« Coming
from a home in which mostly Spanish was spoken, for example, I had to decide to
forget Spanish when I began my education. To succeed in the classroom, I needed
psychologically to sever my ties with Spanish. »
I don’t
agree with this statement from Rodriguez. I think it is more the opposite. To
know another language can help you a lot for some classes. For example, if you
learn other languages, it can help you. Or if you learn history, if you come
from another culture, you probably already know some things about its past and
that can be helpful as well.
Studies
have been made about the difference in capabilities of any type of learning
between monolingual and bilingual people. The result is that “[Being bilingual]
can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not
related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age”
(Bhattacharjee). I am now living in a country that has a different language
than the one I have always talked. I always translate in my head everything
that I hear and my thoughts that I tell. This is very tiring and keeps me all
the time on the ball, it keeps “training my brain” and that probably helps me
as the study says. Instead of doing all this hard work, Rodriguez chose an
easier way by forgetting everything about Spanish. He only made that work of
translating all the time in the beginning, because you need to when you learn a
language so Spanish probably may have helped him for his studies, or at least
early studies, but then by forgetting it, he lost that benefit. It was for sure
easier for him and less tiring at the moment, but, as the study says, it would
have been better for him to keep Spanish in his head for his future life.
Bhattacharjee,
Yudhijit. “Why Bilinguals Are Smarter.” The
New York Times. 17 Mar. 2012. Web. 9 Oct. 2014.
It is interesting that you found an article to emphasize your thoughts. I didn't know about bilingual having less risks to have dementia in old age. I think speaking several languages is a big help and can never do harm. Nobody should forget his native language and origins. It is part of him and he should be proud of it. It must be even harder for him to now communicate with his family.
ReplyDeleteI am going to agree on the point that there is no viable downside to learning multiple languages and maintaining them. It seems that knowing more than one language can even be beneficial to your health. Working your mind by hearing different languages is definitely a way to keep a sharp mind. It seems like most people would have to disagree with the author and the way he went about being bilingual.
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