Are you bilingual? Help me out!

Hiya, I'm doing my EPQ on the effects of bringing a child up to be bilingual. If you were brought up speaking two or more languages, it would be really helpful if you could answer my survey. All names will be anonymised!
Please rate your answers, 1 is strongly agree, 5 is strongly disagree

1) I believe that being brought up bilingual has helped me in school.

1 2 3 4 5

2) I believe that I have an increased ability to learn because of my ability to speak multiple languages.

1 2 3 4 5

3) I think that I have been given an advantage to succeed in life because of my linguistic knowledge.

1 2 3 4 5

4) I am happy that I was brought up with this ability.

1 2 3 4 5

5) I feel disadvantaged because of my ability to speak multiple languages.

1 2 3 4 5

6) Any comments you would like to add?

7) If you are comfortable disclosing, what languages can you speak?

Thank you so much! I'm happy to answer any questions <3

Hiya, I'm doing my EPQ on the effects of bringing a child up to be bilingual. If you were brought up speaking two or more languages, it would be really helpful if you could answer my survey. All names will be anonymised!
Please rate your answers, 1 is strongly agree, 5 is strongly disagree

1) I believe that being brought up bilingual has helped me in school.

1 2 3 4 5

2) I believe that I have an increased ability to learn because of my ability to speak multiple languages.

1 2 3 4 5

3) I think that I have been given an advantage to succeed in life because of my linguistic knowledge.

1 2 3 4 5

4) I am happy that I was brought up with this ability.

1 2 3 4 5

5) I feel disadvantaged because of my ability to speak multiple languages.

1 2 3 4 5

6) Any comments you would like to add?

7) If you are comfortable disclosing, what languages can you speak?

Thank you so much! I'm happy to answer any questions <3

Oop I just realised my answers were using the 1 to 5 scale the wrong way round 😬 I’ll edit it. Sorry if it messed up any results or anything 😬 @cb40

Knowing how to speak somali aswell as English hasn’t had a single impact on my success. Most opportunities like gcse or jobs would be if you know something like spanish french German and that.

You'd be surprised. The benefits of being fluent in more than one language go far beyond the direct uses of that language. It impacts significantly on the way that your mind works. Chances are the fact that you speak Somali has enhanced other skills and abilities that you don't immediately tie to speaking that language, and it will almost certainly have had some impact on your success. Quite possibly a significant one. This is of course not relevant for your answer to this thread because it's asking about your perception, but I only mention it in case, for example, you decide in future whether to raise your own child bilingual or not. If you have that opportunity, I would absolutely do it without any hesitation. It's a fantastic gift to be able to give a child.

I just feel like there hasn’t been a direct impact. But maybe it will be useful when I’m a social worker and I have clients who only speak somali so it would be useful then. If I have a child I don’t know if I’m gonna speak somali to them tbh. Idk I’ll see

Hiya, I'm doing my EPQ on the effects of bringing a child up to be bilingual. If you were brought up speaking two or more languages, it would be really helpful if you could answer my survey. All names will be anonymised!
Please rate your answers, 1 is strongly agree, 5 is strongly disagree

1) I believe that being brought up bilingual has helped me in school.

1 2 3 4 5

2) I believe that I have an increased ability to learn because of my ability to speak multiple languages.

1 2 3 4 5

3) I think that I have been given an advantage to succeed in life because of my linguistic knowledge.

1 2 3 4 5

4) I am happy that I was brought up with this ability.

1 2 3 4 5

5) I feel disadvantaged because of my ability to speak multiple languages.

1 2 3 4 5

6) Any comments you would like to add?

7) If you are comfortable disclosing, what languages can you speak?

Thank you so much! I'm happy to answer any questions <3

I understand where you're coming from. And certainly in terms of direct impact when using the language you're almost certainly right, because you know when a situation demands direct use or knowledge of Somali language. The point is, to give an example, it may be that a large part of your success has been because you're able to focus very well, or are adept at problem solving, and being bilingual has been shown to enhance those skills. So speaking Somali may have benefited you in terms of enhancing skills that have contributed to your success, even if you're not directly aware that it has done that.

Obviously I wouldn't expect you to know now whether you're going to speak Somali to a child at this point. That's not something you would necessarily have thought of. And there are lots of factors that may play into that decision. But as I say, for when you do reach that point I just wanted to highlight that there are very real benefits for your child in raising them bilingual that go beyond the use of the language itself. But there are potential reasons why you would choose not to do it as well, and ultimately the decision will be yours.