STANDARDS FOR BILINGUALISM

 

Of late I have come to reconsider my standards for bilingualism which probably are unrealistic and far-fetched. After all, the brain is what it is and, unfortunately, it does have certain limitations and the sky, contrary to human expectations, is not the limit. I wanted a bilingual to master both languages at the same level, in speaking, writing, in culture, mores, and folklore... a tall order indeed. It would probably not play in Peoria. Too many circumstances have to come together for this type of bilingualism and so, perhaps, we should settle for whatever we get and stop barking up the wrong tree of language, expecting what may be an impossibility. The fact that someone is trying to master two languages should be more than enough to satisfy me, and we should egg her on, ignorant of what she´s getting into, the poor thing, and applaud, and bring the house down on the theater of language acquisition. So, here´s a big hand to all those who are trying -often hard- to be truly bilingual.