Multilingualism within an Individual.docVIP

Multilingualism within an Individual 　　【Abstract】It has been proved that those who speak many languages have an easier time gaining others and these persons can be called multilingual speakers. Also， some persons can be called the potential multilingual speakers according to their growing-up situation. 　　【Key words】Multilingualism； Multilingual speakers； Compound bilinguals； Coordinate bilinguals 　　1 Definition of multilingualism 　　One group of academics argues for the maximal definition which means that speakers are as native-like in one language as they are in others and have as much knowledge and control over one language as they do the others. Another group of academics argues for the minimal definition， based on use. Tourists， who successfully communicate phrases and ideas while not fluent in a language， may be seen as bilingual according to this group. 　　However， problems may arise with these definitions as they do not answer the question regarding how much knowledge of a language is required to be classified as bilingual. As a result， since most speakers do not achieve the maximal ideal， language learners may come to be seen as deficient and by extension， language teaching may come to be seen as a failure. 　　On the other hand， arguing that someone who can say hello in more than one language is multilingual trivializes the language learning process. 　　Therefore， it has been accepted that most multilingual speakers are somewhere between these minimal and maximal definitions. We call these people multi-competent. 　　2 What kind of persons can be called multilingual speakers？ 　　A multilingual person， in the broadest definition， is anyone who can communicate in more than one language， be it active （through speaking and writing） or passive （through listening and reading）. More specifically， the terms bilingual and trilingual are used to describe comparable situations in which two or three languages are involved. 　　Multilingualism could be rigidly defin