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Sharra Tiffany Jones

English IV Honors

Mrs. Day

18 April 2017

The Importance of Being Bilingual

Just over half of Europeans (Fifty Four Percent) are able to hold a conversation in at least

one additional language, a quarter (Twenty Five Percent) are able to speak at least two additional

languages and one in ten (Ten Percent) are conversant in at least three languages (Nardelli).

Where there is only about a Quarter (Twenty five Percent) of Americans are able to hold a

conversation in a language other than English (McComb). Why is this important? Maybe this

shows the difference in education, culture, or possibly acceptance of all people. Being bilingual

can improve peoples understanding of others, leading to more acceptance and tolerance. It can

also lead to improvements in the economy. For these reasons, it is important for more Americans

to be bilingual.

In Europe, children begin learning multiple languages between the ages of six to nine.

However, a majority of other countries have lowered the age of becoming bilingual to three years

of age ("Children in Europe). As of 2009, only about Twenty percent of Americans can speak a

different language other than English in their home. With this Twenty percent, this takes into

consideration of the number of bilingual speakers here in the United States ( New York Times).

Some samples of people believe that being Bilingual can actually hinder a person's ability to

function in the world. In ways multilingual could render people with complications in their IQ,

develop low-self esteem, deviant behavior, and even personality disorders. This is for when these

people cannot involve themselves and understand situations. Such as when people want to go out
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and explore places they have not been, but when they come in contact with people who either

cannot understand their language or speak in an entirely different tongue. Another instance

Instead this was proven wrong in a 1967 through 1975 experiment when it was proved that

children tended to excel if they were bilingual compared to their counterparts who were only

monolingual.(Kolers).

Culture diversity is everywhere. Being bilingual opens up peoples ability to experience

cultures at a closer level. Connecting with people all over the world with cultures create open

mindedness and a tolerance, this leads to opportunities to engage in two different communities,

Some hurdles that could be faced in this situation is that people feel safer in their comfort zones

and would not try to branch out. This can be extremely hard for people who are monolinguist.

Lack of communication can be one of the hardest things to deal with, not only in cultures but

also in the workplace.

In today's global economy, the ability to communicate is the most important key. Then as

more companies are being to expand internationally, the ability to communicate in more than one

language has become a significant advantage in the workforce (How Being Can Boost Your

Career). It has been proven that people who speak more than one language have increased

cognitive abilities, such as problem-solving, creativity, and memory. These can then also lead up

to the Five Pillars Of Business Optimization. These involve Market Expansion, Customer

Service, WorkForce Development, Workplace Safety, and Productivity & Collaboration.

(Importance of Being Bilingual in Business).

These Five Pillars all relate back to the ability to be bilingual. Market Expansion is

one of the biggest business advantages of a workforce. This slowly show businesses becoming

more effective in the ability to communicate in more than one language is the availability to
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reach out to new markets, both at home and abroad. Some of the markets are considered

technology, industrial, health and human services, plus many more. On the international side,

growing opportunities in emerging markets far outnumber those in developed economies, due to

the wide varieties of languages used in less developed countries(Importance of Being Bilingual

in Business) . Approximately over the next few years, roughly seventy percent of world growth

will come from emerging bilingual markets, with China and India alone accounting for almost

forty percent of that growth. By 2025, annual consumption in these emerging markets is

projected to hit $30 trillion (Importance of Being Bilingual in Business)

Customer Service play a large role in with bilingual industries.This is the second pillar of

business optimization through language training. In this language skills are able to enhance

customer service. Companies that seek to improve service and support for their increasingly

multicultural and international customers need to engage them in their preferred language.

Market Expansion and Customer Service were the top two of the Five Pillars in how being

bilingual is not only an economic benefit but also a industry benefit.

To the benefits of being bilingual, there are also some disadvantages in the eyes of

people all across the world. These are the people who believe that the benefits do not always

outway the negatives(When Does Bilingualism Hurt You). Factors that can be involved in

learning a new language often include a negative experience. Some of these factors include;

Stress, Wrong Reasons, Relationship Strain, Small Vocabulary, and other key effects(When

Does Bilingualism Hurt You).

In this 2012 study researchers pointed out that, since in the brain of a bilingual person

there are two languages that are constantly active and involve an additional processing cost, this

sometimes leads to verbal skills of bilingual people to be generally weaker than those proficient
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in only one language(source is on home computer). However, even though there are so many

negative effects of being bilingual, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.

