This report discussed this question “Do Bilinguals Achieve Better Than Monolinguals” in terms of the academic intelligence, enhanced cognitive control and improvement of learning. What has been found is that bilinguals are excellent at paying attention, taking off irrelevant information and selecting between several solutions to a problem. Moreover, they have higher consciousness of the language they speak, greater ability to focus on the form of language itself, abstracting away from meaning. They also have the ability to focus on information related to the new language they learn which would help them in accessing more new words and leading to larger gains in vocabulary than those experienced by
Speaking the native language also gives you the confidence in talking with the natives when asking for directions. Those able to speak multiple languages allows them to travel internationally and experience other cultures that monolinguals wouldn’t have the chance to do. Traveling abroad gives bilingual speakers the opportunity to be explore new hobbies and discover foreign films, food, books, and music expanding their views on world cultures. Being bilingual helps individuals be more involved with what’s going on around them as they can understand what the people surrounding them are saying (Kruschewsky 2017). Overall, the ability to travel somewhere knowing the language makes your vacation more enjoyable as you don’t need to spend time deciphering the text or using Google Translate every second.
A person that speaks two languages, especially with equal fluency, is called bilingual. Those who speak more than two languages are called multilingual. Nowadays, many persons use two languages, or three in some cases, because societies are evolving and knowing many languages is more than necessary. Bilingualism is seen as brain-sharpening benefit, and parents encourage children to acquire two languages in the interest of a properly brain development. Bilingual experience is a significant theme of this paper and numerous things must be stated.
Today, more than 150 major research studies confirm the cognitive advantages of bilingualism. Longitudinal studies by Harvard University say that beginning to learn a second language can increase critical thinking skills, creativity and flexibility of the minds in young children, but it’s never too late to increase your own proficiency. Physiological studies have found that speaking two or more languages is a great asset to the cognitive and linguistic performance across a life span. The brains of bilingual people function differently than monolingual speakers, and these differences present a number of intellectual benefits. Speaking a foreign language makes people more intelligent, it improves the performance of the brain by challenging it to make distinctions, negotiate meaning, and communicate in additional language
Analyzing the influence of the language that we speak on the ways we express our feelings and discovering the links between different languages appears to be essential, particularly, nowadays, when the vast majority of the people throughout the world tend to change homes each year. In my opinion, it is fairly important to be able to convey emotions as accurately as it is possible. Anna Wierzbicka’s article, which touches the theme of multilingualism and emotions, throws a new light on the vital issues related with the affect that makes a language used for communication on personality and on perception of one’s surrounding. First of all, it is obvious that every language has been formed in different historical background and in various
There are also practical benefits. The more language knowledge significantly helps towards your career as you know. Bilinguals have the privilege of get their information from a wider variety of resources. Also, it has great educational benefit to kids. Many studies suggest that bilingual children tend to have a higher concentration and are better at working through distraction while doing their school work.
Bilingualists are more aware of language differences and are better at learning new languages regarding the connections they make. Furthermore, bilingualists have more flexibility in thought and, in the same time, divergent thought. In addition, bilingualists are more opened to other cultures, are more gentle concerning their attitudes towards minorities. (Life with Two Languages: An introduction to Bilingualism, Francois Grosjean) On the other side, the bilingual experience, even though, at first sight, it may seam to give only advantages, involves several drawbacks, which need to be disscused and taken into consideration when we analyse the concept of bilingualism. On the level of language development, researchers found a variety of problems.
“You can’t see other people’s point of view when you have only one language,” declared psycholinguist, Frank Smith. Just as it is mentioned in this quote, foreign language is important; therefore, people should learn a foreign language at an early age. When learning a foreign language at an early age, it helps people to concentrate and increase comprehension skills. Also, at a young age, the mind is fresh, so the person can take in more information and can easily master a foreign language. In addition, most secondary schools, universities, and jobs require a foreign language to be known.
In a world that is increasingly interdependent, we can no longer afford to remain monolingual. Learning foreign languages is no longer a pastime: it is a necessity. St. John 's University Studies have shown that speaking a second language can improve your cognitive skills, even those that don 't relate to language at all. According to a Harvard study, bilingual babies showed advanced skills in monitoring changes in their environment, compared to monolingual babies. A University of Chicago study showed that thinking in a foreign language helps to reduce biases in your decision-making.
Knowing a second language has a major impact on one’s life. It does not only change his vision on the world, and other cultures, but it also affects his internal psychology, his emotional side which influences furthermore his relationships with other people: relatives, friends and strangers. A bilingual child has a specific cultural and social background. As Ellen Bialystok says, the neighbourhood and the educational arrangement must be taken in consideration when speaking about his language abilities. (Ellen Bialystok, p. 1) The factors that lead to his or her bilingualism “influence the nature of children’s cognitive development.” (Ellen Bialystok, p1).