MULTILINGUALISM

Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker
or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers
outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of
all Europeans claim to speak at least one language other than their mother tongue; but
many read and write in one language. Multilingualism is advantageous for people
wanting to participate in trade, globalization and cultural openness. Owing to the ease
of access to information facilitated by the Internet, individuals' exposure to multiple
languages has become increasingly possible. People who speak several languages are
also called polyglots.

Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during
childhood, the so-called first language (L1). The first language (sometimes also referred
to as the mother tongue) is usually acquired without formal education,
by mechanisms about which scholars disagree. Children acquiring two languages
natively from these early years are called simultaneous bilinguals. It is common for
young simultaneous bilinguals to be more proficient in one language than the other.
People who speak more than one language have been reported to be more adept at
language learning compared to monolinguals.
Multilingualism in computing can be considered part of a continuum
between internationalization and localization. Due to the status of English in
computing, software development nearly always uses it (but not in the case of non-
English-based programming languages). Some commercial software is initially available
in an English version, and multilingual versions, if any, may be produced as alternative
options based on the English original.

History

The first recorded use of the word multilingualism originated in the English language in
the 1800s as a combination of multi (many) and lingual (pertaining to languages, with
the word existing in the Middle Ages). The phenomenon however, is old as different
languages themselves.

Together, like many different languages, modern-day multilingualism is still

Definition
The definition of multilingualism is a subject of debate in the same way as that of
language fluency. This should not be confused with the term “bilingual”. These two
phrases can often be used interchangeably, but to be bilingual indicates that two
languages are learned, while multilingual suggests it is more than two. There are two
sides to the linguistic debate has to how to define multilingualism, however. At one
end of a sort of linguistic continuum, one may define multilingualism as complete
competence in and mastery of more than one language. The speaker would
presumably have complete knowledge and control over the languages and thus sound
like a native speaker. At the opposite end of the spectrum would be people who know
enough phrases to get around as a tourist using the alternate language. Since
1992, Vivian Cook has argued that most multilingual speakers fall somewhere between
minimal and maximal definitions. Cook calls these people multi-competent.
In addition, there is no consistent definition of what constitutes a distinct language For
instance, scholars often disagree whether Scots is a language in its own right or merely
a dialect of English. Furthermore, what is considered a language can change, often for
purely political reasons. One example is the creation of Serbo-Croatian as a standard
language on the basis of the Eastern Herzegovinian dialect to function as umbrella for
numerous South Slavic dialects; after the breakup of Yugoslavia it was split
into Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin. Another example is
that Ukrainian was dismissed as a Russian dialect by the Russian tsars to discourage
national feelings. Many small independent nations' schoolchildren are today compelled
to learn multiple languages because of international interactions. For example, in
Finland, all children are required to learn at least three languages: the two national
languages (Finnish and Swedish) and one foreign language (usually English). Many
Finnish schoolchildren also study further languages, such as German or Russian.
In some large nations with multiple languages, such as India, schoolchildren may
routinely learn multiple languages based on where they reside in the country.
In many countries, bilingualism occurs through international relations, which, with
English being the global lingua franca, sometimes results in majority bilingualism even
when the countries have just one domestic official language. This is occurring especially
in Germanic regions such as Scandinavia, the Benelux and among Germanophones, but
it is also expanding into some non-Germanic countries.

Acquisition
One view is that of the linguist Noam Chomsky in what he calls the human language
acquisition device—a mechanism which enables a learner to recreate correctly the
rules and certain other characteristics of language used by surrounding speakers. This
device, according to Chomsky, wears out over time, and is not normally available
by puberty, which he uses to explain the poor results some adolescents and adults
have when learning aspects of a second language (L2).
If language learning is a cognitive process, rather than a language acquisition device, as
the school led by Stephen Krashen suggests, there would only be relative, not
categorical, differences between the two types of language learning.
Rod Ellis quotes research finding that the earlier children learn a second language, the
better off they are, in terms of pronunciation. European schools generally offer
secondary language classes for their students early on, due to the interconnectedness
with neighbor countries with different languages. Most European students now study
at least two foreign languages, a process strongly encouraged by the European Union.
Based on the research in Ann Fathman's The Relationship between age and second
language productive ability, there is a difference in the rate of learning of English
morphology, syntax and phonology based upon differences in age, but that the order of
acquisition in second language learning does not change with age.
In second language class, students will commonly face difficulties in thinking in the
target language because they are influenced by their native language and culture
patterns. Robert B. Kaplan thinks that in second language classes, the foreign-student
paper is out of focus because the foreign student is employing rhetoric and a sequence
of thought which violate the expectations of the native reader. Foreign students who
have mastered syntactic structures have still demonstrated an inability to compose
adequate themes, term papers, theses, and dissertations. Robert B. Kaplan describes
two key words that affect people when they learn a second language. Logic in the
popular, rather than the logician's sense of the word, is the basis of rhetoric, evolved
out of a culture; it is not universal. Rhetoric, then, is not universal either, but varies
from culture to culture and even from time to time within a given culture. Language
teachers know how to predict the differences between pronunciations or constructions
in different languages, but they might be less clear about the differences between
rhetoric, that is, in the way they use language to accomplish various purposes,
particularly in writing.
People who learn multiple languages may also experience positive transfer – the
process by which it becomes easier to learn additional languages if
the grammar or vocabulary of the new language is similar to those of the languages
already spoken. On the other hand, students may also experience negative transfer –
interference from languages learned at an earlier stage of development while learning
a new language later in life.
Translanguaging also supports the acquisition of new languages. It helps the
development of new languages by making connections between languages.