I am not yet bilingual, but if you asked any of my American friends, I am. I moved to Norway at 39, and 5 years later still struggle to understand spoken Norwegian. I speak and read it, in my opinion, okay. I really envy people who can at least understand a foreign language even if they can’t express themselves in it. You at least have some semblance of what’s going on even if you can’t fully participate.
In my experience, having English only as a mother tongue is awful in Europe/scandanavia. But growing up with any other language, having English as at least a 2nd language, wow look at all those open doors.
The US public school system does not set kids up for success, in their own country or abroad. The foreign language requirement in HS is a joke and effectively sets us up to be able to overconfidently order coffee and ask where the museum is if we ever get to travel abroad.
I have heard that they start out here in Norway with English pretty young (maybe 8-10yo?) as a requirement, and then add mandatory electives later in French, German, or Latin. I don’t have kids in school so this may not be 100% accurate.
It’s a concept from the movie “I ❤️ Huckabees” where it’s being explained that everything in the whole of human existence, past present and future, exists as only part of one whole connected thing. Like it’s all one blanket. genocide, famine, Nobel laureates, orgasms. It’s all the blanket. Essentially, no reason to get upset at a person for wronging you, because they are, you. Anyway it’s been like 20 years since I saw it but the concept stuck with me.