The ability to speak two languages instead of one has obvious practical advantages in a rapidly globalizing world. In recent years, scientists have found that the benefits of bilingualism are even more fundamental than the ability to communicate with a wider range of people. The ability to speak two languages, as it turns out, makes a person smarter. Thus, the thesis is the following: bilingualism has a strong impact on human brain, improving cognitive abilities, including those not related to language, and protects people from senile dementia in old age.
To begin, it is good to note that bilingualism not always was considered a common good for people. For instance, for a long period researchers, teachers and educators considered the second language an obstacle, speaking in terms of cognitive abilities, which slows down the academic and intellectual development of the person. On the one hand, they were not mistaken about the hindrance: there are many evidences that in the bilingual brain, both language systems are active even when only one of them is currently used, and this creates situations where one system hinders the other. On the other hand, this obstacle also helps a person to become smarter because it causes the brain to solve the internal contradiction, giving the mind a load that strengthens its cognitive muscles. Bilingual experience, apparently, affects the brain throughout the life of a person, from infancy to old age.
Individuals with a higher degree of bilingualism have greater resistance to the appearance of senile dementia and Alzheimer’s symptoms (Lim, 2017). It means that the greater the degree of bilingualism, the later the age of negative symptoms appearance. To explain, bilingualism makes the processing of the language more complex, and a person with bilingualism always chooses between two languages. This situation provokes constant stimulation of the brain, which slows down aging. Thus, bilingualism acts in the same way as formal education and other things that contribute to the cognitive reserve and protect cognitive abilities.
In
conclusion, bilinguals have a pronounced ability to filter information: to
perceive the essence and to filter out unnecessary. They can communicate with
representatives of other nations. They are able to navigate in any situation quickly.
They are more receptive to everything new, as well as knowledge of two
languages helps a person to develop ingenuity and creative thinking. Learning a
foreign language, and becoming a bilingual person is the best way to train
memory, because bilingual people are very attentive. A bilingual person thinks
in an orderly way, clearly sets goals, solves everyday problems and analyzes
difficult situations easily. Thus, it becomes obvious that bilingualism brings
a person incomparable benefits, and the advantages of bilingualism clearly
dominate over its shortcomings. Bilinguals are truly “multitasking” people, and
this is a huge plus for the active pace of modern life.
Work Cited
Lim, J. Bilingual Brokers: Race, Literature, and Language as Human Capital. Fordham University Press, 2017
The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from
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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016
"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016
"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016
"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016