Advantages of Multilingualism

"One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way." Frank Smith, sycholinguist. According to McArthur !"##$%, &dwards !"##'% and (ildomec !"#)*%, multilingual person is one who has the a+ility to speak or use more than two languages !as cited in ,emp, p. "-% and the speaker of two languages is called as +ilingual and his a+ility to speak these +oth languages is known as +ilingualism !O.ford &nglish /ictionary%. 0n the same manner the a+ility to speak more than two languages is known as multilingualism. The point to note here is that sometimes people use these terminologies interchangea+ly since it is not any universal law. Seeing that Saville1Troike propose, while using these +oth terms in place of one another people consider the difference of speaking one language or more than one language rather than counting the num+er of languages spoken !as cited in ,emp, p. "-%. 2ut +eside this interchangea+le usage of these +oth terms few researchers like Al+ert and O+ler !"#34% as well as 5ation and Mc6aughlin !"#4)% take this usage as pro+lematic and not correct +ecause of the 7ualitative and 7uantitative difference +etween the users of two languages and the users of more than two languages !as cited in ,emp, p. "-%. 0n the present article +oth the terms will +e used interchangea+ly as for the topic going to +e discussed in this article is whether multilingualism is of advantage or of disadvantage to the holder of the skill or to the individuals. A notion held many years +efore which still holds its form in today8s world that learning more than one language is a +urden to the delicate mind of a child !07+al, $9""%. 2ut eal and 6am+ert !"#)$% refuted the idea through their research on +ilinguals who are proficient in French and &nglish and show +etter performance than the pseudo1+ilinguals on +oth ver+al and non1 ver+al intelligence tests !as cited in :akuta and /ia;. "#4-, p. $"#%. According to 07+al !$9""%, the num+er of +ilingual individual e.ceeded the num+er of monolinguals. One of the reasons for this e.ceeding num+er is found in the colla+orative nature of trade processes throughout the world called glo+ali;ation !<lo+ali;ation%. A cognitive neuroscientist from =anada, &llen 2ialystok found out that cognitive a+ilities are one of the +enefits in which multilingual are proved to have advantage over the monolinguals !as cited in 07+al, $9""%. =ognitive +enefits of +eing multilingualism are esta+lished +y the research of ,ormi15ouri, Sho>aei, Moniri, <holami, Moradi, Ak+ari1?ardkhaneh and 5ilsson,

!$994% in which four e.periment regarding episodic and semantic memory were performed on the sample population of '44 children and the result turn out to +e in the favor of +ilinguals. All the e.periments confirm the positive effect of +eing +ilingual on the working memory and even changing cognitive demands are of no hindrance to these positive effects. @hen areas of health are pro+ed, one also found the +enefits of +eing multilingual. @ord Al;heimer is not new in today8s world as well as it is one of a progressive disorder whose treatment is not yet effective enough to prevent it or cure it. 0t is a memory loss disorder due to deteriorating +rain cells. This damage to +rain causes difficulty in performing day to day activities of life. This situation gets worse with the passing time. 2ut it is found that +ilingualism have effect on the onset of the disease !07+al, $9""%. &llen 2ialystok at the 2aycrest <eriatric =enter, Toronto studied $99 Al;heimer effected individuals and find out that the Al;heimer have late onset in +ilinguals in comparison with monolinguals. Another sample of $99 su+>ects shows the same result that ' year late onset is o+served in +ilingual patients than the monolingual patients. One more yet smaller sample of only '9 patients study yield that at the age of 3- the damaged to the +rain +y the disease is at an advance stage +ut only in +ilingual patients. Still, +eside this the functioning of +oth +ilingual and monolingual patients is of the same level. @hich suggest that +ilingual may possi+ly have tendency to +etter cope with the disease !as cited in 07+al, $9""%. From these researches it is o+vious that the learning of other languages help to trigger mental activities which are an e.ercise helpful for the +rain as +lood and o.ygen flow increases to the +rain and in turn keep nerve connections active !07+al, $9""%.

Multilingualism along with other advantages also provide with the +enefit of e.pressing oneself or ones feeling. 0n this regard :arris !$99)% e.plains that the emotions which are intense in nature are +etter e.pressed in first language and to e.press swear words or emotions other languages than native one are used. Another study +y /ewaele !$9"9% regarding Asian and Ara+ su+>ects show that participant flee the swear situation through code switching from own language to &nglish !as cited in =osta A /ewaele, $9"$%. This show that how the holder of multiple languages have multiple choices for the e.pression to +e right and also have access to a wider range of emotions !=osta A /ewaele, $9"$%.

Multilingualism is not >ust helpful for one owns self +ut also can +e of +eneficial for others, most likely at workplace. 0f at a workplace where you have to make contact to multiple clients there might +e a good chance to utili;e the multilingual skill. As for therapist or counselor it is indeed a plus point to communicate in multiple languages so they can help patient +y conversing in their native language and make them feel more connected rather than isolated +ut this can lead to the level of empathy where complicity can happen. This heightened empathy is the draw+ack of +eing a multilingual which is more likely under control +y the monolinguals !=osta A /ewaele, $9"$%.

BeferencesC
2ilingual. !n.d.% 0n Oxford English dictionary online. Betrieved from httpCDDwww.oed.comD =osta, 2., A /ewaele, E1M. !$9"$%. Language and sychotherapy across 6anguagesC +eliefs, attitudes and 1. Betrieved from httpCDDwww.language1and1

practices of monolingual and multilingual therapists with their multilingual patients. Psychoanalysis, psychoanalysis.comD=osta/ewaeleF$9!$9"$%.pdf &uropean =ommission, /irectorate <eneral &ducation and =ulture. $99#. Study on the Contribution of Multilingualism to Creativity. Betrieved from httpCDDeacea.ec.europa.euDllpDstudiesDdocumentsDstudyGonGtheGcontri+utionGofGmultilingu alismGtoGcreativityDcompendiumGpartG"Gen.pdf <lo+ali;ation. !n.d.%. Betrieved from httpCDDen.wikipedia.orgDwikiD<lo+ali;ation :akuta, ,., A /ia;, B. M. !"#4-%. The Belationship +etween /egree of 2ilingualism and =ognitive A+ilityC A =ritical /iscussion and Some 5ew 6ongitudinal /ata. 0n ,. &. 5elson !&d.%, Children and Language. Betrieved from httpCDDfaculty.ucmerced.eduDkhakutaDresearchDpu+licationsD!"#4-%F$91F$9T:& F$9B&6AT0O5S:0 F$92&T@&&5F$9/&<B&&F$9OFF$920605<HA60SM F$9A5/.pdf

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httpCDDpakistanlink.orgDOpinionD$9""DEuly""D94D9).:TM ,emp, =. /efining multilingualism. 0n 6. Aronin and 2. :ufeisen !&ds.%, The Ex!loration of Multilingualism "evelo!ment of research on L#, multilingualism and multi!le language ac$uisition% Betrieved from httpCDDnpu.edu.uaDIe1+ookD+ookDd>vuDADiifGkgpmGAronin F$96.F$9TheF$9&.plorationF$9ofF$9Multilingualism.pdf ,ormi15ouri, B., Sho>aei, B. S., Moniri, S., <holami, A. B., Moradi, A. B., Ak+ari1?ardkhaneh, S., A 5ilsson, 6. <. !$994%. The effect of childhood +ilingualism on episodic and semantic memory tasks. Scandinavian &ournal of Psychology, '#!$%, #*1"9#. A+stract retrieved from httpCDDonlineli+rary.wiley.comDdoiD"9.""""D>."')31 #'-9.$994.99)**..Da+stract