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Notwithstanding rising interest, a coherent picture of the brain’s representation of two languages has not yet been achieved. In the present meta-analysis we analysed a large number of functional neuroimaging studies focusing on language processing in bilinguals. We used activation likelihood estimation (ALE) to enucleate activation areas involved in bilingual processing and control of different types of linguistic knowledge – lexico-semantics, grammar, phonology – in L1 and L2. Results show that surprisingly, compared to L2, lexico-semantic processing in L1 involves a widespread system of cortico-subcortical regions, especially when L2 is acquired later in life. By contrast, L2 processing recruits regions exceeding the L1 semantic network and relating to executive control processes. Only few regions displayed selective activation for grammar and phonology. Analyses of language switching highlight a functional …