. The HOD mentioned you might need me tolong you in ABC matter.(Roughly translated: Hi, I'm Alia. I'm the new staff for this department. If you need any help, I sit right behind XXX. The HOD mentioned you might need me to help you in ABC matter).
I didn't even once hesitate to include words from both languages in a sentence. Rightly so it should not be that way as it ruins the grammar but I believe every bilingual person who uses both languages in daily exchanging would agree with this to some extent. In my personal opinion, it differs being bilingual/trilingual or first language with XY as second language. Some would claim they're bilingual but to me, the definition of a bilingual is that you understand the grammar construction of both languages and includes them in your daily exchanges. It's not the same as a monolingual claiming their ability of another language.
Say, I can now read Spanish but it does not mean I am able to use the language in my daily exchanges. Therefore, I don't count myself as a trilingual. A trilingual is my Chinese/Indian friends who can switch from all three languages they have (English, Mandarin/Tamil and Malay) and form a sentence using words from those languages.
So to be classed as bilingual or more, in my personal opinion, you need to be able to understand the languages to a certain extent where you use both languages without hesitation.In short, even your thoughts are formed around these languages subconsciously and that's the definition of being able to speak more than a language to me.
- Gula
- Cooking oil
- Chicken stock cube
- Sayur sawi
- Eggs
- Tempeh
- Susu
- Apples
- Beras
A typical introduction to another bilingual person (of the same languages) will be something like:Hi, I am Alia. I new staff dekat department ni. If you need any help, I duduk dekat Meja belakang XXX. The HOD mentioned you might need me tolong you in ABC matter.(Roughly translated: Hi, I'm Alia. I'm the new staff for this department. If you need any help, I sit right behind XXX. The HOD mentioned you might need me to help you in ABC matter).
I didn't even once hesitate to include words from both languages in a sentence. Rightly so it should not be that way as it ruins the grammar but I believe every bilingual person who uses both languages in daily exchanging would agree with this to some extent. In my personal opinion, it differs being bilingual/trilingual or first language with XY as second language. Some would claim they're bilingual but to me, the definition of a bilingual is that you understand the grammar construction of both languages and includes them in your daily exchanges. It's not the same as a monolingual claiming their ability of another language.
Say, I can now read Spanish but it does not mean I am able to use the language in my daily exchanges. Therefore, I don't count myself as a trilingual. A trilingual is my Chinese/Indian friends who can switch from all three languages they have (English, Mandarin/Tamil and Malay) and form a sentence using words from those languages.
So to be classed as bilingual or more, in my personal opinion, you need to be able to understand the languages to a certain extent where you use both languages without hesitation.In short, even your thoughts are formed around these languages subconsciously and that's the definition of being able to speak more than a language to me.
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