What Is Bilingualism?

When people talk about bilingualism, they often only mean the fact that someone has two native languages and speaks both of them fluently. Bilingualism in its specific meaning, however, includes more than that. They distinguish between primary and secondary bilingualism, for example, and include people with more than one native language who only speak one of them fluently.

Primary Bilingualism

Primary bilingualism is the term for bilingualism which started before the time frame for acquiring a native language closed (at around three years). People who are primary bilingual have two native languages. It doesn’t matter if they really speak both languages fluently; the only important fact is that they started learning both languages before they turned three. At around that age, the brain starts degenerating and “deletes” all the cells and connections it doesn’t need.

Secondary Bilingualism

Secondary Bilingualism is the term for bilingualism which started after the time frame for acquiring a native language closed. People with this kind of bilingualism only have one native language. They have, however, acquired fluency in a second language afterwards. So, for this kind of bilingualism, it is important to be fluent in both languages. Secondary bilingualism is much rarer than primary bilingualism for two reasons: First, because it requires fluency in both languages whereas primary bilingualism only asks for two native languages, and second, only few people are able to acquire fluency in a second language.

What Is the Difference Between Primary and Secondary Bilingualism?

The main difference lies within our brains. People with more than one native language only have one brain area for languages. Every second language they learn is “written” into the existing area which makes it easier for them to learn more languages. People with only one native language, on the other hand, have at least two brain areas for languages: one for the native language and one for each second language. This means that learning a second language requires much more effort as the brain has to build a whole new net of connections for the second language.

Read more about the various reasons to raise a child with more than one language next week!