Second Language Advantage

A person who can speak two languages fluently is said to be bilingual, while a person who can speak more than two languages is multilingual; there are a number of advantages, both cognitive and cultural, to being either bilingual or multilingual. However, the nature and extent of these advantages remain topics of some debate.

According to the results of the United States Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey, the number of Americans who spoke a language other than English at home grew from 23.1 million, or 10 percent of Americans, in 1980 to 67.8 million, or 20 percent of Americans, in 2019. Of those, 62 percent reported they could also speak English "very well" in 2019. Spanish was the most common non-English language spoken at home.

Background

Most people who speak a second language learned it as children in a household where that language was frequently, if not exclusively, spoken. This is particularly the case for children whose parents are recent immigrants and speak little to no English. In addition, some families that have been in the United States for many generations continue to speak the language of their ethnic background to preserve the culture.

Others learn a second language in school. Most American high schools, colleges, and universities require students to learn a second language. While many students do not continue learning this language into adulthood, those who do may be rewarded by the benefits and advantages that are associated with knowing another language. Still others learn a second language after they finish school, whether for career advancement, personal enrichment, curiosity, travel, or simply to be able to converse in a language other than their own.

Learning another language helps people become more sensitive to cultures other than their own. People who grew up in families that recently immigrated already have instilled in them a sensitivity to their parents’ culture. Someone who learns a language later in life can learn to appreciate the culture of the language they are learning. Tolerance can also be learned, which leads to better communication across cultures. Learning a second language also improves a person’s understanding of his or her first language, as it causes the person to become more conscious of how the first language works. In addition, employers are more prone to hire candidates who can speak a second language. Job-related benefits of knowing a second language include knowledge of different cultures, the ability to communicate on an international scale, and more options for career growth.

Overview

Knowing a second language has certain cognitive advantages. Studies have shown that knowing a second language sharpens the mind, particularly in the areas of concentration and multitasking. According to "The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual," an article published on the Dana Foundation website, when a bilingual person hears a word, the input activates both languages in the person’s brain, not just the one that was spoken. This requires the bilingual person to exercise greater control over his or her executive functions in order to keep track of which language is being spoken, which translates to enhanced ability to switch between tasks and filter out irrelevant information. Further studies have shown that switching back and forth between languages activates parts of the brain associated with various cognitive skills, such as attention, inhibition, and auditory perception.

Knowledge of a second language may also affect the physical structure of the brain. The Dana Foundation article cited a 2004 study that found a correlation between early second-language acquisition and higher gray-matter volume in an area of the brain associated with language switching. Other studies showed potential positive benefits to the white matter as well.

People who learn a second language as a child have added advantages over those who learn a language as adults. For one, they become fluent in the language more easily, as people learn fastest when they are children. Another advantage is that they become better communicators than their monolingual counterparts. A study by researchers at the University of Chicago’s Psychology Department, published in Psychological Science, assessed the communication skills of children from both monolingual and bilingual households. The children played a game involving moving objects correctly on a grid. The results of the study showed that children who were exposed to a second language at home, whether or not they spoke that language themselves, correctly moved the objects more than three-quarters of the time, while the children who were only exposed to one language did so only about half of the time. This study and others like it show how exposure to different languages shapes the brain.

Although most scientists and educators generally agree that there are advantages to knowing more than one language, the question still raises some controversy. While numerous scientific papers have highlighted the many advantages of knowing a second language, others have taken a more critical approach. For instance, Maria Konnikova’s 2015 article, "Is Bilingualism Really an Advantage?" published in the New Yorker, describes a study by researcher Angela de Bruin, who herself is bilingual, on the connection between bilingualism and executive function. When de Bruin found no clear differences between the performances of monolingual and bilingual participants in her study, she began to investigate abstracts on similar research that had been presented at conferences. She found that while in-progress research reported at conferences seemed to either support or refute the benefits of bilingualism in approximately equal measure, 68 percent of the studies showing positive results were later published in scientific journals, compared to just 29 percent of studies with negative results. This publication bias makes the existence of a connection between bilingualism and improved cognitive function seem much more certain than it actually is.

One potential reason why such studies cannot find a concrete advantage to knowing a second language is that the studies gauge participants’ ability to complete certain tasks that test their executive functioning, while some experts believe that the real benefits of bilingualism or multilingualism are more long term. Knowledge of multiple languages seems to enhance people’s ability to continue learning as they age, keeping their brains active and potentially staving off age-related dementia.

People are able to keep learning well into their adult lives. Knowing a second language from an early age makes it easier to learn additional languages later in life. However, if a person did not learn a second language as a child, he or she can do so as an adult. While it may take more work, an adult learner can still achieve fluency and then pick up subsequent languages with greater ease.

Bibliography

Cherry, Kendra. "Learning a New Language Is Hard, But Your Brain Will Thank You." Verywell Mind, 16 Aug. 2024, www.verywellmind.com/benefits-of-learning-a-new-language-8695564. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

Dietrich, Sandy, and Erik Hernandez. "Nearly 68 Million People Spoke a Language Other Than English at Home in 2019." US Census Bureau, 6 Dec. 2022, www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/12/languages-we-speak-in-united-states.html. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

Ingmire, Jann. "Children Exposed to Multiple Languages May Be Better Natural Communicators." UChicago News. U of Chicago, 11 May 2015. Web. 5 June 2015.

Konnikova, Maria. "Is Bilingualism Really an Advantage?" New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2015, www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/bilingual-advantage-aging-brain. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.

Marian, Viorica, and Anthony Shook. "The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual." Dana Foundation. Dana Foundation, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 22 Jan. 2015.

Merritt, Anne. "Why Learn a Foreign Language? Benefits of Bilingualism." Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 19 June 2013. Web. 5 June 2015.

O’Malley, J. Michael, and Anna Uhl Chamot. Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge UP, 1990.

Singal, Jesse. "The ‘Bilingual Advantage’ May Not Actually Be a Thing." NYMag.com. New York Media, 8 Dec. 2014. Web. 5 June 2015.

Thompson, Kim. "A Second Language Is a Great Career Advantage." Houston Chronicle. Hearst Newspapers, 29 Apr. 2015. Web. 5 June 2015.