The Benefits of Bilingualism

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.

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 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.

Bilingualism is skill that is gained through life circumstances that does not require some innate skill (Bialystok, 2011). Some of these circumstances could include one’s family, immigration history, or birthplace. The ability to speak and understand more than one language is common among over half the world’s population (Bialystok et al., 2012). In the 1960s, many researchers warned against teaching children more than one language as it many cause confusion and it appeared to have negative effects on a child’s cognitive development (Bialystok, 1988). As research regarding bilingualism has progressed, the effects of bilingualism have been shown to be advantageous compared to monolingual counterparts. Recent studies have even found that bilingualism provides benefits all stages of life (Bialystok, 2011).

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

    Being able to speak another language strengthens cognitive skills. When speaking one language, both of the language systems are active which forces the brain to resolve that conflict (Bhattacharjee). If students learned to speak another language it would strengthen their cognitive skills because the brain would be forced to resolve the internal conflict which, in turn, gives it a workout. Being bilingual is good for strengthening cognitive functions in the brain.

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.

Being bilingual comes along with many benefits and some of those are receiving higher test scores and also being able to converse

Bilingualism makes you more open-minded and sensitive to others. You learn two languages. Most of the time, inflection on certain words and the way you say them may hurt or cause pain, rather than soothe and make happy. Social studies say that bilinguals have an enhanced awareness of other people’s points of view. They learn from early on in their learning of another language that some people take things differently.

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.

The readings of last week deal mostly with bilingualism. As a multilingual myself, I have never thought about all the obstacles that bilinguals are thought to face while growing up in a monolingual society or everything that goes in the process of learning two languages whilst growing up. The article Rearing Bilingual Children in a Monolingual Culture: A Louisiana Experience by Caldas and Caron-Caldas is the first article I have read that provided empirical data on this phenomenon. The article by Caldas and Caron-Caldas piqued my curiosity on this topic not only because I was impressed by what they were able to achieve, but also because I might face the same dilemma in the near future, so I started to read more about this topic; to my surprise,

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.

These days there are more and more people who live in a country where other language than their home language is spoken. This could be due to different reasons, like immigration of the whole family or having married a person from another country. When children are involved most parents would like them to be bilingual, but this does not happen automatically. Some effort is required.

Actually, being bilingual benefits the individual both mentally and physically, promotes cultural awareness, and allows for an individual to be more successful in today’s international world. Dr. Ellen Bialystok, a developmental psycholinguist ranked as Distinguished Research Professor at York University, states that bilinguals have improved memory, decision making, multitasking, and focusing skills. Also, bilingualism allows individuals to acquire a unique cultural awareness, as each language not only carries communication but its cultural, traditions, and values..** (stimulus) Some may question why English-only speakers should speak a foreign language while other countries are promoting their citizens to learn English. However, as the U.S. diversifies and the job market toughens, it is beneficial for individuals to make themselves more valuable to employers. These mental, physical, and social implications of bilingualism are positive and aid the nation would in preserving the cultures that the melting pot U.S. is known for. To promote effective and beneficial bilingualism throughout the nation, dual language immersion programs should be implemented into U.S. school

Bilinguals are often praised by employers for their multi-language skills. With the push for children and adults to become bilingual there is an increase of teaching all around the world. While many are raised bilingual there are still some places that lack in the teachings. The advocators for bilingualism show that the teaching is truly worth it because of all of the benefits in becoming bilingual. While it is clear that there are benefits in regards to communication skills those are not the only benefit that can come from a bilingual education. When using the word bilingualism, people primarily think of language, whether it be basic vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, or communication in general. Not only does bilingualism help for communication, and understanding, but it also helps exercise the brain and improve mental skills. Bilingual learners experience many mental benefits over their lifetimes which are not present in their monolingual counterparts. These benefits range from executive control functions, task dominance, and the offset of Alzheimer’s. However, like everything there are a few down sides to a being bilingual while they rarely affect young learners. Nonetheless, bilingualism can help improve brain capacity and skill just by learning another language. The skills gained in bilingualism are pertinent for everyday life and can help improve achievement in daily life, relative to monolinguals.