Bilingüismo y Multilingüismo

Bilingüismo y Multilingüismo

1. Advantages of Being Bilingual

   • Cognitive benefits
     • for children
       • according to cognitive tests carried out and compared to monolingual children children who learned a second language at an early age developed better cognitive abilities, higher IQ greater creativity, higher achievement in reading, greater memory greater verbal and non-verbal intelligence. Greater ability to solve problems, As well as higher scores in math and reading.
     • It's good for your brain, Has positive effects on intellectual growth, Improves and enriches mental development, Greater variety of words for ideas and objects, creative thinking, flexible thinking, greater sensitivity to the needs of the listener, greater function in great variety of cognitive tasks, also ability to know which language to speak with which person in a particular situation
   • Communication
     • Greater taste for reading and writing in different languages, understand and appreciate more deeply ideas from literature, poetry, novels, and magazines in multiple languages improve ways of thinking and behaving, as well as no difficulties in communication while in a foreign country
   • Work Opportunities
     • greater ability to find work in certain fields, especially in regards to international business, greater efficiency in multiple tasks, in addition to greater capacity for prioritize information in potentially confusing situations.
   • Character
     • The bilinguals are able to switch between different languages and talk to different people in various languages . It increases a sense of self -esteem . Being bilingual creates a powerful link in different people from different countries
   • cultural
     • acceso y exposición a diferentes culturas, Conocimiento de diferentes idiomas tesoro tradicional, contemporáneos, modismos, historia y cuentos populares, música, literatura y poesía en culturas diferentes, y debido a una mas amplia experiencia cultural, hay un mayor tolerancia a las diferencias en credos y costumbres.

2. Disadvantages of being Bilingual

   • Code-switching
     • is a term in linguistics referring to using more than one language or dialect in conversation. Bilinguals, who can speak at least two languages fluently, have the ability to use elements of both languages when conversing with another bilingual. What is said is syntactically and phonologically appropriate; that means that even if words from another language are included into the sentence, they will be adapted to the grammatical rules of the first language. Code-switching can occur between sentences (inter sentential) or within a single sentence (intra-sentential).
   • Interference
     • the speaker consciously or inadvertently brings in pronunciation, sentence formation and vocabulary of the source language while using a target language. Ruke – Dravina has argued that interference is always present in bilingualism, especially when the two languages are closer in their phonological, syntactic and morphological features. It affects pronunciation as can be seen when Francophone students pronounce the “ch” as “chicken” as “sh”, and might include whole sentences syntactically as in * “John is come here” for “John has come here”.

3. theories or Types of Bilingualism

   • Coordinate Bilingualism or subtractive bilingualism.
     • it is learned in separate environments, and words of the two languages are kept separate with each word having its own specific meaning.
       • example
         • learned in school
   • Compound Bilingualism:
     • both languages are learned in the same context where they are used concurrently, so that there is a fused representation of the languages in the brain.
       • example
         • learned by bilingual parents or with different languages
   • The Roots of Bilingualism in Newborns
     • Babies who listen to two languages of the mother during pregnancy helps them to be vilinguis more easily