Q: If people speak more than one language, is what they know different in each language? Does each language provide a different framework for reality?
A: Knowledge, in my opinion, is everything that you have learned and experienced throughout your life. Therefore, knowledge isn’t necessarily different in each language, but there can be more or less things that you know in a different language. In a primary language which you may learn in or speak/read/write in, you may be more well informed with that language rather than a secondary or third language which a learner may not have greater learning or knowledge in. When I was a child growing up, my primary language was Portuguese, and therefore my experiences with that language caused my knowledge to be in that language, with those experiences. However, now that my primary language is English, and it's the language that I most commonly read and write and speak with, my knowledge is incorporated with this language. As an IB learner taking HL French, I also have gained knowledge in this language, because with language comes learning about culture and way of life of the people who speak that language, as it was for me when I grew up speaking Portuguese, which also allowed me to learn about my own culture and the ways that my parents and people from my country lived.
