: Re: If somone is bilingual how does it affect their daily life? I am bilingual myself but I don't think it affects me in any way. But I think that's because I am not in a position to speak

@Holmes449

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Being Bilingual has very little effect on a person's daily life, for one main reason; the two languages they speak are combined to be similar to speaking just one language. Its similar to the idea of formality vs. informality, you speak to your boss differently than you would speak to a close friend. A bilingual English and Chinese speaker will speak English to other English speakers, and Chinese to other Chinese speakers.

However, there are sometimes slip ups - for example, you may incorporate slight amounts of your dominant language into your slightly weaker one. Just like how sometimes you might say 'sup' or 'nah' to your boss on accident because you're used to informal speech - a dominant English or Chinese speaker may find they add small quirks to their speech when speaking their weaker, or recessive language. Native Chinese speakers sometimes incorporate the words 'Aiyah' to express dissatisfaction, or replace words they don't know in English, and vice versa.

If you want to emphasise someone's bilingual nature, why not play on that idea? Have the character slip up with their native language, or use slight quirks in their speech patterns. If your story can come up with a reason for this to affect the overall aim for the protagonist, for example if you're writing a "get the girl" romance, being bilingual may lead the character to have new contacts - or run into a funny coincidence that allows the two characters to bond, or find the girl in the future.

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