Assignment Task:
Based on the Below is an example of a researcher explaining for the general public several phenomena you have learned about in Week 2 and 3: "The minute you start learning another language, the two systems start to compete with each other," says Monika Schmid, a linguist at the University of Essex. Native fluency is also strongly linked to how we manage the different languages in our brain. "The fundamental difference between a monolingual and bilingual brain is that when you become bilingual, you have to add some kind of control module that allows you to switch," Schmid says. She gives an example. When she looks at the object in front of her, her mind can choose between two words, the English 'desk' and the German 'Schreibtisch' (Schmid is German). In an English context, her brain suppresses 'Schreibtisch' and selects 'desk', and vice versa. If this control mechanism is weak, the speaker may struggle to find the right word or keep slipping into their second language. Mingling with other native speakers actually can make things worse, since there's little incentive to stick to one language if you know that both will be understood. The result is often a linguistic hybrid.