the.com/monolingualism
the rare condition of being fluent in exactly the amount of language you were born into.
means speaking and understanding only one language, by circumstance or choice rather than ability.
from from greek monos (single) plus latin lingua (tongue) — an oddly recent word for an ancient default, coined mostly to describe english and french speakers who noticed everyone else wasn't like them.
global minoritymost humans alive are bilingual or more, not monolingual
cognitive coststudies link bilingualism to delayed dementia onset by years
policy drivenoften reflects national schooling, not personal limitation
invisible privilegemonolinguals rarely notice translation happening for them
for instance
united states — about 78 percent of residents speak only english at home, 2019 census
united kingdom — famously weak foreign language uptake in schools since the 1990s
brazil — portuguese dominance leaves most citizens monolingual despite bordering nine countries
japan — near-total linguistic homogeneity reinforced by geography and policy