Cognitive neuroscientist Ellen Bialystok has been studying how being able to speak two languages sharpens the mind. In her conversation with Claudia Dreifus, she states that kids who are bilingual have a way of thinking that helps them better distinguish important information from the less important. Are you or someone you are close to able to speak two (or more) languages fluently? Have you noticed any advantages other than being able to communicate with more people?
In the article based on their conversation “The Bilingual Advantage,” Ellen Bialystok explains why bilinguals are able to sort information as they do:
There’s a system in your brain, the executive control system. It’s a general manager. Its job is to keep you focused on what is relevant, while ignoring distractions. It’s what makes it possible for you to hold two different things in your mind at one time and switch between them.
If you have two languages and you use them regularly, the way the brain’s networks work is that every time you speak, both languages pop up and the executive control system has to sort through everything and attend to what’s relevant in the moment. Therefore the bilinguals use that system more, and it’s that regular use that makes that system more efficient.
Students: Tell us what languages you speak. If you know more than one language, do you think in one and “translate” your thoughts when you wish to speak in your other language(s)? What is this like? If you have bilingual friends, have you noticed what Ms. Bialystok observes about those who speak multiple languages being able to sort information quickly? If you are learning a second or third language, have you found yourself thinking in the new language at times? What is the hardest part about learning a new language? The best part?
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From 1 to 25 of 35 Comments
I speak three languages: Bangla (my mother tongue), English and Thai (I have lived in Thailand for 13 years). I do not necessarily think in one all the time, but the language I am using currently for work will determine the language I am thinking in; which therefore leads me to believe in Ms. Bialystok’s observations. It has its limitations too; seeing a situation I am likely to remember a humorous Bangla quote, say, and I would find myself trying to translate it and simultaneously preserve its wit.
— WahidI think, speak, read, and write fluently in three languages(English-my strongest, French, and Spanish) and also studied German for 3 years and now have studied Italian for 4 semesters in my free time at a local college. Knowing multiple languages is a definite advantage and I find that I am a much more lucid thinker and retain information, even peoples’ names, much better than my coworkers or friends for example who often seem “forgetful”. Furthermore, I seem to be able to find the right words to complete other’s thoughts. This gives me a definite “thinking” advantage. But most of all, speaking and reading in different languages makes life and social interactions a great deal more interesting and FUN!! My only concern is that languages such as Italian which are considered “dying” languages will actually become “extinct” in our global world. I am still hopeful that it will survive by its sheer beauty and the fact that it is rooted in Latin, the foundation for much of the English prevailing in “global” communication.
— pattiI knew only one language, English. A trip to Brazil made me fall in love with Portuguese. But, being in Europe I could learn European Portuguese only. My Indian room-mate thought me Hindi, the tougher of the two. Initaily with Portuguese, I used to think in English and then translate the thought into Portuguese. Gradually I could think in Portuguese. Though the tough sentences still make me involuntarily switch over to thinking in English, thinking in Portuguese is gaining some ground! Hindi is very dificult for me to think in.
Jonathan Fogg
— Jonathan FI have tried to learn a second language like spanish or french but the two languages don’t intrigue me enough to continue to like them. I’ve always wanted to speak german or polish because thats my families background. But i’ve taken little segments of spanish during grade school from k to 8th grade but it never got my attention. I took french in 9th grade but i dropped it due to my lack of learning in that class. So getting to the main point, no I don’t speak another language.
— Matt B. 216I speak Spanish fluently and i learned English when I was 18, but English is my second language because I love it a lot! I can switch very easily from Spanish to English and some contents are more interesting in English while others in Spanish. I married a French girl and I got French by talking with my father in law and friends. French is a great language too! I can read it without any problem and I can understand absolutely everything but I can not write it. I currently dream in Spanish and English, where the world seems bilingual too. I remember a very funny situation with French. When visiting in Paris, my wife was with our baby daughter and I had to buy food. I found a small Vietnamese cafe which sold really great spring rolls. I went everyday and I loved to talked with the lady in charge, a Vietnamese old woman, in French. Once, my wife and I went together to buy food. My wife started talking with her French Midi (Southern) accent but the lady couldn’t understand a word. Then I repeated in the usual way and the owner and i started talking as usual. My wife asked me: When did you learn Vietnamese? And i answered: But i’s French! But French spoken as if you were reading with all letters sounding! Just like reading Spanish! So, you can see that you can also invent your own language!
