A popular quote on bilingualism by Frank Smith states that “One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way”. Bilingualism is the ability to communicate in at least two languages. There are over 43% of countries that has made it mandatory to learn two or more languages and one of such country is Singapore. (ilanguages.org, 2014) Singapore adopted the bilingual policy in 1966. The main aim of the policy was to prepare Singaporeans to be geared up for the global economy. A monolingual society, either in English or Mother tongue would have been a setback. Being monolingual in English would have made Singaporeans to lose their cultural identity and being monolingual in one’s mother tongue language would not allow us to make a living. (Ministry of Education, 2009). Personally, I feel that to have an edge over any other Asian city bilingualism was adopted .This has benefited us, Singaporeans, by allowing us to communicate easily with others around the globe.
Bilingualism eases communication with others around the globe. Bilingualism in Singapore is learning English and a mother tongue language. There are 58 English speaking countries. (carloz, 2014) Singaporeans are able to benefit from this English speaking countries in many aspects such as facing minimal to no communication barriers when travelling to their countries , able to study in their country without any language complications and remain competitive amongst other Asian countries.