Draft

Benefits of Multilingualism

Zamir Asliev

University of Cincinnati Blue Ash

February 7, 2018

In my research project, I want to research about the benefits of multilingualism. I am interested in this topic because I speak four languages fluently. I want to what possible benefits it has. I want to research about how knowing and speaking more than one language has positive impact in life? What kind of disadvantages it might have? Why is it good to be raised as a bilingual? Are bilinguals really smarter than monolinguals? Why is it easy for bilinguals to learn a third language? I have written an essay about some benefits of multilingualism in the past. It was overly general essay and simply descriptive. However, now I would like to learn and research many more benefits or disadvantages of multilingualism in depth. When I was searching for reliable and credible sources I came across many articles that talk about many other benefits about bilingualism or multilingualism. I do not want to write only about the benefits of multilingualism because everything has its both bright and dark side. I can say this because knowing and speaking so many languages sometimes gets confusing and you might not make sense about what you are saying. For example, one sentence can make sense in one language but it certainly will not because you might have to change or add some other words in order to make sense. Even bilingual people can confirm that this is true. Another downside I have heard but have not done a research about it is that raising a child in a foreign country which the kids will learn foreign outside the home but at home the native language. This slows down the process of speech in that child.

Bhattacharjee, Y. (2012). Why bilinguals are smarter. New York Times. Retrieved January 30, 2018, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?src=me&ref=general

Ability to speak more than one language has many practical benefits rather than simply earning multilingual status, and one of them, according to Bhattacharjee’s article on New York Times, is their higher intellectual level. In the research, scientist have tested intellectual levels of monolingual versus bilingual infants. They were assigned two similar tasks such as ordering items by color and then by shape. In the first task, they both monolingual and bilingual infants learned equally. However, in the second task bilingual infant adept it more quickly than monolingual. Bhattacharjee asserts, “… bilinguals perform better than monolinguals even at tasks that do not require inhibition, like threading a line through an ascending series of numbers scattered randomly on a page.” The reason behind this ability is that bilinguals switch between languages on regular basis therefore they adapt on new task easily and quickly.

Bhattacharjee is a writer who has many works with major publications and scholarly journal. He has written for The New York Times Magazine(NYT), National Geoghraphic and scholarly journal Science. While he was working at Science, his team has received the Nobel Prize. His approach to the topic is to identify that bilinguals are slightly smarter than monolinguals at certain tasks. This source is very useful to my research project as I am researching the benefits of multilingualism. It has relevant insights that relates to my research topic as well as the information provided in the article is credible. This article is objective because in the article researchers have shown results from the intellectual test on infants. This article gave me the information that multilinguals are somewhat smarter than monolinguals, yet it is not the only benefit of multilingualism.

Diamond, J. (2010, October 15). "The Benefits of Multilingualism." Science, vol. 330, no. 6002, pp. 332-333. EBSCOhost, doi:10.11261/science.1195067

Multilingualism has many intellectual and health benefits alongside being able to speak more than one language. It can prevent you from symptoms of Alzheimer’s, and switch between languages or tasks with no complications. Until 1960’s, people have been told that raising a bilingual child causes negative cognitive effects, and they tended to raise their children with one language (Diamond, p.332, 2010). However, recent study showed that was not the case. Instead, bilingual children have same perception or more as monolingual children. When they both monolingual and bilingual children given the same task, their comprehension was same but when it was opposite bilinguals learned after a couple trials whereas monolinguals could not. Additionally, it can delay the Alzheimer’s as Diamond reports, “Hence, you may be more impressed by recent results suggesting a protective effect of lifelong bilingualism against symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.” The reason is that when monolinguals do no use that part of the brain, which bilinguals do, the cells start to degenerate (die) and it causes dementia. Therefore, when a person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s tend to play brain soaking games like Sudoku but it is a brain exercise for a moment whereas bilinguals use their brain all the time which proves why they are less likely to get dementia.

Diamond is an American scientist. He was also known for his popular science books and have received numerous awards. He studied anthropology, ecology, geography and evolutionary biology. He wrote this article (my source) in a scholarly journal called “Science.” The article was published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on October 15, 2010. AAAS was founded in 1848 and it was the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society with about 130,000 members. His approach to topic is to inform people about benefits of multilingualism, and it will not cause any cognitive confusion in children growing up as bilingual.

