Reflective Essay: I Am Bilingual Language

I am bilingual. I state this based on Grosjean’s perspective that “the bilingual is not just someone who speaks two languages, but he possesses… communicative skills in two languages at different levels” (in Wei, 2007). In this paradigm of bilingualism (or multilingualism), being able to use English for communicative and academic purposes, being able to read academic texts in Italian and understanding general conversations in such language, being able to understand general ideas from conversations in French; makes me multilingual. It is clear I am not able to use any of those languages with the same level of proficiency as I use my first language, Spanish. Speakers very seldom use two different languages for the same purposes. For example, most of my academic training has been in English and I feel more comfortable reading academic texts in that language than in Spanish. Nevertheless, I am competent in both languages regarding communication, both in formal and informal situations. …show more content…
And by languages, laymen usually refer to ‘standard languages’. If a speaker uses an indigenous language such as Totonaco, the common belief is that he uses a ‘dialect’; which is a misled idea of what those concepts refer to. A dialect is a variety that is usually determined by geographical distribution. For example, the Spanish spoken in Linares and the one spoken in Hidalgo. Although both varieties are spoken within the state of Nuevo León, they have distinctive features. Another way to classify dialects is based on social determinants. In this case, they are called sociolects. An example of a sociolect is the one spoken by high class