Languages: More are better!

By Schelly

July 2, 2015

Contributing author Schelly Talalay Dardashti is the US Genealogy Advisor for MyHeritage.com

Genealogists often lament the fact that immigrant ancestors did not pass on their native languages to their descendants.

While the children of immigrants were mostly fluent in those languages – the first generation – those children only rarely passed down those languages to their own children or grandchildren – thus losing them forever.

Years ago, as I sat struggling through Cyrillic to understand records from Belarus, I often wished my great-grandparents had passed down Russian and Yiddish. Russian seemed to have disappeared the day the family hit the streets of New York, while Yiddish was transmitted to their children. Their grandchildren knew only some phrases or could understand some of it but not speak it – only rarely could they read it. The next generation knew nothing about those languages.

How much easier it would have been if I had learned both languages fluently from my parents and grandparents! However, I did learn Farsi fluently when we lived in Iran. Our daughter studied it, used to read and write it, understands it almost fluently, but refuses to speak it.

Now, through one scientist’s research, we learn that there are two major reasons that people should pass their heritage language to their children.

One reason is obvious to family history researchers:

It connects children to their ancestors.
The research indicates that bilingualism is good for you. It makes brains stronger, as it is brain exercise.

There is a definite advantage to being bilingual – and, we assume, trilingual or more – as indicated in this New York Times story, “The Bilingual Advantage.”

A cognitive neuroscientist, Dr. Ellen Bialystok, 62, has spent almost 40 years learning about how bilingualism sharpens the mind. Her good news: Among other benefits, the regular use of two languages appears to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms.

Bialystok is a distinguished research professor of psychology at York University (Toronto, Canada) and received a $100,000 Killam Prize a few years ago for her contributions to social science.

Here is a highlight from the interview, but do read the complete story at the link above to understand how technology has helped the professor in her research.

Q. How does this work — do you understand it?

A. Yes. There’s a system in your brain, the executive control system. It’s a general manager. Its job is to keep you focused on what is relevant, while ignoring distractions. It’s what makes it possible for you to hold two different things in your mind at one time and switch between them.

If you have two languages and you use them regularly, the way the brain’s networks work is that every time you speak, both languages pop up and the executive control system has to sort through everything and attend to what’s relevant in the moment. Therefore the bilinguals use that system more, and it’s that regular use that makes that system more efficient.

According to her research, using two languages all the time also helps ward off Alzheimer’s disease.

Is a smattering of high school French enough? No, says Bialystok. You need to use “both languages all the time. You won’t get the bilingual benefit from occasional use.”

Bilingualism also helps with multitasking. Bialystock’s team wondered, “Are bilinguals better at multitasking?”

They put monolinguals and bilinguals into a driving simulator and gave them – through headphones – extra tasks to do. As tasks were added, everyone’s driving got worse. But the bilinguals did better than the others as they could concentrate on a problem. However, the researchers are not advising that bilinguals text while they drive.

For those of a technical frame of mind, do read the section on new neuroimaging technologies that helped in this research. In the old days, scientists could only see the parts of the brain used in specific tasks. New technology means they can see how the different parts work together in tasks.

Bilinguals seem to solve problems faster than monolinguals. It seems the bilinguals are using a different kind of network to solve those problems. Says Bialystok, “Their whole brain appears to rewire because of bilingualism.”

In the US – until about the 1960s – parents were advised not to speak their native languages to their children as it could confuse them. That has changed and bilingualism is no longer considered a negative point.

And what about today’s immigrants?

Bialystok says people ask her about teaching languages to their children. She answers, “You’re sitting on a potential gift.”

Are you bilingual? What languages do you speak? Has it helped you? Or not? We are interested in hearing from readers, so please comment below.