The source is very relevant and credible as it is from a scholarly journal, it has an author and date as well as relevant references to back up his argument in the article. This is an objective article which is written based on facts and scientific researches. Also, this source fits in my research project very well because it talks about some of the benefits of multilingualism. It also has similar attributes as the other sources I’m using in this essay.

Hedges, C. (1991, January 05). Growing Up In 2 Languages. Retrieved February 04, 2018, from http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/06/education/growing-up-in-2-languages.html

Children who grow up in a bilingual family and environment usually face many issues in their lives while their monolingual companions are saved. They can feel disconnected in both languages and societies when floating between languages. Also, it may cause child-parent relationship if the parents ask their children to speak only one language. In order to prevent the issues Hedges suggests, “Educators also say that parents should not limit vocabulary and concepts in either language, even if the child fails to grasp all that is being said.” For example, if Spanish speaking parents utilize Spanish only at home their children have higher chance to learn both languages simultaneously. Who do not utilize as much as their native language at home have more likelihood that their children will adapt only one language where they live in.

Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist as well as New York Times best-selling author. He has written many books, and some of them were featured in NYT. Hedges himself is a multilingual and speaks more than five languages. He’s also a professor and taught at many universities in the US and Canada. His approach to the topic is that to inform people, especially bilingual families, about the implication of raising a child by bilingual parent or foreign country may cause some issues in a child’s intellectual and emotional development.

This source has similar attributes as the other sources I used. It gave me information about raising a child in bilingual environment can become problematic in some cases so, I became aware that multilingualism has its side effects as well as benefits. No matter the issues it has bigger benefits in the later life because those issues are temporary. In most cases they disappear. Also, the source is credible and relevant to my topic, author has clear credential to confirm the claims in the article and the website was updated in 2018 which makes it even more trustworthy.

Kurtz, A. (2013). The hottest job skill is… CNN Money. Retrieved on January 30, 2018 from http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/30/news/economy/job-skills-foreign-language/

Accoring to CNN Money, translating and interpreting was one of the hottest and fastest growing job in 2013 (Kurtz, 2013). Therefore, another benefit of multilingualism is to earn more money and have financial freedom. At the time, multilinguals made the most money of all, especially the ones who worked in the government agencies such as, CIA and FBI, and the speakers of the Middle East and African countries. On top of financial freedom, Kurtz adds, “Most interpreters and translator work on a freelance basis, which can be both a blessing and a curse”, some of them had flexible schedules where they worked as an independent contractor but some other were called whenever they were needed.

Annalyn Kurtz is a business journalist with MBA master’s degree in journalism from Columbia Business School. She has works with NYT and CNN Money. Her approach to topic is to inform multilinguals can make more money than they think, especially if they are brave enough to work for CIA and FBI, and speak Middle Eastern or African languages. The source gives information that relates to my research topic but focuses mainly on financial benefit of multilingualism. It can help me to make my argument even more stronger and credible. The source very relevant and credible as it was published recently on one of the trusted websites, and the author has clear credentials and relevant reference for the article. The goal of the source is that multilinguals can have a job on their own environment and get paid for only what they do. They can stay at home and translate.

Laget, A. (2015). How does your brain work when learning foreign languages? Wolfstone. Retrieved on January 30, 2018 from http://www.wolfestone.co.uk/blog/brain-work-learning-foreign-languages/

According to Wolfstone, anybody can learn another language but it is more difficult for monolinguals as they use all their brain power to achieve their goal whereas for bilinguals or children it is a little bit less stressful. Because, children have Super-Brains, which means that their brain is not fully developed and able to learn any language they are exposed to without any difficulties or having accents as the adults do (Laget, 2015). The reasons for that is adults who are bilingual would go through the same progress once again and their brain already know what to do, as well as their memory and cognitive vision is more developed than monolinguals but they are less likely to be accent-free speaker. Therefore, it is easier for them to learn a third language. Nevertheless, monolinguals still can learn another language with utilizing some tips Laget suggests, “Living for several months or years in a foreign country is the best way to learn a language since you get the opportunity to hear different sound systems every day. Thus, you get used to speaking the targeted language faster.” Additionally, monolinguals can try to think and speak to themselves in the language they are learning because it improves their accent and speech frequency.

