The Benefits of Bilingualism

A discussion of the peculiarities of languages and the differences between them.
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Slava
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The Benefits of Bilingualism

Postby Slava » Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:53 pm

A nice piece from the NYT on how language knowledge can be of use:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opini ... alism.html

I wonder what effect further numbers of language might have.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Philip Hudson
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Postby Philip Hudson » Thu Jun 21, 2012 6:21 pm

Learning a multiple of languages, along with all kinds of learning, benefits the entire life. I believe the article assumed the learning of two languages was done as a child. Learning language as an adult might not give the same results. When you really know a language you think in the language. People who speak different languages think differently (The inscrutable Chinese). Learning two languages in childhood surely makes you a bilingual thinker as well as speaker. I am not sure how this would work with multiple and especially adult-acquired languages. Sometimes I think in Spanish and sometimes in German, but I can’t do it consistently. I am proficient only in English and redneck.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.


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