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Dejan.Stefanovic

Are you Bilingual?

To answer that question, we need to get to the question's core issue - what does bilingual actually mean?
According to Oxford dictionary, being bililngual in specific two languages means being fluent in them.
Furthermore, there are different ways of expressing yourself in a given language - writing, reading, speaking.
Being bilingual eventually narrows down to the perspective; whilst some believe they are bilingual based on the ability of expressing themselves, others believe that being bilingual means that you're acknowledged of both languages to the same extent.

There's a variety of both professional and unprofessional opinions on the related topic, which leads to a conclusion that It is a matter of a personal opinion - what does bilingual mean to you?

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Comment(s)

Oxana.Salij
I'm bilingual Ukrainian-Russian
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ADMINISTRATOR
leosmith
It's a fair question. To me, someone who is brought up speaking 2 language as their native tongues is bilingual. On the other hand, if someone learns a foreign language to a high level as an adult, I consider them to be a speaker of a foreign language and not bilingual, even if their level in that language is similar to their native language. I'm no expert though...
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Jade.Xuereb
Bilingual for me is 2 mother tongues ie brought up in a household where more than one language is spoken fluently.
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aprilsun
I am bilingual Russian - Swedish because those are the languages I spoke at home, in school and with friends. I speak fluently in other languages but I wouldn't call myself bilingual in them, I call myself fluent...
Posted 
MODERATOR
ikaymoreno
Being bilingual simply means that you can speak two languages fluently. :) Tagalog is my native language (mother tongue, first language) because that's the first language I learned to speak fluently. I then learned English (second language). Since I can communicate using both fluently, I am bilingual. I still have just one mother tongue/native language though. My husband grew up in the States and learned both English and Tagalog growing up. In his case, he has two "first languages" since he mastered/learned two at the same time. He learned French when he got to college so he is now multilingual. He writes Tagalog as his mother tongue simply because he's Filipino but since he also grew up speaking straight English at home (he actually has better English than he does Tagalog), he also writes Native English speaker when he applies for jobs. :)
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Corrections

ADMINISTRATOR
leosmith
Are you Bilingual?
To answer that question, we need to get to the question's core issue . What : what does Bilingual bilingual actually mean?
According to the Oxford 's dictionary, being bililngual in specific two languages bilingual means being fluent in them two languages . Furthermore, there are different ways of expressing yourself in a given language - writing, reading , out-loud and speaking. Being bilingual eventually narrows It's possible to narrow down to the perspective; whilst some believe they are definition to being bilingual based on the ability of expressing themselves, others to express yourself. Others believe that being bilingual means that you 're acknowledged of know both languages to the same extent, or per se, meaning one doesn't drag the other down and vice versa. There's a variety of both professional and unprofessional opinions on the related topic, which leads to a conclusion that It is a matter of a personal opinion - what . What does bilingual mean to you?
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