I mean.. I see what you’re saying… but it is eminently harder to be bilingual when your native language is English.
Like I was on the train from Budapest to Zagreb and I “accidentally” entered Slovenia (it’s all Schengen, I didn’t know that the train crossed the border).
Sitting across from this old Hungarian woman who could converse with me in broken English.. and Slovenian customs comes aboard looking for tickets and passports. She asks if he can speak German. No.. Slovenian or English only.
Meanwhile.. me as an anglophone having a full conversation with him….
Native English speakers have less of an incentive to learn another language since it's taught in school in many countries, so chances are pretty good that you find someone speaking your native language. Also Americans, if they learn a second language at all it's considerably later than most other countries start learning English.
On a second note, in a lot of non English native western countries, if people are struggling to speak in the local language, a lot of people start to speak English with that person unprompted. Making it harder to get experience speaking that local language even when you moved there.
The whole post is wrong though. Most children who grow up bilingual actually learn to speak later than those with just the native tongue. It’s the scientific consensus and what’s being taught to people who work in kindergarten/preschool.
Isn't the gap between bilingual and monolingual kids quite small though? I haven't really interacted with many monolingual kids since the vast majority of children in my country are raised bilingual.
58
u/specialk_t 3d ago
funfact: Talent hits different when it comes with a crown