It was that time
of the year again for me to attend the next Quinn Memorial Lecture at UBC. This
annual event is filled with distinguished key speakers and the 2016 version
presented us with Dr. Ellen Bialystok, the Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology at York University
with a lecture entitled “Lifelong Bilingualism: Reshaping Mind and
Brain.”
Considering that I myself speak five languages fluently and that my son
is growing up immersed in two simultaneous languages, English and Spanish, I
was personally most interested in learning about the consequences and the beneficial and
/ or possibly harmful effects of bilingualism.
In fact, I am so
dedicated to this wonderful series that I tried my utmost to battle against my
own fatigue and budding migraine to physically make it to this talk. It was a
busy day as I rushed quickly home to have a quick early dinner and then headed
out to UBC to make it there on time.
Arriving at UBC, I
was slightly at a loss vis-à-vis the recent structural changes and ongoing,
seemingly everlasting constructions, and I must admit I felt a little
embarrassed of temporarily not knowing my way around despite having spent more
than eight years at this great university. But its face and façade have become almost unrecognizable due to the
demolitions of older buildings and creations of new modern architecture, and I sincerely
miss the look and feeling of my beloved university.
But let us get back
to the lecture. It seemed less attended than previous talks, and I was able to
seat myself firmly and visibly in the second row, which was almost empty. I awaited
with keen interest the arrival of the guest speaker, and the whole lecture
started surprisingly on time and included fewer opening sessions and diversions
but rather jumped right into linguistic matters.
The overall theme
of the talk was neuroplasticity,
which refers to changes in structure and connectivity of the mind and brain. Language
learning is an experience that leaves footprints on the brain and changes the
efficiency and automatic processes of the mind. In fact, language learning is
intense and based on the whole brain; put differently, there is no specific
language switch mechanism operating in the brain turning from one language to
another since languages are jointly activated.
Hence, the brain
needs to select the target language, and selective attention is required for
this. It is not a language switch but rather a spotlight model where the brain
must focus its attention and resources or shine its light on a specific domain.
This, in turn, leads to changes in some regions of the brain and strengthens
and increases efficiency on certain tasks.
However, Bialystok
first let us know of the disadvantages of bilingualism; they are indeed few,
but there are certain limitations. The main one is a reduced linguistic
representation, meaning a lack of words and vocabulary in each language. It makes
sense that a person who knows only one language, a monolingual may generally have
more words at their disposal than someone who is storing words and information
on two or more different languages.
This reminds me of
a conversation I had with a young Swiss woman years ago. Back then, I was gently
bragging about my language skills when she countered to my multilingual mind
that it may be so but that it also meant I could not speak any of them as well
as a person who knew just one single language. To my shock and surprise, science and research
is on her side, at least broadly speaking.
The second disadvantage
is a lack of verbal fluency. If you are bilingual, it gets worse with
multilinguals, you tend to speak more slowly as you need to focus on the given
target language. This is true of myself, especially when I lack sleep AND have
no coffee in the morning. It takes me slightly longer to find the appropriate expressions
and sometimes words seem to elude me. In other situations, I may have the right
word but in the wrong language. And occasionally I dream in all my languages
and wake up rather confused and bewildered.
This is also true
of my son, especially a few years back when he would speak more slowly than
some of his classmates. This was due to the brain trying to locate and then process in the
correct domain. However, contrary to the opinion of some monolinguals, my son
very rarely confused the words and languages, and he managed that rather well without
the aid of coffee.
Apart from
difficulty generating words, for example on verbal fluency tests on which bilinguals
tend to perform worse than monolinguals as the former do not have the same vocabulary
depth, and apart from a slower retrieval of words in speaking, lifelong bilingualism
is beneficial in various ways.
For instance, bilinguals generally perform
better on executive function tasks as it boosts their attention system.
Especially on complex memory tasks, there is more facilitation and less interference
among children and older adults. A curious finding is that generally younger
adults show little group difference in terms of ability; they perform about the
same. Yet overall bilinguals are better at memory tasks as their executive
attention is always on, and they have stronger cognition in relation to memory
and attention.
Finally, Bialystok
looked at older age and dementia and the corresponding effects of bilingualism.
On certain tests like the Stroop effect, older bilingual adults tend to perform
better. They tend to have more intact and more robust frontal and medial
temporal regions, which affect attention processing as well as memory. As a
result, the age of diagnosis of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease is usually
later with bilinguals.
In fact, bilinguals
may get Alzheimer’s Disease but show symptoms at a later date. This is because
the brain compensates for general regions due to its neural plasticity; certain
parts make up for affected regions. In fact, studies in societies that consist
of largely bilinguals show lower incidence of dementia. On the downside, it
seems that when bilinguals end up getting Alzheimer’s, the disease tends to be
in a worse and more progressive state.
As we can see,
bilingualism is beneficial for the brain in many ways. It strengthens certain
regions and improves focus on attention as well as performance on memory tasks.
But what about multilinguals? Does it follow the adage of the more the better?
Bialystok
claims that this is generally so. Learning an additional language is of definite
benefit for the brain. Oddly enough, research shows that the advantages
increase by language but then stop after the fourth language, after which it
plateaus! So knowing a fifth language does not seem to give you any tangible
benefit!
This was a very
interesting lecture that focused more on statistical analysis and showed clear
benefits of learning an additional language. Hopefully, it inspires people to
pick up another language! Yet the talk did not address, for lack of time and
scope, many other benefits that come with knowing other languages. I see
languages as an important and essential tool and a powerful weapon for peace
and unity.
Knowing a language
gives you a glimpse into another culture and worldview and can increase your
ability to understand others and empathize with them. Both these traits,
understanding and empathy, are at great risk these days, and leaders around the
world should not only fund and promote education but also encourage language learning
and literature so that more open minds can be fostered across the world.
