Were you ever talking with a friend and your tongue slips a word in a different language? Or were you ever in a meeting and forgot how to say a simple word in every language you know? Well, I want to assure you that you are not alone!
My personal experience
Around four to five years ago, when I was in tenth grade specifically, I participated in the annual AUS Model United Nations (MUN). I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and practice public speaking among large groups of people. The conference day came and I was welcoming it with full confidence. I was prepared beforehand and had my speech precisely written down on a piece of paper and well memorized. The organizers put us in the designated rooms and we began the debate. To me, everyone seemed so much more confident, clear, and prepared than I was. However, I had to overcome that thought quickly and without thinking, my hand was raised in hope to get a turn to speak. Once the moderator chose me, I stood up and got myself ready to give the best speech I ever wrote.
It all went well and everyone was closely listening, nodding their heads, and looking at me with amazement as I was presenting my argument in a professional and persuading manner- at least that’s what I thought! I barely stuttered and as I approached the end of my speech, I opened the opportunity for questions. Those questions were where it all went downhill. One of the delegates challenged a part of my argument and I had to refute his claims. I believed I was doing a good job until I got defensive and accidentally used the Arabic word “يعني” which translates for “like”. Everyone stared at me and this is where my heart sank and I realized I messed up. However, I ignored what happened and continued to argue. As I got back to the flow of talking, I fell for the same unprofessional mistake, again! I was trying to say “but” while arguing but accidentally said “بس” in Arabic. This time I knew I couldn’t just let it pass. I stood there silently, almost crying, hoping that some miracle saves me from this embarrassment. A few awkward seconds later, the moderators laughed it off, assured me that it was okay, and asked me to sit back.
Today, this is just an embarrassing or funny moment that I recall and tell people about. However, during that time, it was very frustrating and in fact one of the reasons for not winning a certificate, regardless of my efforts. In fact, I stopped participating in MUN ever since that minor incidence as I was afraid that my speaking skills are not good enough. I did not understand how that happened because I thought I was competent in both languages; Arabic and English.
The Research on it
After the incident, I went back home, cried a little, and came across an article that explains it all. Miguel in “Does being bilingual make you smarter?” discusses the downsides of being bilingual, regardless of the benefits that almost everyone agrees on. It highlights that the brain of a bilingual person is overwhelmed with the knowledge of both languages, resulting in weaker verbal skills. In other words, a bilingual person is more prone to forgetting words from both languages or remembering it in one language while speaking the other. Although this could be frustrating or even could cost you doing bad on a job interview or a school assembly, we can’t disregard the benefits of being bilingual.
To read more on this issue, you can check out these articles: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4349351/#:~:text=It%20is%20not%20surprising%20that,Cobo%2DLewis%2C%202007).
A funny video that sums up the struggle:
Questions for discussion:
- Were you ever put in a situation where being bilingual was not in your favor?
- How do you think one could over come the challenges of being bilingual?
