Testimony 10 - Articles about Bilingualism

I learned in Yeshiva. I was in the army, and now I work as a photographer. I’m a bilingual. I know both English and Hebrew both as a mother tongue. As a little kid I started off with English and when I got to first grade I didn’t know a word of Hebrew, and I picked it up in school. So I know them both from when I was very young. That means that Hebrew is my second language.

Today I know Hebrew as well as I know English. When I speak to people who speak Hebrew, I understand the way that they talk and think as well as someone who had started speaking Hebrew when he was born. I don't have a preference when I talk or read or communicate. I read professional books, that means I’m a photographer so I read photographer literature, and I read novels, and it could be either English or Hebrew. When I have a choice of books, I read whatever looks more interesting. It could be either English or Hebrew.

My English is very good. My father’s an English teacher and he always made sure that my English was at a high level, and I feel sometimes that my English is better than many Americans who grew up in America.

I'm different from people who are monolinguals. I have more options. I can pick up and read anything. I speak to anyone. Wherever I am, around English speakers and Hebrew speakers, I have the option of being in touch with anyone. It's great being a bilingual. At weddings, when there’s a family that comes in from America and I have to photograph, it’s nice switching back and forth with languages, and some of the families themselves can’t communicate with each other, and I’m the one who does it for them. I should charge extra.

A lot of my family is from America. I grew up in Israel and I’m able to be in touch with them and understand them. They understand me, even though I grew up in a foreign language, in a foreign country, and also over here, when I’m in Israel, I have no problem communicating with anyone.

I have no desire to study a third language. Languages is not my thing. I mean, I can speak two languages. I’m not into languages. Translating is also my thing. I just live both languages. That’s it.

Sometimes I have difficulty thinking of just the right word to use in a language that I'm speaking. I think of the right word but in the wrong language. When that happens I either use the right word in the wrong language, or else I struggle.

I have no limitations because I am a bilingual. On the contrary.

I’m sure I’m smarter than many of my friends because I'm bilingual. However, I don’t think I’m the kind of person who feels superior to others, even though it's something I have over them.

My parents are bilinguals. They live in both languages. They spoke Hebrew the past thirty years, and they manage just fine in both English and Hebrew. I think I’m more bilingual. My Hebrew is probably better than my parents’ Hebrew. They have an accent, and they feel more comfortable speaking in English. My Hebrew is better than theirs. It's an advantage. I think my brothers and sisters are bilinguals, to the same degree as I am.

It's worth the effort for other parents to raise their children as bilinguals. When I have children, I'll speak to them in anything but Hebrew if I live in Israel. If I don't live in Israel, then I’ll speak to my kids anything but English or whatever the going language is.

When I was in kindergarten or first grade, the teacher asked me a question in class, and I answered the question and I had no idea why he was so upset with me, and why afterwards he was giggling and laughing, and then only later I found out that I had answered in English instead of answering in Hebrew, without even knowing that I had done that. The teacher had trouble dealing with it. I was just fine. The teacher had no idea what I was saying or what I was doing.