SDLC-105 journal#10

[Yian Xu]

In the article Why Bilinguals Are Smarter, the author stated that although the two language systems may obstruct each other in brain, the inference can also strengthen brain’s cognitive muscles through resolving the internal conflict. As a bilingual, I strongly agree with his idea. I am a Chinese speaker living in an English speaking country which means I speak, read, write and listen to my second language all the time. My brain has to translate both languages all the time. And I can feel that my brain runs fast while my I am speaking English. However, I do not think that children should begin learning second-languages before a certain age, especially before they know well about their first language. When I was five, my mom sent me to a cram school to learn English, and it turned out too difficult for me as five years old kid. I felt so frustrated and I began to hate English since then. So, I believe children should have interests to language before learning it. However, young kids usually are not interested in second languages.