Abheek Ghosh is an extraordinary teen. He is "from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts... [but his] country of origin is Bangladesh... [and] for the first five years of [his] life [he] lived in Nagasaki, Japan" (Abheek's Brief Biography, 1)." As you can see, Abheek has been to many different places. On top of having been to so many places, Abheek has also retained a knowledge of many languages as well. He speaks Bangali, Japanese, English, and some Spanish. But "how does one become a 'Multilingualist'," you might ask. Well, I wondered the same thing. But many people can speak many languages, so the questions I asked were, "Does knowing and speaking multiple languages come with problems," "What kind of problems does one face with knowing multiple languages," and "Do things get lost in translation; is there a language barrier of some sort?"
Abheek's answers support the ideas of Joan Tough, the author of "The Development of Meaning." She talks about the "interpretive function of language" and the language acquisition of children, and how learning a language at a young age is best when trying to learn and retain a language (Tough, 93). Abheek had fit into these age categories that Tough was studying, ages 3, 5, and 7, at the time of his multilingual experiences (Tough, 89). This leads me to believe that Abheek is able to be fluent in Bangali and English and "know just enough Japanese to get by," because he learned these languages during and before the intervals of these ages.
Though Abheek does not get jumbled like Shivanii, he does see the confusion that can occur when different languages and cultures come together. Abheek does a lot to clear up the question of language barriers. There are borders between countries, watch the video above to see if there are borders between words and worlds too.
Abheek's answers support the ideas of Joan Tough, the author of "The Development of Meaning." She talks about the "interpretive function of language" and the language acquisition of children, and how learning a language at a young age is best when trying to learn and retain a language (Tough, 93). Abheek had fit into these age categories that Tough was studying, ages 3, 5, and 7, at the time of his multilingual experiences (Tough, 89). This leads me to believe that Abheek is able to be fluent in Bangali and English and "know just enough Japanese to get by," because he learned these languages during and before the intervals of these ages.
Though Abheek does not get jumbled like Shivanii, he does see the confusion that can occur when different languages and cultures come together. Abheek does a lot to clear up the question of language barriers. There are borders between countries, watch the video above to see if there are borders between words and worlds too.