Photo by sergis blog
While I was registering to get the H1N1 vaccine this weekend at the local high school, the lady who was taking in the forms very politely asked if I’d rather get the information in Spanish. (I guess she’d overheard us while we were making the line.) I, also very politely, answered that it didn’t matter because I was bilingual. I don’t know if, at first, she didn’t understand me because she asked the question again. So, I repeated that either language was fine since I was bilingual. Then she smiled and said: “You’re so lucky! I wish I were bilingual,” and proceeded to give me the flyer in English.
So that got me thinking… What does it actually mean to be bilingual? As with many other subjective questions, let’s begin by establishing that there’s no right or wrong definition. I mean, there’s the definition given by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary: “using or able to use two languages especially with equal fluency.” But does “using” mean speaking, writing and reading? A lot of people consider themselves bilingual and they only know how to speak the language, but can’t write or read it properly.
For me, it has always come down to this: As a journalist, could I apply for a job that requires me to do research, interviews and then write a story in English and Spanish? In other words, can I write, read, understand and speak both languages well enough to succeed in the job described above? The answer is yes, not only because I believe I can do it, but because that’s basically what I’ve done since I became a journalist almost 20 years ago.
As a Latina writer who is very proud of her heritage – and I think I’ve mentioned this before – nothing would be more distressing to me than to raise children who are only able to speak my mother tongue, but can’t write it or read it. Especially the way things continue to go in this country. According to this article, bilingual Hispanics make almost 3% more money than their monolingual counterparts. Can you just imagine what the percentage will be when our children enter the workforce in 15 to 20 years?
But it’s more than that. For me, it’s a very personal thing. I can’t imagine my daughter – who I’m training to be a bookworm like her mami - reading Mario Vargas Llosa in English (kudos to those who have, but I’d be lying if I said it was the same) or my son unable to write a Christmas card to his monolingual bisabuela in Spanish.
For some reason, I tend to take for granted that, even though I was raised mostly in South America (Perú, México and Argentina), English was always a part of my life, one way or the other. Not only did I attend a bilingual British school in Perú for several years before we moved to the States, but I also lived in Johannesburg, South Africa, for an entire year when I was 10. In other words, I was exposed to English in a school setting from the time I was very little.
That is why when we moved to Miami after my fourteenth birthday, although it was definitely a culture shock for me, at least I didn’t have the added pressure of not knowing the language and having to enroll in ESL courses. As for my Spanish? My foundations were pretty strong to begin with, so I just cemented them by reading and writing as much as I could. I also used my Dad as a walking dictionary. 
Today, I feel as comfortable in English as I do in Spanish. Sometimes, depending on my mood, I prefer to read books in English. Other times, I’ll only read books in Spanish for a while. But mostly, I read other stuff in both. Magazines, newspapers, blogs. Same thing when it comes to writing. My life is definitely richer because of it.
Ojalá un día mis hijos puedan decir lo mismo.
I hope my kids can say the same one day.
So, what is your definition of bilingual? What kind of bilinguals are you raising your children to be? What kind of bilingual are you?
I was raised in a suburban area that was monolingual and monocultural. In high school, I was able to meet people that spoke Spanish and had a strong desire to travel. The more I travelled and spoke Spanish, I more interested I became. Who knows when, but eventually it became an integral part of who I am. Not only another language, but also another culture came into my life. I can’t imagine my children not speaking/reading/writing either language. They are both part of who we are as a family!
.-= livesimplylovestrongly´s last blog ..Planting Garlic and Shallots =-.
I have come across the same situation as you, being ask which do I prefer English or Spanish. In this day in age, I think teaching our children the foundation to both languages will be of great benefit to them in the future. I personally appreciate my parents teaching us both languages it has been an advantage that much wish they had. I am currently living in Panama where they have required and implemented that English be a second language in all the schools. To graduate college you must pass an English exit exam. Many people disagree with this here, not seeing what advantage it will bring to their children. My son is 3 years old he is being taught both languages for now, eventually we will introduce our third language which is Italian. I want him to have the same benefits and advantages that I have had being Bilingual(Trilingual).
