We know that learning a language greatly improves our quality of life, but are bilingual students smarter?
We can estimate that more than half of the population in the entire world is bilingual. But there are many differences in defining who is genuinely bilingual.
Can only people who speak two languages natively be considered bilingual? Or does only speaking fluently in two languages make you bilingual?
What about those who speak a dialect and also a language?
As bilingual specialist Professor Francois Grosjean says: “What is important to keep in mind is that bilinguals are very diverse, as are monolinguals.”
So, let’s find out what it means to be a bilingual person and if that truly makes you smarter.
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What Does It Means to Be a Bilingual Person?
Beyond knowing how to speak a second language, being bilingual is something we carry with us everywhere and at all times.
From the moment we can express ourselves in a second language, bilingualism is part of our lives, taking us to new places and experiences.
Some people create strong ties to the culture of the second language they’re learning. Part of it means researching the culture or getting closer to a new world.
Also, learning a second language fills you with emotions that you get to live fully when you travel to another country. Additionally, you get to experience firsthand the culture, how people live, and why they express themselves the way they do.
Cool, huh?
Just imagine learning Italian and traveling to Italy when their soccer team won the World Cup in 2006.
It’s something unforgettable! Surely you would celebrate it as if you were 100% Italian, and they would also embrace you as one.
This is what being bilingual is all about. To feel part of another culture, to learn new things, and open your mind to new experiences. You can do this just by learning a new language.
The fact that they encourage your children to learn Spanish or a second language at school is no coincidence.
Over 500 million people worldwide consider Spanish as their native tongue. This gives your children a more competitive background because they will speak two of the most spoken languages worldwide: English and Spanish.
Also, this means your children will have double the opportunities to succeed professionally and socially.
And if they decide to learn a third language, even better!
You can already see why some people think that bilingual students are smarter!
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Does Learning a Language Makes You Smarter?
Speaking one language or more helps students with their cultural and social connections. In addition, it provides benefits to their cognitive abilities.
According to the researcher Viorica Marian, bilingualism benefits both kids and adult students.
Bilingual children aged seven months can adjust better to the changes around them, while bilingual adults experience less cognitive decline as they age.
Researchers Viorica Marian and Anthony Shook have carried out tests on the cognitive benefits of being bilingual.
They observed that when a bilingual person uses one language, the other is also active.
The brain receives words in a sequence. So, when it gets a word, it activates other words simultaneously, no matter what language people speak.
For example, if you hear the word Con, in Spanish, probably the brain will activate words like “congress”, “construction” or build a bridge toward “contacto” and “concierto,” also in Spanish.
Bilingual brains depend on their executive functions to process attention and inhibition to maintain the balance between the two languages.
Since both languages are active and competing, the brain uses this mechanism whenever the student speaks or listens. This strengthens the control mechanisms and the brain regions associated with this process.
Bilinguals can also quickly perform tasks that require conflict management.
Ignoring irrelevant information and focusing on what is relevant is called inhibitory control. Bilinguals are better than monolinguals at this.
Bilinguals can also switch between two tasks faster than monolinguals.
A clear example is when a person is asked to categorize objects by color and then immediately asked to order them by shape. They’ll do it without a problem.
This reflects better cognitive control when there is a change in strategy, in which monolinguals are not as skilled.
Impact of Bilingualism on Academic Performance
Being bilingual can also bring multiple academic benefits.
The cognitive enhancement and mental processing caused by the bilingual experience can help a person process information better, leading to more profound and precise learning.
Because of the ability the brain has gained by becoming bilingual gives adults an advantage in learning a third language to their repertoire.
This ability will allow them to use newly-learned words and expand their vocabulary easily. This is completely different from those who speak a single language.
Researchers have found that bilingualism positively influences attention and conflict management in children as young as seven months.
This suggests that no matter how young they are, constant contact with bilingual or multilingual environments will give them advantages beyond just speaking a new language.
Bilingual students also gain specific pre-reading skills much faster than their monolingual peers.
This is linked to metalinguistics since bilingual students develop metalinguistic skills earlier than the rest of the group.
Linguists believe that the fact that children are familiar with several languages from an early age makes them understand the structure of words better.
This helps students develop phonological awareness abilities and essential pre-reading skills.
Read also: Why Spanish Should Be Your First Step to Becoming a Polyglot
Bilingualism Beyond Cognitive Advantages
Although it was suggested in the past that dual language learners might show signs of slow development, recent studies have proven otherwise.
Bilingual o multilingual people have at their disposal unique characteristics that they have developed by learning one, two, or more languages.
Learning a second language can drastically change a student’s academic and professional career.
By knowing more languages, the chances of getting into college or receiving scholarships for a master’s or doctorate are higher. This is because people can choose to do it in another country and earn a degree in their second language.
The opportunity to apply to other jobs in a second or third language expands the possibility of finding a better job in the same country or abroad.
Even if they work for a company in their native language, knowing how to speak a second language can help people coordinate new projects with other subsidiaries, engage in conversations and deals with foreign clients, and strengthen working ties with partners.
Amazing!
But, besides work and school benefits, bilingualism can help students of any age be part of a community and learn about other cultures.
They will be more aware of what is happening worldwide, empathize with other countries’ realities, and tear down walls that separate nations to have more friends.
In addition, they will be more secure and confident in themselves to travel!
Other benefits of being bilingual include self-discipline, perseverance, creativity, multitasking, and conflict resolution.
See also: Child Bilingualism: Language Mixing vs Code-Switching
Let’s Learn a Second Language and Improve Your Skills!
Although it’s difficult to define intelligence, learning a new language does give you some fascinating advantages in navigating and improving all aspects of a student’s life.
Today we learned that being bilingual or multilingual gives many benefits and keeps our brain young by keeping it active, constantly analyzing, and learning.
However, we are sure that one way to make obtaining a new language much more efficient is by immersing yourself in the right environment.
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