THE BILINGUAL JOB FAIR BLOG

The Five Stages of Becoming Bilingual

August 25, 2009

Most people have the desire to learn two languages and realize that it takes a large degree of commitment to be able to do so.  Becoming bilingual is a process.  I have broken the process down into five stages, and explained each one below.

Here are the 5 stages I believe people go through before becoming bilingual:

STAGE 1: The Terrified Stage

You want to learn the new language, yet you are afraid to speak it.  You want to ‘try it’ but are frightened that you will not sound right or that people will laugh at you, or that they won’t understand what you’re saying.  You freeze up and do not try.  You get a bit frustrated with yourself because you feel like you’re not trying hard enough.  You surround yourself with people who speak your original language, so you can stay in your comfort zone.  In the meantime, you’re not learning as much as you should because you’re only associating yourself with people who speak your native language.

STAGE 2: The ‘Try a Bit More’ Stage

You are still afraid, but you try to speak the new language sometimes.  When you say something wrong, or people don’t understand you, they say: “Pardon me, can you say that again?”  or “What was that again?”  or “Excuse me.  Can you say that again?”  And you repeat what you said.  In the process, you get a bit of what I call a ‘complex’, because you know that people do not understand what you’re saying.  You also understand that you have an accent, which leads to…

STAGE 3: The ‘I am different and I have an accent’ Syndrome Stage

You realize that you sound different among the people who speak your new language and you develop a concern about it.  You want to sound ‘normal’ and not to be asked “where are you from?” or be told “you sound so cute”.  By people saying this to you, it makes you realize over and over that you’re ‘different’ and that everyone realizes that you are not from ‘around here’.  At this stage you realize that you must try harder and start speaking in the new language.  You are starting to form a new world speaking a new language, while keeping in touch with your old world and with your native tongue.

STAGE 4: The Assimilation Stage

You realize that yes, you are ‘different’ but that you will be okay.  You start talking more and more in the new language and your ‘accent syndrome’ starts going away.  Acceptance sets in.  You become fluent in the second language and start feeling comfortable with who you are and how you talk to others.  You are now feeling better about your new skill.

STAGE 5: The Bilingual Stage

Yes, you have made it.  You can now switch from language to language.  Sometimes you realize that your thoughts came into your head in the new language, and you smile.  You come to terms with the fact that you might have an accent, but it doesn’t really matter!  You are proud that you persevered and learned a new language.  Lots of people want to do it, but you got it done.

It takes an enormous amount of time, discipline, commitment, and desire to be able to learn a new language.  Lots of people want to do it, but not all learn to be bilingual.  Congratulations if you did – and congratulations if you made it to ‘Stage 5’.  It’s a good feeling, isn’t it?  Been there, done that… and I feel proud of it myself.

If you recognize these stages, if you categorized the stages differently, or if you have any funny stories or thoughts, please share them! 

Filed under: mylene

Tags: bilingual, continuing education, languages