Trilingual Benefits
Lera Boroditsky says the language we speak shapes the way we think. Then, what happens when people speak two languages? Do bilinguals think differently from monolinguals?
Cognitive neuroscientists studying bilingualism have begun to change their opinion about how bilingualism affects the brain.
There is a big difference in the way monolingual and bilingual children process language. If you give 5- and 6-year-olds language problems to solve, the linguistic knowledge of monolingual and bilingual children is about the same.
But on one point, there is a difference. Ask the children if an illogical sentence is grammatically correct—for example, “Oysters wear sneakers.” The monolingual children will answer, “That’s silly.” But the bilingual children will say, “It’s silly, but it’s OK grammatically.” The bilinguals have the ability to pay attention to the grammatical structure of the sentence and ignore what the sentence means.
There’s an executive control system in the brain that works like a general manager. Its job is to keep you focused on what is important. If you know two languages and you use them regularly, every time you speak, both languages pop up and the executive control system has to sort through everything and attend to what’s important at the moment. Bilingual people use this system more frequently, which makes it more efficient. It serves as a kind of brain exercise which makes the brain stronger.
For a long time—up until about the 1960s—conventional wisdom held that bilingualism was a disadvantage. Bilinguals were thought to be deficient in both languages. We now know that the opposite is true. Bilinguals have a definite advantage over monolinguals. Bilingualism strengthens cognitive abilities. Bilingual people tend to be more creative and flexible. They also find it easier to focus on a variety of tasks simultaneously.
However, don’t imagine that just taking a foreign language course in high school is going to make your brain stronger. If you want to grow your brain, you must constantly use the foreign language you are learning. You won’t get the bilingual benefit from occasional use. To repeat, you must use it regularly. You can start today—writing a diary, listening to a podcast, reading news articles, or creating a video. It may be tough to keep exercising your brain, but it will be rewarding in the end.
Lera Boroditsky says the language we speak shapes the way we think. Then, what happens when people speak two languages? Do bilinguals think differently from monolinguals?
Cognitive neuroscientists studying bilingualism have begun to change their opinion about how bilingualism affects the brain.
There is a big difference in the way monolingual and bilingual children process language. If you give 5- and 6-year-olds language problems to solve, the linguistic knowledge of monolingual and bilingual children is about the same.
But on one point, there is a difference. Ask the children if an illogical sentence is grammatically correct—for example, “Oysters wear sneakers.” The monolingual children will answer, “That’s silly.” But the bilingual children will say, “It’s silly, but it’s OK grammatically.” The bilinguals have the ability to pay attention to the grammatical structure of the sentence and ignore what the sentence means.
There’s an executive control system in the brain that works like a general manager. Its job is to keep you focused on what is important. If you know two languages and you use them regularly, every time you speak, both languages pop up and the executive control system has to sort through everything and attend to what’s important at the moment. Bilingual people use this system more frequently, which makes it more efficient. It serves as a kind of brain exercise which makes the brain stronger.
For a long time—up until about the 1960s—conventional wisdom held that bilingualism was a disadvantage. Bilinguals were thought to be deficient in both languages. We now know that the opposite is true. Bilinguals have a definite advantage over monolinguals. Bilingualism strengthens cognitive abilities. Bilingual people tend to be more creative and flexible. They also find it easier to focus on a variety of tasks simultaneously.
However, don’t imagine that just taking a foreign language course in high school is going to make your brain stronger. If you want to grow your brain, you must constantly use the foreign language you are learning. You won’t get the bilingual benefit from occasional use. To repeat, you must use it regularly. You can start today—writing a diary, listening to a podcast, reading news articles, or creating a video. It may be tough to keep exercising your brain, but it will be rewarding in the end.