Reading the article, I didn't realize that learning another language helps to improve brain activity. I'm surprised but then again I'm kind of happy that it does. This means that my brain is smarter than others. HA
In my opinion, knowing two languages does make it difficult for me to converse with people especially relatives of my native language. When I was younger, I was really fluent in Cantonese. But as I grew up and went to school, English grew to become more fluent and override the other. And so now, it's really difficult for me to converse with my grandmother for example since I forgot most words and don't talk as much in Canto as I do in English. I'm more exposed to English than the other way. I do deeply regret this. I wish I had tried harder to maintain this part of my heritage since it does really help in talking with my grandma who I don't really know too well or her history because of a language barrier.
Some cultural people that I know are also having the same issue as myself. They either didn't get the opportunity to be exposed to this part of their heritage because of their parents or they have forgotten completely. In general for me, if I got the opportunity to do this again, I would go back and actually try to talk more in the language.
It's true that bilinguals have to switch from one language to another and must adapt to what is being said and are efficient in doing so. But I think this applies only to people who are fluent in both languages and doesn't really work for people who are inadequate in one of the languages. For me personally, I definitely have difficult in adapting since I'm more fluent in English. I try to speak in Canto to my parents but it just ends up being half Canto and half English. Therefore, I don't think I can really enjoy the benefits unless I really make an effort to be fluent in both my languages.
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