Bilingual: Life and Reality, by François Grosjean, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England, Harvard University Press, 2010, 276 pp., $26.95, £19.95 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-674-04887-4

Abstract

Bilingual: life and reality. Francois Grosjean (2010) Cambridge, MA, and London: Harvard University Press. Pp 276. ISBN 9780674048874This book by Grosjean addresses different aspects of bilingualism, presents its multifaceted character and the effects it may have on people, groups and societies. The aim of the book is to describe key concepts relating to the phenomenon and highlight study areas investigated by researchers. The volume is divided into two parts and is a collection of 19 chapters followed by a Conclusion. Part 1 consists of the main 13 chapters of the book in which the author presents various features of adult bilingualism. Part 2 is devoted to the phenomenon of bilingualism in children and comprises the remaining 6 chapters.In the opening chapter of the book it is reported that nearly half of the world's population are bilingual. Grosjean presents different reasons for people being or becoming bilingual, such as international travel and tourism, globalised business activities, migration and resettlement. Also national language policies (as in Belgium, Switzerland and Canada), education, cultural exchange, intermarriage or deafness in the family can all result in people becoming bilingual. Chapter 9 states that the phenomenon of bilingualism is normally associated with an extended range of possibilities, such as communicating with people from differ- ent countries, reading newspapers and literature in the original language and actively participating in a multilingual setting. These possibilities enhance general communication skills and personal satisfaction which in turn translates into wider job prospects and greater social mobility. On a more personal level, bilingualism is said to aid general understanding of all things different as it increases levels of tolerance and open-mindedness. The latter is said to be directly linked with cognitive advantages of bilingual speakers and their superior ability to analyse things from different points of view. Chapter 9 also lists some of the less positive attitudes towards bilingualism as well as common misconceptions and myths which include perceiving bilinguals as having internal conflicts of values, dual perceptions or split personalities.Chapter 2 provides the all-important definitions of bilingualism and historical evolvement thereof. According to Grosjean bilinguals are those who 'use two or more languages in their everyday lives' (p. 22). The notion of language use is said to be of prime importance, which is characteristic of the more recent definitions of the term. Earlier definitions would primarily stress language fluency and if this failed to prove near-native, the speaker would not be considered as a bilingual but as having a limited knowledge of a foreign language. Grosjean points out that the level of language fluency increases in direct proportion to the level of language use, which indirectly incorporates the notion of fluency into the modern definitions of the term. Perfectly balanced bilingualism is said to be very rare and pure bilinguals unique in their ability. Other factors, including age and context of language acquisition, are said to be regularly addressed in scholarly discussions on bilingualism. Do bilinguals need to use their languages from birth to be called bilingual? Or can they develop their bilingual abilities across the lifespan? Those and other questions are raised and discussed in both Chapters 2 and 8. It is in Chapter 8 that we find how the state of being bilingual can shift across the course of a lifetime. Events ranging from international student exchanges and work placements, to high-impact life changing events such as migration and death in the family, can all trigger a seismic shift in the linguistic equilibrium of the bilingual speaker. Travel and migration can serve as real-life initiatives to learn new languages, while death of a relative or a close friend has the potential to mark the onset of language attrition. …