More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of multilingualism
The importance of multilingualism
Importance of multilingualism in a society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Nowadays, we see that more of the world’s population is not monolingual anymore, but bilingual or multilingual. I agree with Anna Wierzbicka who says that “ Bilingual person’s emotions have been moulded to some extent, by the expressive devices (lexical and grammatical) of their first language, and that consequently, the expressive devices of the second language literally do not fit them.” Bilingualism and emotions’ have a significant impact on bilingual people because apart from monolingual people, they have to adopt different personalities depending on the language they choose to speak and therefore live with. In a survey conducted by the European Commission in 2006, 56 percent of respondents reported being able to speak in a language …show more content…
Research has overwhelmingly shown that when a bilingual person uses one language, the other is active at the same time. When a person hears a word, he or she doesn’t hear the entire word all at once: the sounds arrive in sequential order. Long before the word is finished, the brain’s language system begins to guess what that word might be by activating lots of words that match the signal. If you hear “can,” you will likely activate words like “candy” and “candle” as well, at least during the earlier stages of word recognition. For bilingual people, this activation is not limited to a single language; auditory input activates corresponding words regardless of the language to which they belong. (The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual-Anthony Shook & Viorica …show more content…
Due to the main aspects which we are confronting as a society (internationalization and globalization), it has become important for almost every single person to master more languages than one's mother tongue. Development in language learning theory has brought about new perspectives on the mutual relationship between mother tongue and foreign language learning .It is known that between the mother tongue and the second or third etc. language it is a mutual influence: “Today, however, a renewed interest in the relationship is no longer restricted to either a purely psychlinguistic concern or to investigations about how mother tongue influences foreign language learning. The assumption is rather that mutual influence takes place, consciously or unconsciously. In mother tongue learning and teaching as well as in foreign language classrooms, there is an increased interest in what kind of relationship we are dealing with and how learning, in respectively mother tongue and foreign language, can be mutually beneficial.” (MOTHER TONGUE AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING - A JOlNT PROJECT - Anne Brit Fenner, Turid Trebbi and Laila Aase, p.137). However,a bilingual person is seen as having two personalities whilst adapting to different languages and cultures,as Christoph Harbsmeier says : “A change of language brings with it a change of role. When I speak French, I can’t stop
Language is an important part of who we are. It influences the way we think and behave on a great scale. However, sometimes it is forced upon us to go in different directions just so we can physically and mentally feel as if we belong to the society in which we live in. Just as we see in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez’s “A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, both authors faced some challenges along the way by coping with two different languages, while still trying to achieve the social position which they desired.
Most people who grow up with a foreign language spoken in there house grow up with an advantage in society. This advantage can only occur once the individual learning that foreign language also learns the dominant language spoken in that country. Once both of these languages are learned and mastered, the individual has now placed them se...
It is important to maintain children’s home language as it may help them learn and understand a second language. Barratt-Pugh (2000) discusses the benefits of bilingualism and maintaining it through early childhood settings, also mentions the concerns families have for their children maintaining two languages through schooling. Research within the article states that children who speak more than one language will have a higher level of understanding literacy content, form, genre, as well as understand the differences and translating within both languages. This demonstrates a contrast of strengths and experiences with literacy (linguist...
The technique relies on a holistic approach that adopts instructions that allow students to actively participate in the learning process. This is easier for children that feel that the society appreciates their diversity through bilingualism and biliteracy. The society and parents need to encourage children to take up bilingual classes because they offer a lot of benefit to the society through favoring critical thinking, rationality, and sensitivity to other cultures, empathy, and detached or balanced awareness. However, Sonia Nieto mirrors a society that is made to fake being American and become ashamed of their family. It helps appreciate that it is not by choice that anyone speaks any other language as the first language and that the society and community influence the language of choice. Therefore, bilingualism cannot be detached from any community that freely promotes and accommodate the language spoken by the other community. Children and community members learn each other’s language without disregarding each other favoring effective learning that influences bilingualism and biliteracy in the long
Hammers, J.F., & Blanc, M.A. (1989). Social and psychological foundations of bilinguality. In P. Mardaga (Ed.), Bilinguality and Bilingualism (pp. 110-133). Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.
In Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, the author Richard Rodriguez argues that since there is a lack of bilingual education taught in American schools, many students face a loss of intimacy to their native language, leaving them identifiable-less. He makes this claim by expressing that although native language can cause divisions in communication, it is the basis structure to a person.