— Álvaro Ricárdez ScherenbergFrom personal experience,I have been working on improving my English for about three months now,and yes I can say there is sort of changes in my thinking mechanism when you try to create a sentence ,especially after you learn the way they write the news headlines I mean these brief short sentences,and also in some cases I found my self thinking in English when there is an incident that can be expressed in just a phrase while in Arabic you need to use more words to reflect this same incident .
— HussamEnglish is my second language. i don’t know how to speak. but i know a little bit how to write and read. please, i need your help. thenx.
— ESTHER N NI took Latin in high school. I didn’t learn much of anything – or so I thought. I have now been taking Spanish in college for a year, and I found that my small knowledge of Latin helped me assimilate Spanish much faster than a typical student of my ability would have been able to do. I still think mostly in English when the thoughts are beyond a few simple phrases, but as I become more accustomed to my Spanish vocabulary over the years, I think my thoughts will increasingly be Spanish. I look forward to that.
— BrentI speak Urdu, Punjabi, English. Im learning spanish and i can read arabic but cannot understand what im reading. I find that when i go a different country i start thinking in the language being spoken around me. Like in america my thoughts are in english, in pakistan theyre in urdu or punjabi. I believe that being bi-lingual has helped me alot.
— MuhammadNo. I am taking spanish in school. You’re pretty much forced to take it for three years in high school and two years in middle school. This is the end of my first year in high school. I have two more years to it. I was in soanish honors this year. But I can’t learn at this fast of a pace. So i dropped honors for next year, and switched into regular regions spanish. Being bilingual and trilingual looks really good on a college application; but even beter on a job application. Especially with the economy being so bad now, having the best oppurtunity for the job you want is really important. It’s much easier for people who speak it fluentaly to be bilingual, but since i’m not spanish, it’s not as easy for me. But I do beleive that I am very good at spanish.
— JackieeeI speak Dutch, English, French and German. Dutch is my native tongue but I started learning English since I was about 8 years old, French since 11 and German since 12. I find that I think in the language that I speak at that moment, although this is hardest when speaking French. As most of the people I hang out with also speak multiple languages (international university) I do not really notice differences around me. But at home, where I am the only one speaking all these languages at this level, I do see that I’m faster cognitively.
— AI learned to read and speak French as an adult. I definite think that it has improved my mental abilities, as well as my comprehension of English grammar and syntax.
Besides, it is a beautiful language and I totally recommend everyone learning it!
— AndrewI speak English and German fluently. German is my mother tongue but I am just as fluent in English (I live in the US, have studied in the UK). I also speak French. I don’t translate between English or German – I think, dream and speak either -without the need to translate. Only when I am very tired (or angry!) I sometimes accidentally use a German word. I have to translate French (from English or German) and am a much slower speaker. Funnily, if I have to organize something or make a list, I often do it in German, same for counting. When expressing emotions or thinking about emotions English feels much more natural. German has a super rich abundance of sayings, proverbs and idioms, I miss that in English. Speaking another language fluently or well is not just a way to communicate – it changes your understanding of that culture, of your own language, of the respective limitations and advantages.
— KatI myself am only fluent in English, but my mother speaks Tagalog also and I am currently learning French. I’ve been learning French since I was just 12 and I see it as a great help. I’ve learned so much French that I can understand my own language better. Knowing multiple languages can mean defining a word in one language based on another. I know that there are terms and phrases and English that are very similar to French words. Another advantage that I have seen through my mother is thinking. My mother’s native language is her dialect of Tagalog. She claims that she now thinks in English, but when around other Tagalog-speakers she thinks in her language. It’s interesting and useful because she can easily switch her thought. In this sense, I can see why multi-language speakers can sort information quickly.
— RochelleMy first language was Chinese, which I no longer speak fluently. I used to have dreams in Chinese, but they have subsided to English, as well as my Chinese memories, which have unconsciously been translated to English (my parents also don’t speak Chinese to me anymore unless they’re furious). I have a better feel for foreign languages, and this helps when I take Spanish and Latin. It’s hard to pick Chinese up again, as I can’t read, not many others speak it, and the grammar and vocab is completely different from English. When I come across a phrase or concept I don’t quite understand in English, it usually helps to come up with the Chinese equivalent to compare it to, and this usually makes it clearer. For example: difference between to touch and to feel. Differences in describing hot soup and hot weather. Difference between smell, taste, flavor, and ‘vibes.’
