Are bilinguals smarter?

1 Comment

1. 

   enzzzoo

   25/05/2012 at 12:28 pm

   Interesting article but I think bilingualism is a double-edged sword. I wouldn’t so much say that it makes you smarter but rather that it broadens your cultural horizons. The article appears to take a biological slant on the subject and how the human brain functions more efficiently having been exposed to a bilingual environment. Fair enough, but there are also other, less appealing, side effects associated with bilinguals.

   I speak from my own experience of having been born in one country, then having suffered adolescence in another and all the while having the citizenship and domestic culture of a third country. It was all very confusing and resulted in shyness and withdrawal into my shell to survive the daily conflicts that the different cultures inflicted on my senses. At least I was lucky in so much as both my parents and all my relatives were of one nationality. Also, the neighbourhood I grew up in was mostly composed of immigrants of similar origin. The conflict, therefore, was not within the domestic environment but between home and school and later on in some workplaces. Even today, I find I have to constantly explain my upbringing as a sort of “excuse” for my being different. After a while it becomes alienating, frustrating and nauseating!

   I wouldn’t like to imagine what it would be like for a child growing up in a home where there are domestic cultural and linguistic differences. I have met a few people in this situation and not everyone has adjusted well to the mind tempests that are inevitable in those situations.

   Finally, on a more delicate subject I believe the most gracious aspect of bilingualism must be the gift of tolerance and acceptance of people in general. Xenophobia, bigotry and in extremis, racism are often not a problem for people with a wider cultural perspective.

   Peace and Love
   Enzo