In today’s society, especially in the United States, most people are monolingual English speakers. As a result, these monolingual speakers are at a significant disadvantage compared to those who speak more than one language fluently. This disadvantage is crucial to realize since it is important to learn how individuals and the nation can be enhanced. Multilingual speakers have an advantage in global affairs that involve countries that speak different languages. Speaking multiple languages makes it easier to communicate with people when involved in foreign affairs. Those who speak multiple languages are also more aware of other cultures in society. Monolingual speakers are not as exposed to other cultures and have difficulty understanding or even recognizing them. Furthermore, being multilingual increases your
Given the extent of exposure and age of acquisition, there is enough evidence that proves the bilingual brain can exhibit advanced cognitive abilities compared to the monolingual brain. Technological advances such as PET and other functional neuroimaging techniques have provided a direct opening into the complex devices among language systems in the bilingual brain. The higher executive function utilized by bilingual speakers in order to task-switch between two languages strengthens the control mechanisms in different brain regions. Therefore the consistent practice of control using both languages will delay onset of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and other brain aging diseases. Factors to be considered when measuring neural functions in bilingual and monolingual brains include age of onset, gender, education, and significant language experience.
...thousands of years. Generally, bilingual education can mean any use of two languages in school, by teachers, students, or both – for a variety of social and pedagogical purposes. It also refers to the different approaches in the classroom that use the native languages of English language learners (ELLs) for instruction. These approaches include teaching English, fostering academic achievement, acculturating immigrants to a new society, and preserving a minority group’s linguistic and cultural heritage. Building on, rather than just discarding the students’ native-language skills, create a stronger foundation for success in English and academics. Also, if students learn languages at a younger age, it will be easier to remember and learn them, rather than if they were older. It helps to learn another language for students, and can later be useful in the future.
Lambert et al. who was the first one who used the term balanced bilingual to describe those who have native-like competence. Fishman (1972) argued that one can speak two languages fluently...
Andrew Sampson states that total proscription of mother tongue is detrimental to some extent, suggesting that code switching of mother tongue and English, under a good strategy of control, is useful for academic needs and even communicating purposes by concluding, “The results of this study suggest that code-switching is not necessarily connected to learners’ ability level and rarely signals an unwillingness to communicate in L2, but rather serves communicative classroom functions such as expressing equivalence, discussing procedural concerns, floor holding, reiterating concepts, and forming group relationships” (302). Code-switching not only improves the learner’s proficiency in English, but also allows the students to learn. In most cases, English language is meant for English-speaking students’ at level L2 or L3. Therefore, teachers should help non-native English-speaking students to code-switch in their communications. Code switching would improve the learner’s ability to identify his or her mistakes and correct those mistakes while she or he continues to learn English. At the same time, if possible, the teachers might use code switching to illustrate particular concepts and subjects. In other words, the teachers themselves can use the learner’s L1 or any other language to explain concepts or offer examples on the subjects in the learner’s L1. However, the teachers should avoid using oversimplified English words and vocabularies. This is because such approach would not help the learner to perfect his or her English
LANGUAGE FLUENCY is also affected for bilinguals because they became confused and double minded before choosing appropriate words for particular object in particular
The development of the brain of a bilingual individual is better than a monolingual individual. Few years ago, researchers from the University of Washington (as cited in Klass, 2011, para 4.) found that the brains of bilingual infants (from families where two languages were spoken) are able to discriminate the different of the phonetic sound of the languages they usually heard when they grew up than monolingual infants in where their brains were adapted to only identify their mother tongue only. Dr. Patricia Kuhl, one of the members of this research team thus believe that bilingual education can shape infants’ brains and keep them ready for future challenges. Concurrently, a renowned psychologist, Dr. Ellen...
When do we use multiple languages and where are they accepted. The release of the 2015 American Community Survey by the Census Bureau, states there are approximately 25,002,191 households in the United States that speak a language other than English at home (. This translates to 21% of the nation. If 21% of the United States is speaking another language besides English, where are they using these foreign tongues? For on example, the use of foreign languages is culturally acceptable in for the educational purpose of learning an L2 when, of course, the L1 is English. The exact opposite is prevalent for immigrants and those whose L1 is not English. Then, English is pressed upon them in hopes of
Language has pioneered many interracial relationships and historical milestones. Language is a necessity for basic communication and cultural diversity. Being multilingual is a skill proven influential to a successful future. Due to rapid globalization, countries all over the world are stressing the importance of learning a second, or even third, language. With the exception of time and lack of resources, adults have very few widely applicable disadvantages to learning multiple languages. However, language learning as a child presents more complications. Some of those include not having enough funding at the elementary school level to introduce a program for secondary language, academic overload for the youth, stress for both the parent and student parties, and the mixing of languages. Not all of these complications are true in any or all situations, however, and the absence of them provides multitudes of opportunity for future career and academic success. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the parents or the education legislation to decide whether they encourage the learning of a secondary language at the young age necessary for retention. “The general consensus is that it takes between five to seven years for an individual to achieve advanced fluency,” therefore the younger a child begins to learn, the more likely they are to benefit to the maximum potential (Robertson). Keeping the language learning in high school or beginning the process earlier is a greatly controversial discussion that is important to address because of the topic’s already lengthy suspension.