— HI’m bi-lingual, I speak French and English, which si pretty cool I gues, typically I think in English because it’s my first language, but a lot of the times I’ll actually dream in French. When it first started happening it was really weird, but now it’s almost even normal for me to have two, three dreams a night in French. I learned the language in one year of real classes, and had started teaching myself a few months before that to see if I was truly interested. With the summer looming ahead of me I’ve decided that I’m also going to tackle sign language (ASL) and begin Spanish, with plans to also learn Japanese sometime in the future. It’s a big of an ominous goal for a sixteen year old, but healthy all the same. Languages are fun, and let you get to know a wider variety of people.
Something else that I believe is really good for people is listening to music in langauges other than those you’re familiar with or lyrics of langagues you want to become more familiar with. Even those I don’t speak them, I’ve learned quite a few phrases in Japanese, Italian, Korean, Finnish, and Chilean just from listening to music/ watching subtitled shows. It’s a great way to expand your cultural horizon.
— MackielI have observed my friends in my college and noticed that better English speakers or writers, as ESL students, usually have keener analyzing ability.
— KimAs a college student I’m convinced that speaking multiple languages is a big help. English is my native language, I started studying Spanish around 10 along with Portuguese and French. I lost a lot of my French but have since relearned it and am fluent. I am also near fluent in both Italian and Catalan and currently study Chinese and Russian.
I almost never translate from one language to another when speaking and listening to a language, unless of course I am translating a document for some reason or interpreting for someone. Just like with English I just talk and the words come out when speaking other languages. Translating every word before you say it seems clunky and takes a lot of effort.
The biggest advantage I’ve noticed that comes from having studied so many languages is that I’m really really good at identifying patterns and puzzles and figuring out how different things relate to each other.
— ThomasI speak Chinese(Native) English and Japanese and some French. What I usually do is interpretion between English< ->Japanese. I don’t know how I started, and now I just can do it, no sweat!
Oriental and western lauguage are absolutey of different root and system.
But my Chinese is the most decent, I can speak on some occasion as an anouncer or hostess on TV or life show. I found when you become multi-lingual, you start to realise the language is an art, to reach a level of art is more adorable than just be able to communicate, when speaking it becomes an art and you enjoy it speaking- slow down!
— TenHi I’m D. Actualy, i speak 4 languages! And It’s not so difficult to! i speak Russian, Italian, Romanian, and English… And now at school study Spanish and French too. I think that if somebody wants to study languages, they DO IT. It’s interesting and funny to find out about other country, and to study about the details or rules of a foreign language. Thank you.
— DenaI do note have a second or third language and I don’t like saying that at all. Speaking another tongue is just an advantage for your self and for others also whether you are traveling some where or you are talking to someone for business or school. For me I would love to speak another language but for some reason my brain just doesn’t pick up on it and I struggle when studying it. Hopefully some day I can over come this because it is truly and fantastic trait to have.
— jay 216I tried to learn a second language, but spanish is to hard. I guess if I was using like Rossetta Stone instead of a high school teacher then i probably might of actually learned something.
— Trevor216I can speak English Bangla and Hindi. Growing up listening to all these three languages simultaneously, I never had that much problem communicating and I usually think in any of the languages which fits according to my “mood”.
— TanveerI think its easiest to learn languages when you are still a kid but as you grow up, it gets tougher. I tried learning Arabic and French and I notice I cannot grasp on either with that much spontaneity as I would in case of the 1st three. By the way, my mother language is Bangla.
I speak Tagalog/Filipino (so one could expect little Spanish in it), but we have a dialect (which is different from a language, nevertheless). I am currently studying French, and along with, some German, this summer. I like languages very much.
— JoshI am no longer a student, but ran across the bi/multilingual question, and would like to comment. I read, write, and speak French and English; I read and pronounce three other languages. English is my so-called native language.I have always found that I’m fully in one language or another; I’m in fact essentially incapable of translating back and forth. It’s as if French lives in one mental room, English in another, with no door connecting them. However, there are times when, as I speak English, I can come up only with the next word in French. Aspects of the pronunciation of French creep into my pronunciation of English, but not the other way around. I’m liable to dream in either French or English. Beyond language as such, I believe that learning another language teaches one to look at the world from a different frame of reference. It broadens one’s ability to think outside the box. I’m now 69 years old, and one of my daily activities is the study of Mandarin Chinese. I can’t imagine living without a language pursuit.
— Michael