language, regardless of the circumstances, is going to have a difficult time of it. There is simply too much evidence that interference and negative transfer are inevitable for the bilingual to a far greater extent than for the monolingual. In addition, of course, there is the obvious point that the bilingual has more to learn, phonemically, semantically and grammatically than the monolingual. The point, then, is that it will never be possible to make the learning task as easy for the bilingual as it is for the monolingual. But this does not imply that the task for both cannot be made considerably easier than it usually is. I have attempted to suggest some of the processes and problems which are involved in learning a language and some of the special problems which may arise for the individual trying to learn not one but two languages. It would be risky to suggest solutions to the problems raised. As was noted earlier, we know far too little about language learning in general and still less about bilingualism. I think there is hope that in the future we will know enough about these problems to feel confident in making some suggestions about ways in which they might be alleviated. The promise which Haugen (1956) saw in the psychological approach to language and bilingualism is still there. But it will still have to be fulfilled in the future. REFERENCES