Life as a Bilingual: Au Revoir

In the summer of 2010, an editor at Psychology Today invited me to write a blog on bilingualism. I accepted for a number of reasons. I have always wanted to put to rest the many myths that surround bilingualism as well as tell the general public about findings in my research field. There is also the need to reassure bilinguals about their own bilingualism and to give those involved with children some basic knowledge about growing up with two or more languages. I also wanted to constitute an online resource on the bilingual person, adult and child, that people could come back to at any time.

In 2014, my colleague, Aneta Pavlenko, kindly joined me and for the following five years we took turns writing the blog posts. She authored wonderful texts in her areas of specialty and greatly diversified our offerings, for which I am most grateful. She left the blog in 2019 but her posts are still here for all to enjoy.

A bit more than 10 years after its start, the blog has been visited by more than 2.2 million readers, much to my amazement. There are some 150 posts, comprising short texts and interviews, that can be consulted by anyone throughout the world. The online resource that I dreamed of now exists and can be accessed chronologically (here) or by content (here).

Writing for Psychology Today has been a marvelous experience, and I am thankful to all those who have made it possible: the editors of the blog, the colleagues whose research I described, the interviewees who answered my questions so thoroughly, and, finally, all my readers over the years for their encouragements and their feedback.

Even though I am now saying goodbye, I leave you with three positive bits of news: The blog remains available here for anyone who wants to browse through it and read its posts. The second is that Cambridge University Press will publish a large selection of posts this coming May in the form of a book (see here).

And finally, Professor Elizabeth Lanza has just launched a blog here, "Living with Languages", which "highlights research on bilingualism and multilingualism from infancy to the aging, of speakers of more than one language. It examines what it means to become bilingual or multilingual, how we use our languages in interaction, and how society around us impacts our knowledge and use of languages." She kindly adds in her first post that her blog builds on, and complements, my own blog; for that I am most grateful.

May the posts of "Life as a Bilingual" continue to be read, and may the upcoming posts of "Living with Languages" attract many readers throughout the world, for many years to come.

Au revoir, goodbye, and thank you.