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The cognitive benefits of multilingualism | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4289 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 9 of 12 09 February 2015 at 4:29am | IP Logged | ||
This is distinctly disturbing. Actually that sounds quite sickening, especially since I have lived in California before, San Francisco to be exact, and I think that most people took at least two years of foreign language, but sadly many stopped at two years. The UK seem to not have dropped to such a ridiculous level as having students all the way up to the end of secondary school learn 0 foreign language, which I consider as bad as not knowing arithmetic by age 17, but the cognitive aspect that is lost I think is tremendously felt, even though Anglophone countries do not see (or most likely, refuse to see) them. As I said, if Anglophone countries, especially the two "big shows" the UK and USA think that English should have its dominance last until the Sun turns into a supernova, their populations, in my opinion, shall suffer severe cognitive disadvantages over countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Andorra, Singapore, etc. I guess that it is a good thing that I would refuse to raise my children in an Anglophone country if I had them... Edited by 1e4e6 on 09 February 2015 at 4:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5261 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 10 of 12 09 February 2015 at 2:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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Obviously, we are here at HTLAL because we like to learn languages. Most of us do so for enjoyment and some for need. Learning a second language to a high level, as we all know, is a lot of hard work and effort. Acquiring such a skill is commendable and something that those of us who have managed to do so have every right to be proud to have accomplished. That doesn't make us superior to our monolingual brethren.
As an anglophone, being able to speak a few foreign languages, gives me a sense of deep pride and accomplishment. I didn't have to learn a foreign language. I don't need to know a second language in order to do my job, find the best information available on the web, enjoy a greater variety of entertainment or broaden my knowledge of the world. I can do that in English quite well. No one in my family speaks a second language and they lead happy and fulfilled lives just the same. Most of my friends are monolingual and their intellect does not suffer due to only speaking English. The ability to speak multiple languages is useful but not a necessity in many places in the world. People learn languages because of need or desire. I happen to be one of the latter category. Just because the vast majority of my fellow anglophones don't feel that same desire or have a need to learn a second language, that doesn't make them, somehow, inherently boorish or malevolent. I don't believe that it makes them less intellectually fit or me "superior" in any way, shape or form. I feel that I benefit greatly from seeing the world through different points of view and perspectives, yes. I have broadened my mind and my world view by having learned languages. If this process has conferred cognitive benefits upon me, great! I do believe learning a second language helps to do that for people but it's not the only way to come to broaden one's mind and intellect or gain cognitive benefits. Any one of my friends or family could learn to speak another language if they were willing to put forth the time and effort involved to do so. The fact that they choose not to doesn't lessen them, or my anglophone society, in my view. Would anglophone society (russophone, lusophone, hispanophone too) be better off if more people could speak a second language and gain the appreciation of other cultures that comes with that skill? Yes. They would also be better off if more were eating a plant-based diet, read philosophy, studied science and math, practiced equanimity and were more environmentally conscious. Being multilingual doesn't magically confer great intellectual prowess, just as the ability to communicate in a single language or understand and speak the other's language doesn't stop wars. Edited by iguanamon on 09 February 2015 at 7:46pm 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6596 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 11 of 12 09 February 2015 at 2:59pm | IP Logged | ||
Um no, Russia doesn't? And chess wasn't part of the main curriculum in the USSR either as fas as I know? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4621 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 12 of 12 10 February 2015 at 5:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm sure the ability to speak several languages does keep the brain active but is it any different to a monolingual person doing crosswords, mental arithmetic or puzzles on a regular basis?
There is a huge amount of incredibly itelligent people who speak only English and I'm sure you could make similar claims about Spanish, Russian, Mandarin and other major languages. I'm all for learning languages but I'm not sure whether they bring special cognitive benefits that can't be gained from other sources. 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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