AIBU to ask if being fully bilingual in another language has been beneficial to you in adulthood

[alittleisland]

When I say 'fully bilingual', I mean that you can speak, read and write the second language. Do you encourage your children to learn a second language? What languages as a second language do you think will have a high value attached to them in the future?

Yes massively so.

I can only speak English.

My sibling is fluent in several languages and has lived and worked all over the world and never has issues with moving and resettling or travelling.

She has moved lots and chopped and changed jobs, it's always easy for her to get employment and it usually comes down to all the languages.

I have to admit I am in awe of her language skills.

I am fluent in English & Welsh inn the sense that you described. I also speak fluent Russian (which me and my father spoke at home) I struggle to comfortably read and write in cyrillic with anything more complex than a menu or labels in a shop.

The Welsh I'm incredibly proud of and use at home, the Russian is handy in work and on holiday - many Eastern European languages share enough common vocabulary that you can fumble through

My 1st language is Welsh then English. My family is Welsh and my kids have done their secondary school work in welsh.

To work in wales most jobs require you to speak the language.

There are plenty of people who say welsh is a dead language. I suppose it would be if you don’t speak it but to me its not. Its not for my kids neither. I can go for days and days without speaking English. So i tell those people to fuck off .

Absolutely. It definitely widens opportunities.

I’m trilingual. It’s helped me in life, either communicating whilst abroad or on my CV. It’s useful generally for working out what other languages mean/etymology of words. I can read and understand a 4th and 5th language thanks to knowing my 3rd.