WiPjobs’s Team
Writer @ WiPjobs Recruitment
Some Surprising Facts About Being a Bilingual You Must Know
Are You Bilingual? You Must Know This Then!
According to the survey researched by the European Commission, there are more than half of the European can be able to speak another language other than their native language. Also, reports by the Associated Press inform that there are 66% of children around the world growing as learning a second language.
How many language can you speak? If you are bilingual, what positive experience and struggles have you experienced? What is your motivation for learning the second language?
Let WiPJobs share with you why being bilingual is one of the most excellent choices you have made.
3 benefits of being a bilingual to your cognitive brain
1. Bilingualism is affected efficiently to the brain’s monitoring systems
Because of being able to switch between 2 languages simultaneously, the bilingual person is getting used to developing cognitive skills on the control system such as multitasking and memory-tasking.
According to the Nature Reviews Neuroscience (published online 17 April 2014), examining the monolinguals and bilinguals’ brains in high demand situation, the bilingual individuals responded faster, even with the task not relating to language. Bilingual people also came up with more creative problem-solving solutions.
2. Bilingualism has higher density of grey area
The Neurology examined 211 consecutive patients with probable Alzheimer disease and they found out that the bilingual patients had reported the symptoms 5.1 years later than monolingual patients. This means bilingual speakers go through less brain degeneration and are less likely to suffer from dementia and cognitive diseases.
Studying and being able to speak the second language has an important influence on the structural of cortical and subcortical structures in the brains.
3. Improving linguistic skills
Researchers suggest that once a child learns another foreign language, it is easier for them to continue to pick up another one. However, this insight still needs some deeper insight. Though, it is apparent that after learning a language, it is easier for the learner to pick up the new words, connect and associate with words to make a full sentence, enhance listening and communication skills.
What about… the drawback of being bilingual is?
You may be surprised because of being bilingual also has a drawback. However, it is just a minor problem but it is still worth considering.
The PsycArticles Vol 16 article reported a study between Spanish-English bilinguals and English monolinguals. In this study, 2 groups completed 12 semantic, 10 letter and 2 proper name fluency categories. Surprisingly, even though the bilingual people pick up the new words and learn a new language faster, they know fewer words of any semantic categories compared to those speak one language only. It is understandable as they spend more time to discover another language rather than focusing on one as the monolingual.
Even though there is a cost of learning the second language, the benefits still outweigh. The benefit is not only in brain aspect, being a bilingual speaker are also easier to connect to the diversity of a new culture and a new world as Ludwig Wittgenstein saying.
If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.
Ludwig Wittgenstein