🌍 Multilingual Reality Today we live in the world when one country is normally associated with one language while in reality almost all modern societies are multilingual. In some cases it emerged historically. For instance, Russia is a huge multi-ethnic country that is home to more than 270 native languages and recognises Russian as the state language while India has 22 official languages and about 400 local languages and dialects. Canada gives equal status to both English and French whereas tiny Belgium designates three official languages: Dutch, French and German. Plus, everyone has heard that Switzerland is famous for its four languages yet very few will remember the fourth one. It is Romansh, a very specific language with rather limited number of speakers. At the same time many societies have turned into multilingual ones just recently. On the one hand, it has been caused by huge migration flows. Every day, in the streets of the world's largest cities you can definitely hear at least several languages (think about it and count when you are in the underground next time). On the other hand, all of us are somewhat influenced by mostly English-speaking globalised economy. Even if one does not speak English fluently, he or she cannot avoid the arrival of new words into their vocabulary from social media trends. Meanwhile, when it comes to professional communities, it appears to be a norm that many of the terms they use are English borrowings. ✨ Yet what unites old and new multilingual communities? The answer is what linguists call code-switching where code means language. People who normally live in a multilingual environment often switch freely from one language to another, even within one sentence. This can be a word or even a whole phrase that is easier said in another language as it appears be more precise and meaningful or if a person's mother tongue lacks the exact expression. I am quite sure this happens to you all rather frequently. 🌐 My story As for me, code-switching has always been in my life, even during the first 22 years when I had no idea of this term. I was born and raised in Moldova that used to be called 'the Russian empire in miniature' due to its rich ethnic diversity, and this is still true today. Although my family is Russian-speaking, every day I used to hear someone speaking Moldovan, Bulgarian or Ukrainian around me. As a result, my vocabulary was always full of varied expressions from all these languages so code-switching became second nature to me. Years later, after I had started enhancing my English skills and learning Italian at university, I gained a much deeper understanding of what languages mean. To put it in a nutshell, every new language we learn is a way to look at the world through the eyes of one or even several nations and, perhaps, understand it slightly better. So, embrace and enjoy multilingualism! As the saying goes, "The more languages you know, the more you are human".✨