Wednesday, April 23, 2008

8. Advantages & Disadvantages of Bilingualism

The prejudices Greg encountered were primarily religion based. Since he was a Sikh he looked different. He remembers his dad wearing a turban until he got an important job. Greg had long hair down to his waist until four years ago when he made an important decision about work. He explained that in his religion your hair is connected to your soul and any cutting of it must be carefully considered.

Greg did not express any issues with knowing multiple languages. Punjabi was spoken at home and outside of the public eye. English became a major language in his life and the other language he knows are beneficial for traveling. Greg traveled back and forth between the UK and Western Europe as he was going through school.

The accent that he displays now is either British or "flamboyant". He is teased very little. Most people look at him with interest because he's different than what they are used to.

Greg's opportunities with his multilingualism are limited. He has only used them to communicate one on one with people and hasn't used them much since he came to California.

Greg's lifestyle shows an indifference to the monolingualism here. He views multilingualism as an embodiment of culture and excitement. I believe that given the choices of being multilingual and monolingual he would find more excitement in the former.

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