When people look at me, they see a normal white girl at Harrisonburg High School, nothing more, nothing different. I have no accent, my skin tone in the winter is barely darker than most and I look like a typical W.A.S.P. (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) and yet I have no family that live in the US, both of my parents have noticeable accents, I never try to tell people what I eat for dinner because it’ll just confuse them and I speak a whole other language at home.
Yes, I am bilingual and a first generation american. Sure there are many benefits to being bilingual, ones that I cherish in my everyday life, but people don’t talk about the downsides. At this point you’re probably thinking, ‘stop complaining, you speak two languages and you don’t have an accent, geez you have it easy,’ but have you ever thought about what people have to go through being bilingual in America?
I am very thankful that my parents taught me another language when I was young because I get the chance to go through the world automatically bilingual, but being bilingual in America isn’t always a good thing. Many people who are bilingual are discriminated against when their accents aren’t even that bad. People chalk up their misunderstandings to the others accents, something that shouldn’t ever happen. You misunderstanding something is not the other person’s problem, ask them to repeat themselves and they will. Please if we will hold bilingualism high in our minds, we must not discriminate against the people that are actually bilingual. Here are some benefits and consequences to being bilingual.