Today, I found an article entitled “Why Bilinguals are Smarter”. In the New York Times. I was thrilled! I think we must share all we can about how positive it is being bilingual!
You see, I am living in the USA and I have met people who have lost their mother tongue after generations of thinking that in order to become a ‘good’ citizen of this country, they needed to speak *only* English. Sad.
The article starts by saying “SPEAKING two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age. ”