Introduction to Bilingualism (Longman Linguistics Library)

Rating:
Summary: You don't have to be bilingual to enjoy this book
Review: This is a wonderful introduction into bilingualism. This book takes the reader on a journey along the exciting and controversial land of bilingual speakers, countries, researches, and case studies. It includes clear maps and graphs. It is incredible background material for students and a reference for those who have spent some time doing reaserch in any aspect of bilingualism. As you move from chapter to chapter the reading is engrossing and one does not need to interrupt it to check with Oxford English Dictionary for obfuscating words or notions. The text flows. Plus, this book provides a wonderful bibliography that is very useful for linguists, sociolinguists, researchers and students. The reading is enjoyable .

Rating:
Summary: A wee bit out of date.
Review: This was a required text for a course I took in bilingualism. I had high hopes for the book but was unfortunately disappointed at its narrow scope. And, it is horribly out of date. The first chapter, even in its newest edition, refers to Russia as USSR. There are a lot of theories of bilingualism discussed, mostly explained well enough to get the idea. But sometimes, it seems as though the author gets caught up in the explaining and forgets to get to the point. On a positive note, there are numerous examples of bilingual speech presented, many from the author's own experience. The case studies in the latter half of the book are quite interesting as well.

All in all, I would say if you're getting started in the study of bilingualism, this is an okay book to get your feet wet. Howeve, I wouldn't depend solely on this work.