Write An Essay On Bilingualism Advantages And Disadvantages

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Discussing a topic on bilingualism is very interesting, as defining what it means can be problematic. Bilingualism also raises some controversial issues lately in several countries. Before discussing further about a part of bilingualism, it seems to be better to limit what bilingualism is. According to Weinreich (1968) in Hoffmann (1991), bilingualism is “the practice of alternately using two languages”. Additionally, Bloomfield (1933) in Hoffmann (1991) defines bilingualism is result of not losing the native language when a perfect foreign language is learned, so the state is native like control of two languages. So, bilingualism can be defined as ability in communicating two languages and possess native like control of the two languages. …show more content…

On one hand, in early bilingualism, the child acquires two languages naturally as a means of expression, communication, and social contact. On the other hand, late bilingualism could be a result of second language learning and natural or artificial kind. In relation to these bilingualisms, there is a belief that early bilingualism is better than late bilingualism. However, actually, both early and late bilingualism have their advantages and disadvantages which are going to be reviewed in the next …show more content…

Bak and Alladi (2014) in Bak, Mendoza, and Sorace (2014) state bilingualism influences cognitive aging and dementia. Kroll and De Groot (1997) in Bak, Mendoza, and Sorace (2014) also add bilinguals have great cognitive flexibility as people choose to produce language quickly and appropriately from their common conceptual store, which contains a large number of words and concepts mappings. Cognitive processing of bilinguals might be affected by the age of second language acquisition as

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