Is the statement “First generation speaks, second understands and third loses the language” really true? Are third generation immigrants bound to lose the language of their family's home country? Is it even possible to keep passing on the language from one generation...
I have mentioned the term passive language skill a few times time before in my posts: if you have a passive knowledge of a language you can understand some or most of it but you are not able to communicate in it yourself. Mostly there has been a bit of a warning...
I don’t know how many times I have heard comments along those lines – someone regretting that one of their parents didn’t pass on their language. I have never heard the opposite though, anyone regretting that they learnt a language when they were small. This speaks...
I believe that knowing where you come from is extremely important for your confidence and self-esteem. For someone growing up in a multilingual family being able to speak the family’s languages makes it easier to understand your background and becoming familiar with...
Being able to speak more than one language is definitely beneficial to your career, I know this from my own experience. Sometimes this manifests itself in ways that you could not have imagined. Finding a job in today’s competitive world is a challenge and will...
This is something you should never say to a bilingual, ever. Doesn’t matter how interested you would be to hear something in a particular language. All bilinguals I know absolutely detest speaking “on demand”, just for the sake of it. Language is not about...