Bilingualism

Bilingualism (bilingualism) - the ability of certain groups of people to explain themselves in

two languages.
Subordinate bilingualism is bilingualism, in which there is a dominant language (the
language of thinking).
Coordinate bilingualism is bilingualism, in which there is no dominant language. At the
same time bilingual thinks in the language he speaks.
The mechanism of bilingualism is the ability to easily switch from one language to another.
It is based on the generated switching skill. Switching skills - the ability to perform operations on
the transition from one language to another for the translation of units of speech. Its functioning
depends on the skills of speech hearing, probabilistic prediction and self-control in the source
and in the translated languages.
The word "bilingualism" comes from two Latin: bi - "double", "double" and the words
lingua - "language." Thus, bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages. Thus, bilingual is a
person who can speak two or more languages. However, the knowledge of more than two
languages can be attributed to multilingualism, in other words, multilinguism. The peculiarity of
multilinguism lies in the fact that it is of two kinds - national (use of several languages in a
certain social community) and individual (the use of the individual by several languages, each of
which is preferred in accordance with a certain communicative situation).
In psycholinguistics, they differently designate the acquisition and possession of the order of
languages: L1 - the first language or native and L2 - the second language or acquired. A second
language can be the first language if it is dominant in a given language environment. There are
two types of bilingualism:
1) natural/simultaneous (household);
2) artificial/sequential (educational).
Natural bilingualism arises in the appropriate linguistic environment, which includes radio
and television in spontaneous speech practice. Awareness of the specifics of the language system
may not occur. The second language with artificial bilingualism is mastered in the learning
environment, while it is necessary to use strong-willed efforts and special methods and
techniques.
Depending on the criteria that are used as the basis for classification, several types of
bilingualism are distinguished:
1. By the age in which the second language is assimilated, early and late bilingualism is
distinguished. Early bilingualism is conditioned by life in a bilingual culture from childhood
(includes parents speaking different languages, or moving from one country to another); late
bilingualism - the study of the second language occurs at an older age after the mastering of one
language.
2. By the number of actions carried out, that is, the person himself hardly speaks or writes in
a foreign language, only approximately understanding foreign speech. In this case, reproductive
(reproducing) bilingualism is singled out, including the perception (the ability to retell) the text
of a foreign language, and the reproduction of what has been read or heard. Productive
(producing) bilingualism is the ability to understand and reproduce foreign texts, and also to
produce them yourself. In other words, bilingual can construct words, phrases and sentences,
both verbally and in writing with productive bilingualism
Despite the fact that bilingualism is viewed from different perspectives, all branches of
knowledge proceed from the following: there is a primary language system that is used for
communication. If a person uses only this system in all communication situations and if he does
not use a different language system, then such a person can be called monolingual. A carrier of
two or more communication systems (that is, a person who can use two or more language
systems for communication) can be called bilingual.
 When discussing the issues of bilingualism in theoretical linguistics, as a rule, we are
talking about the interaction of different languages, which expands the scope of analysis of
bilingualism through the theory of intercultural communication. The core of intercultural
communication is communicative competence, which is largely associated with the formation of
human translation skills. Communicative competence, reflecting the picture of foreign-language
communication of the individual, in our work the totality of linguistic, speech and socio-cultural
competences. Formation of communicative competence occurs in the process of teaching
communication.

What are the strategic principles for the formation of bilingualism in a child? What parents
need to pay attention to, how to balance the process of mastering languages in the family?
There are three most effective principles, although there are others, for example, the so-
called thematic or "outside listener" technique, but we will not talk about them, since they are not
effective in family education and are used by teachers in special education.

Task 1. Watch the video about bilingualism and express pros and cons about being
bilingual or monolingual and discuss it with partner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMmOLN5zBLY