Testimony 1 - Articles about Bilingualism

28-year-old female Israeli teacher of English, bilingual Hebrew-English.

It’s a good feeling knowing two languages. To a certain degree it might be a sense of power that you can manage quite well in two separate languages. When people speak English, then you can feel right at home, including understanding expressions and slang and everything, and the same thing also with Hebrew. You understand quotes and songs and expressions and everything else. It’s also nice to think back and forth in two languages, to compare the two languages, to compare roots, to compare how words are built, and sentence structure. As a teacher of English I deal with that often, and the comparisons are enlightening.

Do you feel that you are different than your non-bilingual friends?

I do feel different in that I have command of two languages, and it’s a neches that others don’t have. It’s a means of riches.
I don’t feel different because I don’t feel that I’m lacking anything in the language. I feel perfectly at home with both languages.

Are you sure you're a bilingual? You said neches in Hebrew. Do you have trouble thinking of the right word at times?

I cannot deny it after my previous answer. It does happen. It’s not too often, though. Usually if I would give it a little bit more thought then I would get to the right word, but yes, every so often I do have that.

I don't feel smarter than my non-bilingual friends. I have some non-bilingual friends who are smart. However, I think I feel more knowledgeable.

I am happy that my parents raised me as a bilingual. Very much so. I hope to do the same for my children, too.

I think I am a true bilingual. As I have mentioned before I feel perfectly comfortable with both languages. I have a good command of both languages, good vocabulary, the slang, the literature pretty much that I can recognize and use quotes in both languages, etc.

I do not feel any limitations because of the fact that I am a bilingual. To the contrary, as I said before.

I am happy that I am living in Israel in which the spoken language is Hebrew and I have the other language, I have English, so I can be an English teacher. English teachers are more respected than Hebrew teachers in this place.

I never wished that I was not a bilingual. I think it’s great.

I used to use my skills and talents as a secret language among certain other children or adults, especially when we were in school, we siblings would speak to each other in English, and not too many others would understand. I don't do it any more.

How do your friends feel about the fact that you are a bilingual? Throughout my entire life I can't recall any problem related to bilingualism at all, whatsoever.

Do you ever try to hide the fact that you are a bilingual? No, but maybe if I would be a spy in some Lebanon case I would like to hide it, but no other reason.

I distinctly remember my English teacher, I must have been in sixth or seventh grade then, she did not know as much English as would be required in order to be an English teacher, and I remember correcting her constantly. One correction that I distinctly remember now was that she wrote “bycicle” on the board, and I corrected her in front of the whole class. In eighth grade, she told us about the word "to recommend" and gave an example of how to use the word. She said, “I recom you go to sleep early.” I corrected her again in front of class. Yes, my teachers did have trouble with me when I burst out with, "Hey I know this language well, and I know it better than you," they had to deal with that.

What would you want to tell your parents about raising bilingual children? Thank you very, very much.

What would you like to tell your friends about how to relate to you as a bilingual?

Perfectly normal. Would you like to speak in English or in Hebrew?

I had advantages by being a bilingual: I have such good command of the language that I can be an English teacher. Another advantage that I got was that I have a feel for languages. I have a Semite language and I have a general language, and they’re two different things with different ways of constructing the language, and that has helped me khop words in other languages. I like to learn new words in Russian. I have a private student who is French, and I learn some words from her. I have a sister who taught us Arabic and I like to learn the Arabic words. We one time had a Greek Shabbos in which we learned some Greek. And we all – well, it’s part of raising bilingual children - we all understood how to read the Greek. We caught on to it very quickly. When I had Japanese pen pals about ten fifteen years ago, then I also would learn a few words in Japanese - and even in Nigerian. I had two more friends there, and it’s nice to get a few words in each language. It’s also a means for impressing students, when you know a few words in Spanish, and when your student says something in Spanish you can recognize the language, and recognize maybe a word or two that she said. It gives you a very good feeling.

The first time I realized that there was something different about being bilingual was when I was nearly 14. I was in ninth grade. This was the first time I ever visited a friend who was Israeli. When I was in elementary school I had visited another friend of mine, pretty often, and they spoke French at home. And then I went to visit this friend and they spoke Hebrew at home, and I was totally taken aback, because, in my head, Hebrew was the language that you spoke out of the house, and I understood that every single family knows Hebrew, because that’s the language that you need in order to get by, and you also have some language that you speak at home. If you’re from Russia then you speak Russian. If you’re from America then you speak English. If you’re from France you speak French. And here was a family who was speaking Hebrew at home. And that was the very first time that I realized that not every family in the world is bilingual.

I have a greater interest in studying languages as a result of being a bilingual. I like to learn new words, new languages, and new alphabets.