Of two minds

Improving understanding of bilingualism M. Michael Brady Asker, Norway Around the world, English now is the lingua franca, the default language of spoken and written communication among native speakers of other languages. So bilingualism is becoming the norm, rather than an exception in business, academic life, and everyday affairs. In some small countries, such as Norway, fluency in English, and hence bilingualism, is required in some professions as well as for admission to college and universities. Even monoglot English speakers need to be aware of the benefits and pitfalls of bilingualism in interacting with native speakers of other languages. The trend toward bilingualism is recent, within living memory. Norwegian-American linguistic scholar Einar Haugen (