Laget is a marketing intern and web content writer at Wolfstone. She writes two blog posts per week for UK and US. She has a degree in Master of Science (MSc) and worked as cultural ambassador at Randolph Macon College. Her approach to the topic is to identify that everyone can learn a new language but it is much easier for bilinguals or children.

The source very useful as one of my classmates interested me in this via asking a question. It has similar points as other sources I am using in this essay. Also, it is a credible and relevant source that fits my research project because it has an author clear credentials, date is recent and the website is updated in 2018, and has relevant references to back up her claims in the article. I think this source is biased because it written based on research articles rather than displaying the research in the article. After reading this article, I became aware of that it is easier for bilinguals to learn another language.

Ramirez, N. (2016). Why the baby brain can learn two languages at the same time. The Conversation. Retrieved on January 30, 2018 from https://theconversation.com/why-the-baby-brain-can-learn-two-languages-at-the-same-time-57470

Learning a new language made adults aware of its difficulties and confusions but why when a toddler raised in a bilingual environment mixes up the word between languages is assumed a confusion? According to The Conversation, Ramirez reports that it is not true because who as children undergo two or more languages from birth become native speakers of those languages whereas adults struggle to gain fluency in a foreign language. Acquiring a language for babies starts even before they are born and babies can differ or hear about 800 sounds (Ramirez, 2016). Later they will stick with the language they hear the most. However, bilingual parents have been concerned about whether their children may confuse the languages and not learning fast enough as their monolingual companions. In order to prove that they all learn at the same rate Ramirez asserts, “We found that the bilingual babies showed an equally strong brain response to English sounds as the monolingual babies. This suggests that bilingual babies were learning English at the same rate as the monolingual babies.” Additionally, some other parents think that their children may have smaller vocabulary; this can be true because they are learning two or more languages at the same rate but they have words to borrow from their second language and this makes them equal to monolingual babies.

Ramirez is a research scientist at University of Washington and she holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics and Cognitive Science from the University of California. She researches on understanding the brain-based mechanism of language acquisition. Her approach to the topic is that ti inform people raising a child bilingually does not confuse them. Instead, it makes it easier for them to learn two or more languages and have stronger intellectual abilities.

The source fits my research project very well because it points out that learning two languages at the same time does not cause confusion. Instead, it has some positive benefits like, gaining fluency in both languages. This source has very similar attributes to two of my other sources I used in this essay. The information is credible and relevant because it has an author who researches linguistics specifically, the date is recent and website is updated in 2018, and has relevant references to back up her arguments in the article. It ensured that adults sometimes get confused between languages they speak which I thought it happens only to me.

Ouzia, J & Folke, T. (2018, January 19). There are also drawbacks to being bilingual. The Conversation. Retrieved February 07, 2018, from https://theconversation.com/there-are-also-drawbacks-to-being-bilingual-56726

Multilingualism has been very popular for its intellectual benefits alongside delaying or preventing symptoms related to dementia. However, according to The Conversation it also has a downside related to emotion. In the research, they have tested both the monolingual and the bilingual in a particular task where they were supposed to represent which of the two circles contained the more dots in them. As a result, they both were able to tell or differentiate which circle had the most but the bilinguals felt less confident with their performance whereas monolinguals did better. “Confidence in their ideas and performance can be the determining factor in whether they decide to keep investing time in their company or give up and apply for another job (the so-called “exploitation exploration trade-off”).” says Ouzia and Folke. This explains that monolinguals are better at making decision especially immediate decision where bilinguals lack at this point, and they take more time to decide.

Both authors Ouzia and Folke are PhD candidates. Ouzia specifically researches the cognitive functioning of people who speak two or more languages. While Folke focuses on the role of confidence in human decision-making. Their approach to topic is that bilingualism causes some emotional effects which is metacognition. This article is credible and relevant to research topic as it has authors with clear credentials, the date is recent and it is a second source from the website I have used before as well as relevant references are cited in the article. This source has an alternative attribute relating to other sources I have used in this essay. I would use this article as an example of alternative argument in my research project to show that not everyone agrees with my arguments, and to show why my argument is stronger than this or why people should believe me.