Absolutely! in Vietnamese, doublets/triplets are common since there are pure Vietnamese words/ loan English words, and Chinese Vietnamese. Depending on regions, circumstances that some words are more common than others.

“English allergy” – I’ll have to make a note of this – have never heard this term before … although I wrote a book chapter together with a colleague some years ago about its opposite: akogare for English, “English desire” (Piller, I., & Takahashi, K. (2006). A passion for English: desire and the language market. In A. Pavlenko (Ed.), Bilingual minds: Emotional experience, expression, and representation (pp. 59-83). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. You can find a copy here.)

Thanks, Ian, for this interesting reflection on your own bilingual upbringing! And about German: you know, it sits right in the middle between English and Polish 🙃 Alles Gute!

Thank you, Khai, for this interesting explanation! Sounds a bit like “ill/sick”, “shirt/skirt”, “house/mansion”, “royal/regal”, “catch/chase”, and all those other doublets in English we spoke about in class?

Personally, I am so passionate about multilingualism, particularly in Australia. I wish we had a second language nation-wide curriculem within every Australian school, similar to English in Europe.. but the question is which language should we learn? I honestly get a touch of jealously too when I see international students writing in English as their second even third language.. yet I struggle with English being my first language.
My parents raised me within a bilingual household so it was interesting to hear about information that I didn’t really know or analyse in-depth. In my household, we speak Polglish (so a mix of English and Polish), however when I was a kid growing up, I definitely heard more Polish than English being spoken in the household! I’m very happy that my parents were able to communicate to me in Polish from a young age because there are so many people with Polish last names in Australia, but unfortunately a majority of them do not speak or understand Polish. What my parents mostly did was play child songs, speak all the time in Polish and recommended Nickolodean cartoons by with Polish only dubbing. It has certainly worked! My Polish is not on a native-like level but I can communicate and work there (easily with more exposure eg. if I lived there)
There are so many benefits from being bilingual, but unfortunately, I think it is a time strain – the earlier the person/child can get exposure the better. The later, the harder it is. I’m trying to learn German slowly and it is challenging, I believe if I had been exposed to the language earlier, I would be better [es ist sehr schwer und ist nicht so arnlich wie Englisch ;)]
I personally think it’s true that Australia is a graveyard of languages – we are so multicultural and diverse yet a lot of people seem to lose their heritage tongue very quickly.

Thanks again Ingrid, this subject really unlocks the passionate side of me.

Vo, N. M. (2006). The Vietnamese boat People, 1954 And 1975-1992. McFarland & Company.

True, Roxie! Below, 8030c has an interesting example of how to “lure” children into Chinese with martial arts novels …

Good point, 8030c!

Thanks, Xiaowen, for sharing these two interesting examples! I think age might also play a role in the differences you observe.

Thank you, Alicia, for sharing this interesting example! Reminds us how important the provision of interpreters is in institutional interactions!

Thank you so much for sharing these five wonderful blogs. I was born in a monolingual family where both parents speak Chinese, but I think that the benefits of bilingual education for children from an early age outweigh the disadvantages as children learn languages faster when they are young and are full of interest in learning. Secondly, accepting bilingual teaching in advance will lay a good foundation for children to learn English at school. I am envious of students who are proficient in multiple languages and can speak English fluently because Chinese schools do not pay much attention to the cultivation of students’ oral English, which makes it difficult for me to improve oral English now. Thirdly, bilingual education can help children understand the culture of other countries and make more friends. My sister’s daughter is currently receiving bilingual education in the United States, and she can communicate with me in two languages every time through the video. My English teacher’s daughter can speak fluent English at a young age and her pronunciation is also standard, which is not available to other children. I think this is a good phenomenon, so I will allow my child to receive bilingual education in the future.

When it comes to bilingual, this reminds me of my cousin, she is a Chinese-German mixed-blood. Her mother is Chinese and her father is German. She was born in Germany. When she was in kindergarten, her mother discovered that she didn’t speak Chinese to herself anymore. Because her mother is a mother who pays great attention to Chinese culture and education, she is very anxious about this situation. Therefore, when she was 4 years old, her family moved back to China in order to better enable her to learn Chinese culture. After returning to China, her mother immediately sent her to a bilingual school to continue studying until now. I was fortunate to meet her the night before I went here. She spoke fluent Chinese with me and told me that she as a Chinese must be able to speak Chinese. She also said that she was particularly interested in Chinese traditional culture. What shocked me was that her Chinese folk dance was great.

Overall, language and cultural contact is ubiquitous for bilinguals or multilinguals.