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Advantages of Multilingualism

"One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way."

 Frank Smith, sycholinguist.

According to McArthur !##$%, &dwards !##'% and (ildomec !#)*%, multilingual

 person is one who has the a+ility to speak or use more than two languages !as cited in emp, p.

-% and the speaker of two languages is called as +ilingual and his a+ility to speak these +oth

languages is known as +ilingualism !Oford &nglish /ictionary%. 0n the same manner the a+ility

to speak more than two languages is known as multilingualism. The point to note here is that

sometimes people use these terminologies interchangea+ly since it is not any universal law.

Seeing that Saville1Troike propose, while using these +oth terms in place of one another people

consider the difference of speaking one language or more than one language rather than counting

the num+er of languages spoken !as cited in emp, p. -%. 2ut +eside this interchangea+le usage

of these +oth terms few researchers like Al+ert and O+ler !#34% as well as 5ation and

Mc6aughlin !#4)% take this usage as pro+lematic and not correct +ecause of the 7ualitative and

7uantitative difference +etween the users of two languages and the users of more than two

languages !as cited in emp, p. -%. 0n the present article +oth the terms will +e used

interchangea+ly as for the topic going to +e discussed in this article is whether multilingualism is

of advantage or of disadvantage to the holder of the skill or to the individuals.A notion held many years +efore which still holds its form in today8s world that learning

more than one language is a +urden to the delicate mind of a child !07+al, $9%. 2ut eal and

6am+ert !#)$% refuted the idea through their research on +ilinguals who are proficient in French

and &nglish and show +etter performance than the pseudo1+ilinguals on +oth ver+al and non1

ver+al intelligence tests !as cited in :akuta and /ia;. #4-, p. $#%.

According to 07+al !$9%, the num+er of +ilingual individual eceeded the num+er of

monolinguals. One of the reasons for this eceeding num+er is found in the colla+orative nature

of trade processes throughout the world called glo+ali;ation !<lo+ali;ation%.

A cognitive neuroscientist from =anada, &llen 2ialystok found out that cognitive a+ilities

are one of the +enefits in which multilingual are proved to have advantage over the monolinguals

!as cited in 07+al, $9%. =ognitive +enefits of +eing multilingualism are esta+lished +y the

research of  ormi15ouri, Sho>aei, Moniri,  <holami, Moradi, Ak+ari1?ardkhaneh and 5ilsson,

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!$994% in which four eperiment regarding episodic and semantic memory were performed on

the sample population of '44 children and the result turn out to +e in the favor of +ilinguals. All

the eperiments confirm the positive effect of +eing +ilingual on the working memory and even

changing cognitive demands are of no hindrance to these positive effects.

@hen areas of health are pro+ed, one also found the +enefits of +eing multilingual. @ord

Al;heimer is not new in today8s world as well as it is one of a progressive disorder whose

treatment is not yet effective enough to prevent it or cure it. 0t is a memory loss disorder due to

deteriorating +rain cells. This damage to +rain causes difficulty in performing day to day

activities of life. This situation gets worse with the passing time. 2ut it is found that +ilingualism

have effect on the onset of the disease !07+al, $9%. &llen 2ialystok at the 2aycrest <eriatric

=enter, Toronto studied $99 Al;heimer effected individuals and find out that the Al;heimer have

late onset in +ilinguals in comparison with monolinguals. Another sample of $99 su+>ects shows

the same result that ' year late onset is o+served in +ilingual patients than the monolingual

 patients. One more yet smaller sample of only '9 patients study yield that at the age of 3- the

damaged to the +rain +y the disease is at an advance stage +ut only in +ilingual patients. Still,

 +eside this the functioning of +oth +ilingual and monolingual patients is of the same level. @hich

suggest that +ilingual may possi+ly have tendency to +etter cope with the disease !as cited in

07+al, $9%. From these researches it is o+vious that the learning of other languages help to

trigger mental activities which are an eercise helpful for the +rain as +lood and oygen flow

increases to the +rain and in turn keep nerve connections active !07+al, $9%.

Multilingualism along with other advantages also provide with the +enefit of epressing

oneself or ones feeling. 0n this regard :arris !$99)% eplains that the emotions which are intense

in nature are +etter epressed in first language and to epress swear words or emotions other

languages than native one are used. Another study +y /ewaele !$99% regarding Asian and Ara+

su+>ects show that participant flee the swear situation through code switching from own

language to &nglish !as cited in =osta /ewaele, $9$%. This show that how the holder of

multiple languages have multiple choices for the epression to +e right and also have access to a

wider range of emotions !=osta /ewaele, $9$%.

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Multilingualism is not >ust helpful for one owns self +ut also can +e of +eneficial for

others, most likely at workplace. 0f at a workplace where you have to make contact to multiple

clients there might +e a good chance to utili;e the multilingual skill. As for therapist or counselor

it is indeed a plus point to communicate in multiple languages so they can help patient +y

conversing in their native language and make them feel more connected rather than isolated +ut

this can lead to the level of empathy where complicity can happen. This heightened empathy is

the draw+ack of +eing a multilingual which is more likely under control +y the monolinguals

!=osta /ewaele, $9$%.

BeferencesC

2ilingual. !n.d.% 0n Oxford English dictionary online. Betrieved from httpCDDwww.oed.comD

=osta, 2., /ewaele, E1M. !$9$%. sychotherapy across 6anguagesC +eliefs, attitudes and

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 Language and Psychoanalysis, 1. Betrieved from httpCDDwww.language1and1

 psychoanalysis.comD=osta/ewaele$9!$9$%.pdf 

&uropean =ommission, /irectorate <eneral &ducation and =ulture. $99#. Study on the

Contribution of Multilingualism to Creativity. Betrieved from

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<lo+ali;ation. !n.d.%. Betrieved from httpCDDen.wikipedia.orgDwikiD<lo+ali;ation

:akuta, ., /ia;, B. M. !#4-%. The Belationship +etween /egree of 2ilingualism and

=ognitive A+ilityC A =ritical /iscussion and Some 5ew 6ongitudinal /ata. 0n . &.

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07+al, ?. M. !$9%. The enefits of ilingualism. Betrieved from

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emp, =. /efining multilingualism. 0n 6. Aronin and 2. :ufeisen !&ds.%, The Ex!loration of

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ormi15ouri, B ., Sho>aei, B. S., Moniri, S., <holami, A. B ., Moradi, A. B ., Ak+ari1?ardkhaneh, 

S., 5ilsson, 6. <. !$994%. The effect of childhood +ilingualism on episodic and

semantic memory tasks. Scandinavian &ournal of Psychology, '#!$%, #*19#. A+stract

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#'-9.$994.99)**.Da+stract