Reflect on your experiences of (trying to) read and write in your target language. Are you bilingual? If so, would you agree with the arguments made in the two readings on bilingualism?
I can’t say with certainty if I am bilingual just like I can’t say if I agree or not with the claims from the articles from the readings. That is because the definition of bilingual is not clear enough for me and my definitions of ability, intelligence and knowledge are too fluid – Some days I feel confident that I “know” things (be it English, Portuguese, even math), others, not so much…
I think it is never as “clear cut” as we wish it would be – at least for the sake of our hypotheses…I understand these are almost impossibly complex issues and that breaking the systems down is the only way to tackle the questions, but I am afraid this makes it too easy to forget to look at the “big picture.” But I am thankful some scholars are mindful of that:
“Bialystok has been researching the bilingual brain for decades, and she is adamant: Bilinguals aren’t smarter than their single-language counterparts. “I think it’s a real problem that [my work] may be interpreted that way,” she says.” (from ScienceLine article)
Another major personal issue I have with these readings/topics is the intertwining of so many unanswered questions/grey areas: we don’t really know what “intelligence” means, how to measure it, and much less what drives it – of course language can/would be one of them, as well as 10000 other things, like educational opportunities, modes of learning, personality, even nutrition!
One thing that I cannot deny is how much Portuguese has helped me read Catalan thought. I guess the statement that I would be the most comfortable making for now is: learning languages/of cultures is like adding valuable instruments to our personal toolbox and the skillset they provide is valuable regardless of age, life/work path, or field of study.
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