Being Bilingual Benefits

Being bilingual is a tool that can enhance someone’s life tremendously. The development of this tool can happen either simultaneously or successively.

In America, there is a predominant growth in multiple ethnicities and cultural backgrounds; leading to the usage of multiple languages in the American culture. There is a growing need for many people to learn and utilize multiple languages within the workplace and within one 's own personal life. The importance of bilingualism and the knowledge of multiple languages is ever increasing, and therefore becoming more important for the younger generations. The push for knowing multiple languages and becoming bilingual has many potential negative and positive effects.

Having the ability to speak more than one language influences one’ life deeply. Speaking two or more languages can affect someone from being infants to old age. Bhattacharjee continues with, “The bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infancy to old age (and there

Language is an important part of our lives. I remember when I arrived to USA I could speak a little English. I went to school to improve my language, reading and writing skills; even now I am learning my second language, without English I cannot survive in this new environment. Now I am raising my own kids and I want them to have this important skill, this privilege of knowing a second language, language of their parents and grandparents. By looking at studies of bilingual children, research shows how important it is for a child to learn a second language. Raising a bilingual child is a benefit because it improves social skills, academic proficiency, introduces child to a different culture, and prepares for the future.

At an early age, I have always thought not having English as my first language was a disadvantage. I always wish I was born in America where I can have English as my first language so I would easily fit in at school and not have people making fun of mine accent. But now looking back I’m glad that I was be able to still know how to read and write Vietnamese. Being a bilingual is an advantage rather than disadvantage. By knowing two different languages I can be able to help translate to people in the community.

Through the formation of structured language, human beings acquire the ability to share information and ideas, an attribute that sets humans apart from any other species. However, the complexity and the sheer number of languages often make it difficult for individuals from different languages and cultures to understand one another. Learning and understanding more than one language allows one to expand the basic foundation for proficient communication and interpersonal skills. Being bilingual or multilingual enables metalinguistic awareness—to be cognizant and mindful of language and its use—and thereby afford a deeper understanding of another’s language and the need to translate what can otherwise be seen as “foreign” medical jargon into patient friendly term.

This nation is a place where different cultures come together and learn to coexist. From native America, Latinos, Asians and probably other nations that are not well known; they all have something in common which they all are bilinguals. Authors Cisneros, Agosin, Dumas and Tan clearly illustrate that being bilingual has both advantages and disadvantages.

Being bilingual will not only help you communicate with others but also give you many different opportunities. Being bilingual is just not about speaking another language but also learning the culture that comes with it. From the new language you will learn about other traditions, music, food, and overall the way others speak and express themselves. Another thing you can acquire from being bilingual is the chance of getting a better job and develop professionally better. Studies also show that bilinguals express themselves better and that it’s better to start learning a second language at an early age. There is doubts about teaching a children a second language because some people believe that if they teach them a second language at an early age it can cause confusion in the child, and they will end up not being able to learn either one correctly. This information has not yet been proven what studies have shown is the complete opposite which is that a bilingual person has a higher possibility of being successful than a monolingual.

In the summer of 2017, a young man named Justin went to Mexico for the first time to visit family. Justin, speaking only English, struggled to communicate with those around him where the main language spoken in that country is Spanish. Here, being bilingual would sure be handy. Knowing more than one language, becomes beneficial in class, or when people are trying to communicate with each other, or possibly even to order food. Learning a second language should be mandatory for kids and also adults for the advantages they will earn, for a sense of belonging, and also to find ways of teaching others about another dialect.

If you grow up as a bilingual you are often also bicultural. In the article “Advantages of Being Bicultural” François Grosjean lists the benefits of being bicultural as “having a greater number of social networks” and “being aware of cultural differences, taking part in the life of two or more cultures, as well as having “greater creativity and professional success”. That is a fantastic thing. You relate to multiple cultures, you can celebrate holidays effectively and relate to cultural

Language is used every day in our everyday lives all over the world. Marian and Shook state that “language is used to communicate our thoughts and feelings, connect with others, identify culture, and understand the world around us” (Marian & Shook ,2012,para.1) There are many languages all over the world and some people understand more than one language such as understanding both English and Spanish. People that are Bilingual are exceptional in a way that they are intelligent, helpful, and have advantage openers.

This paper will touch upon the positive benefits of bilingualism and how it affects children, during their childhood and well into adulthood. In addition this paper will look into the scientific and general advantages of bilingualism through scientific studies on the subject. This paper will also identify some of the pros and cons of growing up bilingual. Specifically to be cognitive flexibility, metalinguistic awareness, communicative sensitivity, attentiveness and combatting dementia. A new research era began into bilingualism after the research of Peal and Lambert in 1962, this was a break through in research, which proved that kids who were bilingual did better at the tasks than those who were monolingual. Prior to this, bilingualism had been thought to cause negative set backs among children. These setbacks include retardation in children and increased confusion in separating both languages at an early stage. Although this theory has been outdated, bilingualism is still known to cause confusion for a short period of time throughout childhood lifespan. Although bilingualism has its pros and cons, there are more pros than cons. Kids who grow up in a bilingual household are known to experience some confusion separating two languages or infants are known to go through a silent stage. In simple tasks as the “Simon task”, bilingual participants are known to perform better and have faster reaction times. Simon tasks test the individual’s attentive control as well as reaction

As the title suggests, “Speaking in Tongues: The Many Benefits of Bilingualism” is an article that examines the advantages of bilingualism. Due to the nature of the world, a great number of people have acquired the ability to speak more than one language. The author explores the benefits such an ability offers, arguing that bilingual children develop social, linguistic and cognitive skillsets that not only provides a chance to explore different cultures, but raises a child’s awareness of how language functions. The author also weighs on the cognitive aspect; applying the works of Ellen Bialystok to their ( the author’s ) argument. In the author’s view, bilingual children are better at dealing with conflicting cues and assessing information.

A dual language bilingual education strategy is usually employed in public schools. Typically the minority language students and the majority language students are evenly distributed throughout the classrooms. Both languages are used for instruction with evenly distributed 50/50 time. One teacher shall instruct with the home language while other instruction is in English. The two teachers work collaboratively through all the lessons. Since these students are in mainstream education, it is no surprise that most students prefer to use English the majority language. The goals of a dual language program are to develop high levels of proficiency of the first language then subsequently the second language. Consequently, it is desired to

On January 23rd, 2018, Medical News Today published an online news article discussing a study that considers potential benefits of bilingualism on children that have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). There has been an expansion on studies that look at the benefits bilingualism poses on executive functions, which include attentional control, inhibiting behavior and working memory. For the specific study, they decided to test whether kids who are bilingual and diagnosed with ASD can shift between different modes at a smoother rate than monolingual kids with ASD. The study used 40 children, 20 of which were typically developing (10 monolingual and 10 bilingual) and 20 who were diagnosed with ASD (10 monolingual and 10 bilingual).