I have no research to back my ramblings, but here goes.
I am bilingual - German and English. I learned German from my Berlin-born mother, so I speak German with a light Berlin accent. I was born in West Virginia in an area where the natives have a decided Appalachian accent. My father grew up in Minnesota and thus speaks a fine mid-western accented English! So, I spoke Appalachian accented English with my playmates, mid-western-accented English to my father and all other adults, and "berliner Deutsch" with my mother. What to make of this? I have developed a pretty good ear for accents and can mimic people, sometimes unconsciously.
Do I have a German "ethnicity?" No more than what my mother taught me - I really am an American (six months of living in France, a country I dearly, dearly love, showed me that).
Do I perhaps "understand" my mother better for being able to communicate with her in
her native tongue? Yes, I think so. She is no stranger to me, and my father swears that even after 45 years of marriage, during which they have always spoken German to each other, there are still moments when he "can't figure her out."
Am I any better at learning languages because I am bilingual? No! My French, which I learned in high school and majored in in college, is okay (rusty!!!). My attempts to learn another foreign language have been failures. Perhaps I'm a lazy language learner.
I do know that speaking two languages besides English has allowed me the pleasure of really getting to know two cultures. I have had experiences and met people by being able to speak with them in
their mother tongue that would otherwise have been unavailable to me. But these sorts of experiences are open to anyone who speaks a second language, no matter when it was learned. In short - learn a language and expand your world!
