SDLC 105: Learning Journal #9

[Jinhoo Bong]

I thought the readings were quite interesting as I have never questioned whether being bilingual makes one smarter or not. But the articles brought up interesting points. I have concluded that although being bilingual can make you seem smarter or eventually make you smarter through certain learned traits, the act of being bilingual on its own does not make one smarter. Although it may make you smarter in the sense that you know another language, I don't think it can be use so broadly as to say that bilingualism makes one smarter in a general sense. I do agree with the points that the article pointed out such as that being bilingual can help one to exercise their executive function and therefore create a stronger mental strength in that aspect. And that executive function can assist in deciding quicker and with the ability to switch between two languages quickly creates a sort of seamless interaction within the two, allowing a bilingual person to be able to multitask more easily than those that only know one language. A negative factor that the articles brought up that I agreed with to a certain extent was that by having to learn two language simultaneously, one is limiting their depth of knowledge in one language. That is something that is very plausible, but I still don't think this fact alone is sufficient to overcome the benefits of being bilingual. Maybe in the early stages, such a fact might play a role in the growth of that person's knowledge of both languages, but in the long run, I don't see it playing as big a role. Overall, I found it interesting to see the scientific backings as to how bilinguals think differently, even if it is in the slightest sense, than those who know only one language, and to see how that can lead to one claiming that bilinguals are smarter.