AMERICA'S BILINGUAL CENTURY

An advocate for bilingualism notes the many advantages of learning other languages.

In this nonfiction book, Leveen, the author of Holding Dear (2013), uses his own experience learning a second language in adulthood as a starting point for exploring the value of multilingual living. He also draws on dozens of interviews with linguistic experts and others—many of which were collected for his America the Bilingual podcast—to explore how and why people speak multiple languages and how it shapes their everyday lives. Some interviewees learned a second language for professional advancement; others did so as children to engage with their immigrant parents; and still others are expatriates who’ve picked up enough words and phrases to get by. One of the book’s main objectives is encouraging English-speaking American readers to expand their horizons. It also gets into the history of linguistic trends in the United States, including the phenomenon of English-only advocacy. Leveen’s writing is solid, and he does an excellent job of weaving his many discussions into an overarching narrative; the compelling stories keep the pages turning despite the book’s considerable length. He’s realistic about the challenges of learning a new language but still encouraging (“I’ve never heard anyone say to me, ‘I took four years of high school band’ and then complain that they can’t sit in with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra”), and he urges readers to understand bilingualism as a continuum, not a binary status. Appendices provide additional references for those interested in bilingualism advocacy, and a substantial collection of endnotes provides additional discussion.

A well-written, attention-grabbing journey into polyglot life.