I was born in Japan to an American mother, and a Japanese dad. My first language was English, and my second language was Japanese. As I grew up in Japan I grew up speaking two languages, English and Japanese. My mother kept it so that my siblings and I would only speak English in the house. My mother and her friends started an English Saturday school for kids in the area that are international. When I was growing up this was the norm for me. My mom was more than strict in making my siblings and I learn and acquire English. In Japan at the time when I was in preschool and elementary school most of the people around me were Japanese, and most people did not speak English. Compared to this the school system seems to be more international now. A lot of colleges has special entrance slots for people from abroad, and transfer students from colleges abroad.
After looking back on my growth it puts into perspective why I am so sensitive to language, and education. I have heard that even in an international environment each one of us feels and understands bilingualism, and education differently. In my case I grew up very cognitive of my environment. It allowed me to become aware of culture, and system. From my growing up I got to experience two countries, and two systems. It wasn`t easy though. It took lots of dedication to identity and language to keep up my language, and be who I am. All of my siblings are bilingual as well. However, we all have our strong language, and live in different countries. In my case I believe in the word full-bilingual. It is where both languages are balanced, and strong. It took a lot of dedication to growing up bilingual. I believe bilingualism is something that comes natural to some, but to further develop this skill takes attention, and hard work.
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