THE BILINGUAL BRAIN

Language shapes the way we see the world, and speaking more than one language
can help individuals see the world in more than one way, say experts.
For those of us who find learning another language a struggle, this may sound
unbelievable, not to mention unfair, but --according to experts-- most people in the
world are at least bilingual. And previous concern that bilingualism could adversely
affect children in their educational development turns out to be unfounded. In fact
bilingual individuals do somewhat better than single-language speakers in their
cognitive abilities.
Listen to ABC's Lynne Malcolm talking to linguists Dominique Estival and Amanda
Miller Amberder on bilingualism and how it affects the brain.

TRANSCRIPT
DOMINIQUE ESTIVAL: Most people in the world are at least bilingual, it's a very
unusual case that we have people who are mono-lingual who only know one
language. Throughout history people have usually learned more than one language
partially because communities were smaller and so it was much more frequent that
you would know about people down the road, or down the river who spoke another
language. So a lot of people in the world now grow up speaking two or three
languages, it's actually quite common.
LYNNE MALCOLM: Linguist Dominique Estival from the University of Western
Sydney. She's a native French speaker but favours English in her academic work.
Bilingualism and multi-lingualism for that matter is far more common in Australia
than the census figures may have us believe. Many people, even if they were born in
Australia, speak a language other than English with their families at home.
Linguist Dominique Estival has done a lot of thinking about the way we use
languages.

DOMINIQUE ESTIVAL: the languages we learn to speak when we are children shape
the way we see the world, but there's a commonality among all human beings
about the way we see the world. I don't think it would be possible to really have
elaborate thought if we did not have the languages. So having a language actually is
what makes human beings able to structure their thinking as well as expressing it. So
without language, some sort of language, not necessarily spoken language, I don't
think human thought would be actually quite as structured and elaborate as it is.
I would say that somebody who speaks more than one language is able to then see
the world in more than one way. And that allows us to have a broader view of the
world, a wider variety of ways of thinking. It means that you are more flexible in
your way of looking at the world. You will be able to learn more quickly new
systems. So the younger you are when you learn another language, the easier it will
be to adapt to other languages further down the track.
LYNNE MALCOLM: Amanda Miller Amberber is a research fellow with the Brain and
Ageing program at the University of NSW. So how does being bilingual affect the
brain?
AMANDA MILLER AMBERBER: Some time ago there was some concern about
whether bilingualism would disadvantage children and in fact hold them back in
their educational development and possibly in their cognitive abilities. We now
know that this is not the case and that bilingualism is only an advantage both for
children and possibly in older age for adults. So we know that on tasks that involve
mental flexibility and what are called executive functions, thinking skills that are
involved in the organisation and control of responses, and the ability to switch
attention, that bilingual individuals do somewhat better than mono-lingual or singlelanguage speakers.