Growing Up Bilingual

Growing Up Bilingual

I was born in Portugal, and when I was one year old, my family moved to France. At home, we spoke Portuguese (葡萄牙语). When we had guests, we spoke French. Therefore, I grew up bilingual (双语的).

But I did never go to a Portuguese school. When I became a teenager, I felt something was missing. I felt like I could not fully appreciate my own culture. I decided to teach myself to read in the language. I went to a bookshop near our house and bought some classics. I enjoyed them back then and still reread them today.

The best memories of my childhood were when I went back to Portugal. If I did not know a word, my brain would go into French mode(模式) and I would translate it directly. Once, I was talking to my aunts about star signs. I said that my sign was Cancer (巨蟹座). In Portuguese, the correct word is “Crab”. Cancer is only used for the disease. I can still see the puzzled look on their faces. After working out what I meant, they had a good laugh.

Now I speak more languages than before. I speak Spanish with my husband, French with my children and English at work. The result is that I often end up speaking “Portunhol”, a funny mix of Portuguese and Spanish. But isn't that an interesting thing in my life?

Anyway, I think every language has its merits (优点). When I read the same book in French, Spanish and English, I do not feel the same way. That's why I think that even if AI can one day free us from the need to learn a language, it won't help us feel the charm of other languages.