Guardian - 21 January 2018, 02:04 (+ 2308 days 12 hours and 6 minutes) In Depth/Analysis
More than half the world’s population is now bilingual. Now thought to encourage flexibility of mind and empathy, bilingualism is also transforming societiesEveryone knows that it’s moving and melancholic to watch your children change over the years. But to hear them alter their language, over the course of a few weeks and months, is almost surreal. It’s as if the precious beings you thought you knew are completely different and the experience is both intriguing and unsettling. Our children were 12, 10 and seven when we moved from Somerset to their mother’s country, Italy, last summer. Until then, they had always lived in England and their English was what you would expect: the odd spelling mistake, but otherwise fluent and full of pre-teen playground slang.  Continue reading...