Bilingualism in Indian Children in America

Bilingualism and multilingualism in second and third generation Indian children in America is a product of parents and/or grandparents passing down the language to the next generation. However, monolingualism increases in each successive generation due to the prevalence of English in America and in the Indian education system. Though everyone has their own personal experience with language, being able to speak in one's parents' or grandparents' native tongue(s) can increase the strength of familial and intragenerational relationships and cultural identity but also result in code-switching.

As an individual who could only speak English and Spanish, I decided to start learning one of my parents' languages: Telugu. However, people with a personal connection to languages should not be the only ones learning these languages. Multilingualism can maintain language-speaking populations, while providing a global perspective to speakers and connect people from different cultures.