Bilingualism and its Benefits
Bilingualism, also termed as “multilingualism” or rather “polyglotism”, refers to a phenomenon whereby an individual learns and is therefore able to speak two or more languages. Moreover, it can also be termed as a fluctuating system in children as well as adults whereby the application of as well as proficiency in more than two languages may change generally depending on exposure to other individuals that use these languages or rather the opportunity to use the languages. On the other hand, the term monolingual refers to the use of a single language. This paper therefore explores in detail the benefits and shortcomings of being bilingual; consequently, determining whether it is more advantageous for children to be bilingual.
Advantages of Being Bilingual
Enhanced Cognitive Skills
Statistics show that bilingual children are more likely to have higher brain development than those who speak only one language. According to research, this is due to the fact that bilingual children are used to juggling and differentiating between two languages and hence their brains are faster and can therefore be able to do more than one tasks at a time and with a high degree of accuracy (Bialystok, 2011). Therefore, one of the cognitive advantages is that bilingual children can multitask; moreover research also indicates that they have a better attention span. Furthermore, children speaking two or more languages are also good or rather better in evaluating things and making decisions more than the monolinguals (Bialystok, 2011).
Research further indicates that another cognitive benefits of children being exposed to more than a single language at a young age, as young as seven months, is that, unlike monolinguals, they tend to adjust easily to environmental changes hence they have better coping abilities and are more open minded to new experiences and things since they tend to have more than a single world view. Bilingual children have also been found to outperform monolinguals on different tasks that call for problem solving, pattern recognition, as well as creating thinking (Bialystok, 2011).
In addition, due to faster cognitive development, children around the age of six are able to remember more things and therefore have a good memory both through words and sight (Raju "Nataraja, 2016). An experiment to test the memory of a group of Dutch children where a matrix mental test was used to try and figure out the amount of information children could store and remember and the results proved that the bilinguals retained more information. This ability to retain information helps the bilingual kids perform better in school work since they remember what they have been taught in class.
Cultural Advantage
Children, who are bilingual, have a sense of belonging by learning their cultural language and therefore can be able to identify with a certain cultural heritage. By teaching a child a cultural language from an early age that are able to grow up knowing their roots and hence have a sense of belonging (Rogers, 2018). By knowing their cultural background the children grow up with a higher self-esteem which also promotes mental health even in the future. In addition, research further indicates that bilingual children have knowledge of a second language tend to outperform their monolingual counterparts; thus in their native language (Rogers, 2018). Another benefit experienced by bilingual children is enhanced travelling experiences, concerning this, being able to interact with locals from different countries enables them to immerse themselves in not only their language but also culture; which, in, turn enhances their travelling experiences making them enjoyable.
Improved Social Skills
Language is important in communication for all human beings and therefore having more than one language to communicate becomes an upper hand in interacting with others. Psychologists also discovered that not only does being bilingual from an early age benefit mentally but also benefits one socially (Lauridsen, 2016). A study was made to prove that bilingual children were more socially active than monolingual ones whereby, most of the bilingual children preferred taking bananas held by an adult while for the monolinguals they shied away and most picked the bananas that were not being held by an adult (Lauridsen, 2016). The comparative social advantage of bilingual children makes them blend in easily even in later days and this comes with its own advantage such as getting jobs easily and fitting in new social environments.
Health Benefits
People, who grow up as bilinguals, have a health advantage compared to those, who grow up learning one language in that they are healthy mentally and therefore prevents or delays diseases such as stroke and Alzheimer ( Bialystok,2011). Study shows that old age mental diseases are delayed for bilinguals who grew up learning two languages from a young age since their brains were more active before and therefore do not fail soon leading to late discovery than the monolinguals. Numerous research have also linked bilingualism with the delayed onset of dementia, moreover, other health benefits associated with being bilingual is the fact that it promotes lower stress levels as well as faster stroke levels during old.
More Employment Opportunities
Another major benefit associated with being bilingual is the fact that in the highly globalized modern work, speaking more than a single language provides more employment benefits. Concerning this, being bilingual to a great extent means there are more work-related opportunities which is highly dependent on the languages spoken (The Hurley School.Org, n.d.). Workplace communication has also been considered as one of the critical components of all business organizations, especially international organizations; hence, bilingual employees are considered as a high priority during the hiring process. Furthermore, fast growing fields in the contemporary world such as those of journalism, tourism, the healthcare industry as well as translation are placing great value on bilingual employees. Research further indicates that having additional languages in one’s resume tends to give bilinguals an added advantage, consequently increasing their chances of getting hired as compared to their counterparts’; monolingual applicants, with the same qualifications.
Disadvantages of Being Bilingual
Difficult to Manage the Two Languages
In most cases during multi-tasking one suffers over the other, and this is no different in bilingualism. When one learns two languages, they are obviously better in one than the other. Combining the two has proven to be difficult for most bilinguals, as one tends to neglect one at the expense of the other, especially for young children, who are learning the two new languages at the same time. The children can also get mixed up with the two languages at the beginning before they learn and adapt, (Linguistic Society, 2012).
May Promote Division
Language serves as an important role in promoting peace but also causes division when people do not speak in one language. Bilinguals may tend to separate themselves from the monolingual as they feel different and therefore may spend most of the time with their own, (Vittana, 2018). Also monolinguals may seclude themselves from bilinguals causing division between both parties.
Conclusion
Although they are a number of disadvantages associated with bilingualism, these disadvantages are to a great extent insignificant and can easily be mediated or rather dealt with easily. Therefore, this paper concludes that being bilingual is far more advantages as compared to being monolingual, concerning this, some of the benefits associated with bilingualism include the fact that it promotes better health, improves social skills, provides a cultural advantage, provides more employment opportunities, and promotes or rather leads to enhanced cognitive skills.
References
:Bialystok E., (2011). Coordination of executive functions in monolingual and bilingual children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 110(2011) pp. 461-468
Bialystok E., (2011). Reshaping the Mind: The Benefits of Bilingualism. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(4), pp. 229-235
Lauridsen H., (2016). The Increasing Benefits of Bilingualism: Cognition, Health, and Social Skills. Novak Djokovic Foundation. Retrieved from: https://novakdjokovicfoundation.org/the-increasing-benefits-of-bilingualism-cognition-health-and-social-skills/
Linguistic Society, (2012). Raising Bilingual Children. Linguistic Society. Retrieved from: https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/faq-raising-bilingual-children
Raju S. " Nataraja N., (2016). Assessment of working memory in bilingual children. Indian Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(2), pp. 159-165
Rogers K., (2018). The Benefits of Being a Bilingual child. Kids Listen. Retrieved from: https://www.abc.net.au/kidslisten/ideas/earlylearning/benefits-of-being-a-bilingual-child/9442508
The Hurley School.Org. (n.d.).The Bilingual Advantage. Retrieved from; https://hurleyschool.org/en/bilingual-advantage
Vittana, (2018). 14 Pros and Cons of Bilingual Education. Vittana. Retrieved from: https://vittana.org/14-pros-and-cons-of-bilingual-education
