Bilingualism and multilingualism is the norm!
I recently watched the BBC Real North
Wales programme ‘Make me Welsh’. I’ve attached the link – it’s very much worth
a watch.
The programme focusing on incomers to Gwynedd (a county in which 92% of children aged 5-15 years of age speak
Welsh).
It follows the lives of children and
families who’ve moved to the area and them learning Welsh in special language
units (immersion units) at Llangybi on the Llyn Peninsula.
The programme focuses on bilingualism and how quickly a child can learn Welsh through immersion. One child is even
able to read Welsh after just 2 weeks at the unit. Eventually the pupils leave
the unit and are able to attend Welsh primary schools in the country itself.
Bilingualism and multilingualism are
the norm across the world. The advantages of bilingualism are many and well
known. Gone is the out-dated Victorian Age idea that learning more than one
language confuses you. Developments in science and research now prove that the
opposite is true – being bilingual is advantageous to the development of the
brain. The brain is very much like a sponge and learning a language up to the
age of 13 is perfect. After the age of 13 languages are ‘stored’ in a different
part of the brain making is slightly more difficult to learn.
I’ve never understood why any parent would
want to deny their child a head-start in life.
ADVANTAGES OF BILINGUALISM
1. Communication with the whole family and the community Where parents
have different first languages, a child who is bilingual can communicate in
both of those languages. This can allow a close and special relationship with
each parent to develop. At the same time, both parents are passing to the child
part of their past and their heritage. Being bilingual creates a bridge between
generations, with grandparents, for example, or with other family members. This
helps to build a sense of belonging to the extended family. Being able to speak
Welsh also allows people to play a full part in community life in those areas
of Wales where the language is widely used.
2. Extending the enjoyment of reading and writing If someone can read
and write in two languages, they are able to enjoy two literatures in their
original language. This can open up a deeper understanding of different
traditions, ideas, ways of thinking and behaving. The pleasures of reading
novels, poetry and magazines and the enjoyment of writing to friends and family
are all doubled for bilingual people.
3. Access to two cultures One of the advantages of being bilingual is
having access to two cultures, which can be two different worlds of experience.
With a language goes a wealth of things like idioms and sayings, folk stories
and history, poetry, literature and music, both traditional and contemporary.
4. Tolerance of other languages and cultures Because two languages
give someone a wider cultural experience, there is often a greater tolerance of
differences in cultures, creeds and customs.
5. Thinking benefits Research has shown that having two well developed
languages can give people particular advantages in thinking, far from
bilingualism making people mentally confused, as is sometimes alleged. There
are four main areas: Creative thinking - bilingual children have two or more
words for each object and idea. When different meanings are attached to words
in the two languages, a bilingual person may develop the ability to think more
flexibly. Sensitivity to Communication - bilingual people have to know which language
to speak with whom, and when. They therefore appear to be more sensitive to the
needs of listeners than monolingual people. IQ Tests- research from many
different countries of the world shows that bilingual people tend do better at
IQ tests compared with monolingual people of the same socio-economic class. A
head start in reading - bilinguals being less fixed on the sound and more
centred on the meaning of words has been shown by Canadian researchers to give
a head start in learning to read. This tends to be an advantage for bilingual
children around the ages four to six.
6. Raised self-esteem Being able to switch naturally between
languages, and being able to talk to different people in those languages, makes
children feel good about themselves and their abilities. A sense of real
ownership of both Welsh and English can do wonders to help raise a child's
self-esteem.
7. Security in identity The Welsh language is one of the few things
that differentiates Wales from the rest of the UK and it can be a powerful link
between Welsh people everywhere. Everyone in Wales and from Wales can be proud
of the language, even if they don't speak it. It belongs to us all.
8. Educational benefits Research evidence from bilingual education
systems in Canada, the United States, the Basque country, Catalonia and Wales
shows that children who have two languages tend to do better in the curriculum
and to show slightly higher performance in tests and examinations. This is
partly related to the thinking advantages of bilingualism mentioned earlier.
9. Easier to learn a third language There is growing evidence from
European research that bilinguals tend to find it easier to learn other
languages. The current examples are children from countries such as Holland,
Denmark and Finland who often speak three (or four) languages with ease.
Another example is the Basque country where learning Basque, Spanish and
English has become increasingly frequent.
10. Employment advantages There are potential economic advantages in
Wales (which are continually increasing) of being bilingual. A person with two
languages will probably have a wider choice of jobs available in the future.
Welsh speakers are increasingly needed in the retail sector, tourism,
transport, public relations, banking and accountancy, administration,
translation, secretarial work, marketing and sales, the law and teaching. Being
bilingual does not guarantee a meal ticket but it gives a person an additional
valuable skill when job seeking
This has led bilinguals to
demonstrate superior abilities on general cognitive tasks that require certain
types of processing – an advantage that translates well into the classroom.
They control your TV set too, not to
mention your radio – dictating what you can and can’t listen to!
