Being bilingual can also allow one to multitask, and ultimately, drastically improve themselves in other subjects. As for the same reason being bilingual prevents Alzheimer's and dementia, it also allows bilinguals to better multitask. Judith Kroll, a distinguished professor of Psychology at Pennsylvania State University, spoke of the connection between multitasking and bilingualism while at the 2011 American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington D.C: “recent research indicates that bilingual speakers can outperform monolinguals … [in areas] such as editing out irrelevant information and focusing on important information” (qtd. in Kroll). Being better at prioritizing tasks and working on multiple projects at one time is what …show more content…
In addition to time saved due to multitasking, time can be saved in other areas because of bilingualism. Through the numerous studies of multilingualism conducted; one interesting side effect rose to the surface: bilingualism affects areas not normally associated with language. It is a contradicting concept that becoming fluent in another language also improves one’s primary language; however, with the plentiful number of scientists, nonetheless, their studies that support this, it is hard to be dubious of the obvious effects of languages. A Swedish student’s Degree Project analyzes English and how it’s learned (Trivat). The author, Sandra Trivat, references some study where elementary level students were required to learn a secondary language. The main hypothesis of the study was that “... children being frequently exposed to high-interest books in the target language [language the students are learning] would more readily acquire the language,”
Speaking a second language can prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s. Being bilingual can improve someone’s skills and brain function. It can also increase your brain size and connectivity. If someone knows more than one language it can help protect their brain against aging and it can help if a second language is learned at a young age. Learning a second language can help people in many ways but the most important thing for people to learn a language is to better their health.
In many studies, bilingual learners' brain can have better attentiveness and the ability to switch tasks than a mono-lingual learner’s brain because of their cognitive ability to control to suppress one language while using another language or switch from one language to another language simultaneously. Bilingualism also positively affects learners' academic progress (Saer, D. J. 1923).
In my opinion bilingualism plays a major role in the educational development of children. This is because research has shown that children who are fluent in their home language are more successful in learning a second language. Furthermore, being bilingual offers greater sensitivity to language, more flexibility in thinking and better ear for listening. It also improves a child’s understanding for the native language. Moreover, knowledge of other languages increases a career of opportunities offering several job options.
Kids that learn a second language at an earlier age tend to have the ability to multitask with ease. In a video called The benefits of a bilingual brain - Mia Nacamulli, she explains how although being bilingual would not make you smarter it does keep your brain healthy and more active and
While some may think that this is not certain studies have proven otherwise. In The Power of a Bilingual Brain, Jeffery Kluger states that, “Research is increasingly showing that the brains of people who know two or more languages….. Multilingual people, studies show, are better at reasoning, at multitasking, at grasping and reconciling conflicting ideas.”(1) Clearly, a bilingual education places students a step ahead not only in their education careers but, as well as in their daily life’s outside school. Jeffery Kluger discusses how a bilingual brain is not necessarily smarter brain, but is a more flexible and practical brain. Evidently, demonstrating to us one of the many benefits of a bilingual
“Cognitive functions can be defined as cerebral activities that lead to knowledge, encompass reasoning, memory, attention, and language that leads directly to the attainment of information and, thus, knowledge” (What are cognitive functions). Many students at Doulos are unaware of the benefits of knowing two languages. Ironically students also don’t know that their own brain and its skills are improving because of their second language. Doulos teaches classes throughout the whole day in both English and Spanish. Students are regularly changing between languages and their brain is always active with both languages. “This constant practice strengthens the control mechanisms and changes the associated brain regions” (Marian, Viorica, and Anthony Shook). People who are bilingual are capable of switching between tasks more efficiently. “For example, when bilinguals have to switch from categorizing objects by color (red or green) to categorizing them by shape, they do so more rapidly than monolingual people, reflecting better cognitive control when changing strategies on the fly” (Marian, Viorica, and Anthony Shook). Students’ cognitive and sensory process skills are more developed due to being bilingual (Marian, Viorica, and Anthony Shook). These improvements allow students to better process and understand information in different environments, thus leading to better
Increasing evidence is that being bilingual is cognitively beneficial.” As the world changes, so does the languages the people use shown by the
The study also showed that the brains of elders who were bilingual worked similarly to young adults. Literacy does not play a role in the effects of bilingualism on the brain (Alban). Some studies have shown that simply attempting to learn a language is enough to have an effect on delaying Alzheimer’s or dementia. The delay in Alzheimer’s and dementia is not due to a good memory, but the ability to focus on the details of a language (Delistraty). Scientists are working on finding out whether being multilingual has even more benefits.
Throughout the years, time has showed us that being bilingual has gain importance and is consider to be more of a necessity now. A brain that understands more than one language is more alert than one who knows just one language. Being bilingual has many benefits. A couple advantages of being bilingual would be greater job opportunities, comfortable traveling and higher test scores.
This study is important as it extremely relevant in the globalized society that we live in today, in addition to the fact that it offers further evidence on the tangible benefits of raising a child to be bilingual that come later in his or her life. Even if the study does not show a clear and convincing correlation between raising a child to be bilingual and higher academic performance in college, I believe that my study will encourage people to think more about the potential benefits of raising a child to be
Bilingualism is a person’s ability to speak two or more languages fluently. Initially it was believed that bilingualism had negative effects on an individual’s intelligence and speech and it was thought that the knowledge of multiple languages would complicate one’s thought processing rather than improve its functioning. This theory
The world has become a global village and that has brought a lot of changes and new work positions into the market. Almost everywhere around the globe, bilingual professionals are in high demand. Also, bilingualism opens up two worlds of experience, job opportunities, literature, resources, and cultural heritage. Bilinguals have the privilege of getting their information from a wider variety of resources. Besides, research has shown that it’s easier for bilingual children to acquire other languages later in life. A study conducted by professors of the Department of Special Education of the University of Haifa, Israel showed that “students who know two languages would have an easier time gaining command of a third language than would students who are fluent in only one language.”
Being bilingual or multilingual can help you receive more opportunities and a more successful job. Being bilingual, or multilingual, is important because you can translate words for other people. For example, bilingualism is very important to me personally because I can help translate words to my mom. Three reasons why being bilingualism is an important skill is because you can learn many words more easily and you won’t struggle with language confusion, you will create and have better relationships with new people, and you have better listening skills than single language speakers. As you will learn, being bilingual or multilingualism can help you in a plethora of ways.
Because of the internationalization trend nowadays, being bilingual definitely is an advantage when it comes to jobs. Most of employers prefer to hire employees with two or more fluent languages, and are willing to pay them a higher salary; but this is not the only perk. the brain gets advantages by speaking two or more languages from improved cognitive skills, which helps it develop denser grey matter, improve decision making skills , and delay the onset of dementia. This can be considered as brain training which pushes your brain more flexible.
Learning a second language at a young age has long-term benefits that can be felt even in old age. As human’s age their brains atrophy, but bilingual people can delay the consequences of this damage. These individuals are constantly experiencing the world using two languages so, while a monolingual person remembers how to ride a bike in one language, a bilingual person stores that memory twice, once in their first language a once in their second. This allows bilingual