We’ve all heard nasty rumours about the drawbacks of bilingualism. Despite their popularity, these ideas are false myths without any scientific backing.
In fact, we now know that speaking more than one language is enormously beneficial to a child’s development and quality of life.
Here are 12 benefits of staying in touch with your mother tongue:
The essence of language is communication and connection. Humans are social animals. Through language, we can transmit our thoughts and emotions to one another and create strong bonds.
But just as language brings people together, language barriers can also keep us apart.
A second language can open up a world of connection. So many potential friends and companions! So many more places that feel like home!
They say that language is culture and culture is language. They’re inseparable and interdependent.
Language not only gives access to the wider world, but it also allows people the chance to connect with their own roots.
Knowing the language means you can build relationships, engage with cultural artifacts, and meaningfully participate in cultural spaces. It gives you a sense of community and belonging.
Moreover, for a long time, research has shown that maintaining a heritage language is necessary for a child’s academic, emotional, linguistic, social, and psychological well being
(The Importance of Maintaining a Heritage Language while Acquiring the Host Language (wayne.edu)).
Studies show that bilingual and multilingual students have significant academic advantages.
Contrary to the popular belief that speaking another language will hold kids back in school, research shows that bilingual children are better equipped to handle what school throws at them. They have heightened executive thinking skills, working memories, abstract thinking skills, multitasking abilities, and conflict resolution skills.
Being exposed to multiple languages at a young age also helps develop their phonological awareness which makes literacy acquisition easier.
Being able to express yourself can be incredibly empowering. Having the ability to speak your mind gives you freedom.
This effect is even more pronounced when it’s backed by the sense of achievement that comes with successful language learning.
Language learning environments encourage you to explore, interact, and make mistakes. These mistakes are an essential component of the learning process and they work to liberate you from the stress and anxiety of speaking.
Speaking multiple languages is tough: you have more to remember and more to learn. Because it’s tough, it exercises your brain and makes it stronger.
Studies show that language learning promotes good problem-solving skills, increases memory capacity, improves multitasking abilities, and encourages better listening skills. These cognitive benefits give bilinguals an advantage in every other aspect of their lives.
Bilingualism comes with some amazing health benefits. Speaking more than one language develops your cognitive flexibility.
Cognitive flexibility is our capacity to adapt our behaviour according to our environment. This adaptability contributes to our problem-solving skills, creativity, resilience, and quality of life as older ‘individuals’. Generally, this flexibility is higher when we’re young and declines as we age.
However, bilingualism can stop or slow down that decline and let us enjoy the benefits of flexible thinking throughout our lives.
Studies have shown links between speaking a second language and quicker stroke recovery. The cognitive stimulation that bilingualism provides also helps to delay the onset of dementia symptoms. All in all, you get to enjoy a healthy mind and body for longer.
When you speak multiple languages, you need to be good at switching between them.
It’s no surprise that all that back and forth leaves you adept at multitasking. To figure out which language to use, your brain must remain highly aware of your surroundings and quickly decide on the appropriate language for your environment.
All that experience juggling different languages pays off when you need to juggle life.
There’s a myth that learning more than one language confuses children. Some parents purposely deprive their children of their native language in fear that their kids won’t be as fluent in English.
But research shows that bilingual children have an easier time learning languages later in life. Kids’ brains are like sponges. They’re constantly absorbing information and making connections. They’re primed for learning! Bilinguals are also used to processing multiple languages and so, they make better language learners. (If your child is bilingual, learning additional languages later might be easier — ScienceDaily)
Research suggests that bilinguals have better attentional control than monolinguals.
A York University study analyzed the cognitive differences between toddlers who speak two languages and those who only speak one. Their tests showed that bilingual children have improved selective attention. This refers to their ability to selectively focus on one thing and ignore distractions.
Researchers hypothesise that children develop these superior abilities to focus because they’re used to subconsciously handling two languages at once.
Are Two Languages Better Than One? (hanen.org) Seven Benefits of Being Bilingual | Young Scot)
Speaking another language offers you another perspective. New eyes to see the world through.
That’s not a metaphor! Research shows bilinguals perceive colours differently than single-language speakers. Multiple tongues can also create multiple conceptions of the self and personality. You may feel like a different person in a different language.
That’s because language is intricately connected to culture and cognition. You see, understand, and communicate with the world through the lens of language.
(Bilinguals see the world in a different way, study suggests — ScienceDaily, Two Languages in the Self/ The Self in Two Languages: French-Portuguese Bilinguals’ Verbal Enactments and Experiences of Self in Narrative Discourse on JSTOR)
Languages open doors: socially, intellectually, and professionally.
We live in an era of globalization and as we become more and more connected, the ability to communicate with more people is becoming ever more valuable. Multilingual people work in more places, understand more people, and adapt to more cultures.
In the global job market, they have the advantage.
When you speak the local language, travel is much more fun.
You can converse and connect with the people. You can go out and explore the culture. You can immerse yourself in the music, film, and arts.
You become more than just a tourist and truly experience the place for all its beauty, glory, and authenticity.