{"id":16543,"date":"2025-12-02T10:54:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T10:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tst.wordpress.realogydev.com\/cartus\/uncategorized\/language-means-opportunity-benefits-bilingualism\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T10:54:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T10:54:41","slug":"language-means-opportunity-benefits-bilingualism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tst.wordpress.realogydev.com\/cartus\/insights\/blog\/language-means-opportunity-benefits-bilingualism\/","title":{"rendered":"Language Means Opportunity: The Benefits of Bilingualism"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":16544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,36],"tags":[240,180,155,241],"class_list":["post-16543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-intercultural-and-language","tag-bilingualism","tag-intercultural","tag-intercultural-coaching","tag-language"],"acf":{"blog_type":"Long Blog","category_type":"blogs","dont_display_published_date_in_blog_landing_tile":false,"hero_image":16545,"story_section_topic":"","story_section_description":"","rich_text_content1":"This week we celebrate the European Day of Languages. Taking place on 26 September, it is a\u00a0Council of Europe<\/a>\u00a0initiative that has been celebrated every year since 2001 and a day that promotes cultural diversity, awareness of the importance of language learning and protecting linguistic heritage. To mark the day, I wanted to share my own experiences of bilingualism and explore the very real benefits of being bilingual.\n\n","rich_text_content2":"

What does it mean to be bilingual?<\/h3>The limits of my language mean the limits of my world\u2013\u00a0Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher<\/em>\n\nAt least 50% of the world population is bilingual, which makes the European Day of Languages even more important to celebrate.\u00a0My journey with bilingualism started\u00a0in\u00a02019\u00a0when we began preparing for the arrival of my son.\u00a0Raised and educated in Poland, now\u00a0living in the UK,\u00a0I\u00a0couldn\u2019t separate myself from thoughts, questions,\u00a0and doubts\u2014should my children\u00a0be exposed to two entirely different languages?\u00a0Would that be beneficial?\u00a0Should they become\u00a0\u201cthird-culture kids\u201d\u00a0who are\u00a0bilingual?<\/em>\n\n","title":"","sub_title":"","sub_text":"","display_primary_cta":true,"label_for_primary_cta":"","download_pdf_or_link":false,"download_pdf":null,"download_link":"","primary_video_or_image":false,"primary_image":16546,"primary_video":{"video_title":"","video_type":"youtube","video_id":""},"rich_text_content3":"What does it mean to be bilingual?\u00a0There is no simple answer to that question\u2014even researchers who focus on multilingualism do not agree on one definition.\u00a0Simply put, bilingualism is the ability\u00a0to use two languages effectively.\u00a0Personally,\u00a0as an\u00a0individual\u00a0who is\u00a0a\u00a0native Polish\u00a0speaker\u00a0and fluent in English,\u00a0I would not classify myself as a bilingual person, but\u00a0some researchers would say that my language abilities\u00a0meet bilingual requirements.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n\nOne popular classification\u00a0refers\u00a0to the time when a\u00a0bilingual\u00a0person acquires\u00a0their\u00a0second language,\u00a0either\u00a0\u201cearly bilingualism\u201d\u00a0or\u00a0\u201clate bilingualism.\u201d\u00a0Early bilingualism\u00a0is when a\u00a0person\u00a0learns\u00a0two languages in early childhood, either at the same time from birth (simultaneous\u202fbilingualism) or a second language is acquired later than the first, but still during\u00a0early\u00a0childhood (successive bilingualism).\u00a0Late bilingualism\u00a0is when a person has become bilingual in\u00a0late childhood (over\u00a012 years old) or in adulthood.\n\nWhether we see ourselves part of\u00a0a\u00a0multilingual community or not, it is\u00a0indisputable\u00a0that learning a language brings a\u00a0number\u00a0of benefits\u2014whether\u00a0a second (or third, or fourth\u2026) language is\u00a0used\u00a0at work or only during holidays\u2014it boosts\u00a0your memory, your confidence and your communication skills.\u00a0\n\nBut is it worth\u00a0the\u00a0extra effort\u00a0to become (or help your children become) bilingual?\n\n","secondary_video_or_image":false,"secondary_image":16547,"secondary_video":{"video_title":"","video_type":"youtube","video_id":""},"rich_text_content4":"","rich_text_header_with_bullet_points":"

To bi- or not to bi-<\/h3>One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Frank Smith, psycholinguist<\/em>\u00a0\n\nIn 2017, a few months after my move to the UK\u00a0from Poland, I became a volunteer in\u00a0a\u00a0Polish\u00a0Supplementary\u00a0School\u00a0on the weekends\u00a0and suddenly\u00a0found myself\u00a0surrounded by\u00a0bilingual\u00a0children.\u00a0This experience helped me understand\u00a0what\u00a0it\u00a0is\u00a0like to live\u00a0with\u00a0one foot in the UK and one foot in Poland\u00a0and to experience the process of adjusting to life in a new cultural and linguistic environment, while staying connected to my home culture and language.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n\nLearning a language, living in two cultures, and switching from one to the other,\u00a0whether at home or school can\u00a0be a challenge.\u00a0And yet,\u00a0the children I interacted with at the Polish Saturday School\u00a0seemed happy\u00a0and\u00a0I knew that\u00a0even if they did not see it then, they would understand later\u00a0in life that\u00a0speaking two languages can be\u00a0truly beneficial:\u00a0\u00a0\n\n