Aiza
I really enjoyed this post! To answer your question, I consider myself Bilingual. I can speak, read and write in both English and Spanish. However, my ability in English exceeds my ability in Spanish. What does that mean? Well, for example, I would not feel comfortable presenting a legal argument in Spanish… but with a little preparation, it would certainly be possible. So does that merely make me proficient in Spanish as opposed to Bilingual? I don’t think so. Whether someone is Bilingual may be a subjective term. Generally, individuals who speak any language may be well versed or have a limited vocabulary – even if they only speak one language. So I think it’s ok to say you’re Bilingual, even if you don’t quite have a “business vocabulary” in both languages.
I don’t have children, but my mother tried to expose me to as much culture as possible. I would translate for my grandmother, and as a child I had a love for language. I remember reading from my mother’s college French text book. I would run around the house yelling, “Je t’aime! Je t’aime!” (“I love you! I love you!” in French). I also studied French for three years, and learned to speak, write and read it (however, I am severely out of practice). My knowledge of Spanish and French also made Italian easier for me to understand.
I think it’s important to go beyond English and open doors for yourself as well as your children. Language is a tool. Why not fill up our tool box?
~Li
I was raised bilingual as a child. I was born in Chile to an American mother and Chilean father. We spoke Spanish all around us, but then also went to a bilingual American school where most of our classes were in English.
At the age of 11 we moved to the US. I was mostly fluent in English, but in my efforts to integrate I unfortunately lost most opportunities to speak Spanish, and thus my then 5th-grade level Spanish has hardly been used over the past 18 years.
I consider myself Bilingual– I see bilingualism as being able to communicate and hold a conversation in a different language. This is different from being fluent. I am no longer quite fluent in Spanish, though I do ok. I’ve also since become somewhat proficient in French, thanks to 18 months spent in Switzerland.
One of my most pressing concerns now as a mother to my 21 month old son is that I want so badly to raise him to be bi- or even tri- (or more) lingual. I’m just not quite sure how to do it. I speak to him some in Spanish, but I know it won’t be enough, so I hope to find Spanish immersion schools for him when he’s older.
.-= Marcy´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday: I could seriously eat him up sometimes =-.
I came to the USA when I was eight years old in the early eighties. Not having a background in English at all, it very quickly became evident that learning to speak fluent English was going to be a real chore. My father taught us not to mix English and Spanish in the same sentence because that was the wrong way of becoming bilingual. Back then I didn’t understand why as many, many of my friends were speaking what is known as Spanglish. What my father did for us was amazing. We learned to separate both languages and we were able to learned both languages at an amazing rate and level of fluency. Nowadays when I’m speaking English, people have no idea that I’m able to speak Spanish and vice versa.As i was advancing through school, I did not take bilingual classes as I very quickly realized that bilingual education would put Latino kids in disadvantage vis-a-vis our Anglo counterpart. (The same holds true today.) When I entered the six grade, I started to wonder why all the Anglo kids had better grades and were in higher level courses. It wasn’t their level of intelligence as many would have us believe, it was actually their mastery of English language. So, in my six-grade-level-mind, I began to think that the school system was overtly discriminating against the Latino kid. Perhaps I was wrong for thinking along those lines but I needed to act quickly before I became accustom to the system. I pleaded my counselor to allow me to take all my courses in regular English and take one Spanish course per semester. It worked out perfectly. English became my “native” language very quickly and , as a plus, now I’m able to read, write, and speak Spanish like a native speaker. Being bilingual has been a blessing. Not only do I speak two languages, but I am able to see the world from two different perspectives.
By the way, you mentioned that you were mostly raised in South America (Perú, México and Argentina), you are so lucky. But, with all due respect, Mexico is still part of the North America.