Within the context of the U.S., this ideology helps prop up English-first and English-only sentiments, the results of which are damaging to the language development and intelligence assessment of multilingual school-age children as well as to those who do not have English as a dominant language (see ). While it is clear that linguistic diversity is the norm, not the exception, the pervasiveness of the ideology of monolingualism is such that it is present in all aspects of our daily lives-with negative consequences. census data, around 20 percent of the population speaks more than one language that percentage has been increasing steadily in the past three decades. The number is even higher in Europe, where bilinguals account for over 50 percent of the population. and the world is bilingual or multilingual.Īccording to François Grosjean, about 60 percent of the world population uses more than one language. Furthermore, a significant portion of the population of the U.S. A more honest examination of everyday linguistic practices reveals that even if one is familiar with one language group only-English, for example-they have fluency in multiple dialects of that language-academic, professional, and so on. The ideology of monolingualism, however, is the notion that communication happens through and by only one language at a time. Monolingualism is the condition of being able to interact in only one language.
Most user interface designs are influenced by an ideology of monolingualism and therefore support only monolingual interactions.
When our languages are internal, we don't know where one ends and where one begins.