The articles had many similar concepts including the role of executive functions and potential benefits of knowing more than one language. I found the articles interesting because many people believe that bilinguals are smarter, but the articles sort of refute this belief. They claim that being bilingual actually is a disadvantage when learning new vocabulary because bilinguals tend to analyze the new words in both languages. This makes a lot of sense to me, but I wonder how being left or right-dominated hemisphere brained, plays a role in bilingual processing. The pattern recognition aspect of various language learners makes a lot of sense considering the analytic aspect of knowing two languages. One of the articles talked about how bilinguals have a heightened sense of their environment because they are processing things in both languages. Thus, being conscious of the things of around you can be very advantageous in everyday situations such as crossing streets or even reading emotions of others.
Besides this, the practical aspect of being bilingual are easily distinguishable. You are able to communicate and better understand people from different cultures that speak your languages. Knowing more than one language is also a very marketable skill. Businesses are becoming more and more global and clients in one country are often finding themselves dealing with clients in another country. Thus, being able to communicate and understanding proper etiquette can create a lot of value for a company. All in all, it seems that bilinguals are not inherently smarter, but there are added benefits to knowing a second language.
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