the.com/multilingualism
one brain, several passwords, and it never confuses which one to use.
means the ability to use two or more languages fluently, whether you learned them in a crib or a classroom.
from from latin multi (many) plus lingua (tongue) — literally many-tonguedness, first used in english in the early 1900s as linguists noticed most of the world was never monolingual to begin with.
global normmore than half of humanity speaks two-plus languages daily
brain benefitdelays dementia onset by roughly four to five years
monolingual minorityenglish-only speakers are a global outlier, not the default
code-switching costswitching languages mid-sentence takes measurable milliseconds of effort
for instance
india — 22 official languages, most citizens speak two or three fluently
switzerland — four national languages coexist across cantons since 1848
papua new guinea — over 840 languages spoken among 10 million people