Modern medicine and treatments are starting to affect bilingual people in a very positive

way(Key Advantages and Disadvantages). Adults with Alzheimer's have had incredible delay of

the disease due to the consistent use of brain function and activities(Key Advantages and

Disadvantages). Delay of cognitive damage has also been proven with the onset symptoms of

Dementia(Delaying The Onset). This has shown in a sample of people with both Alzheimer's and

Dementia that being bilingual has delayed these diseases symptoms by five years(Delaying The

Onset).

Cynthia Winters is a current teacher at Erwin High School. She has been able to

communicate in two languages for fifteen years now. However, unlike a traditional language

such as English, Spanish, or German, she speaks with her hands. Cynthia is a translator for the

deaf, signing in American Sign almost everyday. She believes that having a second language is

not just important for the person but for growth in this world. The reasons that Cynthia began

learning Sign was due to children she had to work with everyday. She had work at Bell

elementary in North Carolina as an after school director, working with children who have to wait

for their parents to pick them up. There were a couple of children who were deaf and so many of

the teachers could not understand and communicate. This made learning and behavior a struggle

with the children (Winters).

During this, Cynthia felt the frustration between the children and teachers so she decided

to attend classes at Blue Ridge Community College. As she continued on learning, she

discovered a whole new opportunity and world she was open to. Cynthia discovered the effort

and time it takes to learn a language. She spent about five years to become fully able to have a
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conversation with someone who is deaf, while she also attended deaf conferences. These

conferences involve deaf people within the city, as well as people from other states.

From these conferences Cynthia was introduced to the culture of deaf people. Culture and

language intertwine, with language reflecting characteristics of all types of cultures. Learning

about the culture of Deaf people is also learning about their language. Deaf Americans use

American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate with each other with people who know the

language. ASL is a visual/gestural language that consist no vocal component. ASL is a complete,

grammatically complex language. It differs from a communication codes designed to represent

English directly and ASL is not a universal language. However, there are signed languages in

other countries such as; Italian Sign Language, Chinese Sign Language, Swedish Sign

Language(American Deaf Community).

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Suggestions for elaboration: provide facts and statistics on the number of languages spoken in

America. That might also make a good visual.

Works Cited

Kolers, Paul A. "Bilingualism and Information Processing." Scientific American. Clearinghouse

for Federal Scientific and Technical Information, Springfield, Va. 22151 (AD 703 364,

MF $0.65, HC $3.00, Prepayment Requested), 30 Nov. 1967. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.

Missing URL

"Children in Europe Start Learning Foreign Languages at an Increasingly Early Age." European

Commission. N.p., 20 Sept. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.

<http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-990_en.htm>.

.Erard, Michael. "Are We Really Monolingual?" The New York Times. N.p., 14 Jan. 2012. Web.

06 Mar. 2017. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/are-we-really-

monolingual.html>.

Andruss, Paula. "How Being Bilingual Can Boost Your Career." How Being Bilingual Can Boost

Your Career. N.p., 2008. Web. 11 Mar. 2017.

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McComb, Chris. "About One in Four Americans Can Hold a Conversation in a Second

Language." Gallup. N.p., 06 Apr. 2001. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.

<http://www.gallup.com/poll/1825/About-One-Four-Americans-Can-Hold-

Conversation-Second-Language.aspx>.

Nardelli, Alberto. "Most Europeans Can Speak Multiple Languages. UK and Ireland Not so

Much." Datablog. Guardian News and Media, 26 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.

<https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/sep/26/europeans-multiple-

languages-uk-ireland>

Winters, Cynthia. Personal Interview. Clyde A. Erwin Staff. 09 May 2017.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/02/multilingual-benefits_n_5399980.html

http://science.time.com/2013/07/18/how-the-brain-benefits-from-being-bilingual/

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/mon/76/27/1/

http://www.gli.northwestern.edu/learn-languages/benefits-of-multilingualism/

http://www.dafigo.com/blogs/the-importance-of-speaking-multiple-languages-in-business/

http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/bilingualadvantages.htm

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/developing-minds/201404/when-does-bilingualism-

help-or-hurt

http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/bilingualadvantages.htm

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21060095

http://www3.gallaudet.edu/clerc-center/info-to-go/deaf-culture/american-deaf-culture.html