While the 2012 New York Times article explains why bilinguals are smarter, the Science Line article provides more nuance to this claim. According to Kovac's study, young bilingual children exhibited more attention to their surroundings than monolingual children. However, after reading the Science LIne article, I agree with Ossola about being careful to say that bilinguals are smarter because it supports the notion that there is only one way to be smart. As we learned from the multiple intelligences quiz at the beginning of the semester, there is more than one way to learn and to meaningfully engage with the world. Ultimately, learning a second language and or growing up bilingual helps with this process, and should be strongly encouraged, but it’s not the only way to be smart. Reading this article made me think about how I’ve learned three languages in the past several years (German, Italian, Indonesian), but I am nowhere near fluent in any of them. I find words of these different languages often popping in my head, so hopefully, they will continue to be in storage in my mind for when I need them. It’s definitely sad, though, how quickly language abilities seem to fade. Still, I think the process of learning the languages as a student has helped me understand the worldview of different cultures. Learning the grammar and cultural notes helps me to understand the implications of my own language as well.
I found an interesting article called "An Investigation through Different Types of Bilinguals and Bilingualism" by Hamzeh Moradi, a Ph. D Research Scholar in Linguistics at Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. (https://www.ijhsss.com/files/Hamzeh-Moradi_6813z4a4.pdf)
about the different types of bilingualism. Needless to say, there are many different ways to classify bilinguals, and these different classifications can be based on when, how, and where the learner acquired their second language. Some people learn the language early in their lives, while others are late learners. Some know the two languages equally well, while others have a clearly dominant language. One common classification method supported by Weinreich (1953) includes the categories of the compound, coordinate, and subordinate. This method connects with our morphology unit because it explores how we organize meaning in our brains. In compound categories, learners have the meanings of the two languages stored together.
I found these different categories interesting, especially in relation to our conversations at the beginning of the semester about fluency and proficiency. While fluency is more of an all or none achievement, proficiency has a wide range. Similarly, bilingualism comes in many different forms and for each speaker, the two languages have a unique relationship to one another that depends on their environment and educational upbringing.
Overall, bilingualism is much more complex than just speaking two languages. It is important to take into account the context of language acquisition to best understand the effects of knowing multiple languages. Since intelligence also comes in many different forms, I think it is inaccurate to make the blanket statement that bilinguals are smarter. However, being bilingual definitely shapes the way the speaker thinks; therefore, being bilingual makes for a unique worldview.
Works Cited
Moradi, H. (2014). An investigation through different types of bilinguals and bilingualism. International Journal of Humanities & Social Science Studies, 1(2), 147-154.
Comments
Thank you so much for sharing! I totally agree with the point here. I think learning different languages will definitely shape a person's worldview. Since learning and mastering a language requires a basic knowledge of the culture behind it. Therefore, the deeper you learn, the clearer the change is to your worldview. Thanks again.
Good points here. I wonder if we could extrapolate this idea and apply it to people who speak many languages or polyglots and see how their worldview is affected by their vast language selection.