The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual

Today, more than half of the world’s population is either bilingual or multilingual. The rise of bilingualism not only facilitates cross-cultural communication, but this trend also positively impacts cognitive abilities.

A bilingual person is better acquainted with environmental changes, attention to detail, impulse control, and many other aspects of life that require patience and focus.

Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism

When hearing a word, a person does not hear the entire word at once: the sounds arrive in sequential order. Before the word is finished the brain’s language system begins to guess what the word might be. For bilingual people this process is not limited to a single language, auditory input activates corresponding words regardless of the language to which they belong. This is known as language co-activation.

Having to deal with language co-activation can result in language difficulties such as an increase in tip-of-the-tongue states (when you’re unable to fully conjure a word and only remember certain aspects of the word). Therefore, the juggling of two languages creates a need to control how much a person accesses a language at any given time. To maintain balance the bilingual brain relies on a regulatory system of cognitive abilities that include processes such as attention and inhibition.

Benefits

  • Seeing as both of a bilingual person’s language systems are always active that person uses the above-mentioned control mechanisms every time he or she listens or speaks. The continuous competition between the two languages in a bilingual mind results in an enhanced control mechanism of the brain.
  • Enhanced control leads to the ability to juggle tasks well, bilinguals can easily shift their mental state from one task to another with minimal confusion or complication.
  • The enhanced inhibition process of a bilingual brain results in the ability to manage conflict like a pro.
  • The bilingual brain is highly susceptible to change and focuses on minute details which can result in improved learning capability.
  • Compared to monolinguals, bilinguals also have a more efficient working memory (a brain function that stores and processes temporary stimuli) hence a bilingual person can be better equipped to complete the task at hand with minimal distraction.
  • The cognitive benefits of bilingualism extend to early childhood and older adulthood as the bilingual brain more efficiently processes information and staves off cognitive decline.

It is also important to note that the cognitive benefits of bilingualism are not exclusive to people that were raised bilingually, they are also evident in people who learn a second language later in life.

Beyond these cognitive and neurological advantages, there are also many social benefits of bilingualism. Including the ability to explore a culture through its native tongue and the ability to talk to people whom you might have never been able to speak to.

The Congress Rental SA team commends the bilingual individuals of the globe and within our team! We offer multiple services that include the need for bilingualism or multilingualism including Remote Simultaneous Interpretation, Translations, and Simultaneous Interpretation.