“Why Bilinguals Are Smarter”
NY Times writer Yudhijit Bhattacharjee is convinced that learning to be bilingual increases cognitive capabilities, making an individual “smarter.” Holding two languages at once evidently forces the brain to continually “resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.” More specifically, Bhattacharjee reports that these muscles included the ability to ignore distractions, focus, switching attention from one thing to another, memory, and conscientiousness and adaptation to new environments.
I think this is an interesting concept. It harks back to the challenges we’ve talked about as an international student. As someone new to a culture, one learns the necessity to suppress certain expressions and adopt new ones. Naturally, I am sure that the muscles the author describes are certainly at work. These muscles seem essential to one’s ability to survive in a foreign environment, let alone thrive.
I’m curious as to what we would consider a different language or cultural context. In other words, to what extent is exposure to the culture shock experience beneficial? One might argue for instance, that initiation into a professional environment is an introduction into a completely different cultural context than one is used to. True, one can convey direction, commands, or other objective, factual information. The English might be the same, but the various mannerisms, cultural cues, rituals, and meanings might be so different, that you might as well be speaking a different language. How about in interpersonal communications? How about a college party environment, versus an academic gathering, or a club? I think one could argue that the language that one should speak in these different places to have a fun time is very different. What in other words, is the exact benefit of taking the effort to become “bilingual” in the popular sense? To go to one country or the other? Is it exclusively a matter of degree of foreignness? That one has to be extra alert in a foreign country? What is the difference between the bilingual experience and learning how to be a professional ballroom dancer, princess, or Catholic as a monolingual immersed in the respective culture?
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