

Speaking in tongues - __
http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/asiaview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10637289

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kajecounterhack
I'm a second generation chinese-american. My father once told me this joke to
get me to learn chinese because he thought I was becoming "too american"

\- "What do you call someone who speaks 3 languages?"

\- A: Thats easy, trilingual.

\- "What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages?"

\- A: Thats easy too! Bilingual.

-

\- "That being true, what if someone speaks only 1 language?"

A: They're....just people. \- WRONG. They're _American._

~~~
yters
Have you noticed whether being bilingual has affected the way you think? This
is a claim I often hear from multilingual people, and I'm interested in
specific examples.

~~~
kajecounterhack
Not at all...it doesn't seem to have any affect on how I think.

Then again, how am I supposed to tell if I only know how I feel as a bilingual
person? I spoke chinese and english as long as I can remember.

~~~
yters
Based on my limited exposure to different languages, there seem to be
different thought patterns inherent in each language. I'm wondering if you
notice this, and if you yourself capable of a wider range of thought patterns
than those who can only speak a single language.

