Being Multilingual Helps with Multitasking

At a session of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, researchers discussed some of the benefits of being multilingual, such as heightened focus and better multitasking. Cynthia Graber reports

[Hello. (in Spanish)] [My name is Cynthia. (in French)]

According to a variety of studies my languages may be providing mental benefits beyond the ability to chat with locals when I travel. Judith Kroll, from Penn State University, discussed findings from a number of her lab’s papers on February 18th at a session of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Common thought, she explained, holds that bilingual children are hindered in their cognitive development. But it turns out that bilingual children and adults perform better when it comes to multitasking and focusing on important information. That’s because the other languages are always present in the background. So the multilingual is always making choices in selecting the appropriate language for a given situation. In the lab’s most recent paper, that scenario held true for deaf students who use American Sign Language and written English.

Ellen Bialystok, from Toronto’s York University, explained that bilingual children are better at prioritizing tasks than monolinguals. She also found that multilingualism may help protect against age-related mental decline, such as Alzheimers and dementia.

So maybe [the fact that I speak a few languages (in Hebrew)] helps me pop between different topics for this podcast.

【美国《科学美国人》月刊网站2月18日报道】题:掌握多种语言有助完成多重任务

    多项研究表明,掌握多种语言不仅能在旅游的时候帮助你与当地人交谈,还能有益心智。宾夕法尼亚州立大学的朱迪丝·克罗尔在美国科学促进会年会上谈到了她的最新研究发现。

    她说,人们一般认为,说两种语言的孩子在认知能力发展上会受到阻碍,但研究结果表明,说两种语言的儿童和成人在面对多重任务和获取重要信息方面的表现更好。那是因为他们总有另一种语言备用。

    因此掌握多种语言的人总是需要选择一种恰当的语言来应对一个特定的场景。在她的最新实验室研究中,能同时使用美国手语和英语文字的聋哑学生就证明了这一点。

    多伦多约克大学的埃伦·比亚维尼斯托克说,相比单语种的孩子,掌握两种语言的孩子在区分任务次序时表现更好。她还发现,掌握多种语言有助于预防与年龄有关的智力衰退,如痴呆症等。