Better at being human?! Okay, I say that a bit tongue-in-cheek ... I think. After a trip to Japan, Jim Gaffigan said it well in one of his skits. It takes you less than a day in Tokyo to realize that the basic fiber of living is in many ways more elevated than what you are used to. Running a bit late, my friends and I ran right up to the door of a bus, and the driver sighed. Only then did we notice a marker some TEN feet away, behind which a group of people had already organized themselves into a line and were patiently excusing our ignorance. At the subway we noticed carriages for only women during designated "rush hours" for their greater comfort 😀. And yes, the toilets do make you feel like your country you thought was so developed all your life has actually been (and still is) in the stone age—we're not talking about 4K, AI or rocket science here — just t oilets! Why haven't we perfected the toilet yet? They didn't stop at the toilet, lol. Japan's techno...
-What do you call a person who knows only 1 language?
-American!
A simple search on Google reveals that experts generally agree that at least half of the Earth's population speaks at least 2 languages, whereas a United States Census Bureau report might raise the possibility that only 22 percent of Amercians speak a second language.
The lag behind may only be getting worse. The Modern Language Association says:
"Total college and university enrollments in languages other than English dropped by 16.6% between fall 2016 and fall 2021."
More and more university students in the U.S. seem less and less interested in learning another language, and this may reflect the trend of Americans in general.
It would be hard to say for certain why this is happening, but the perception that many outside of the U.S. have of Americans isn't pretty and could offer an explanation as to why they would reckon that the majority of Americans aren't interested in learning other languages.
Christopher Darroch, a Canadian actor, reportedly said:
"The first word that comes to mind when I hear the word America is 'Arrogance.' They are big and loud and they are in charge of everything."
Whatever the case may be, anyone who has no interest in learning another language due to arrogance may want to think again.
Studies suggest that bilinguals may be smarter and stay smarter longer.
Cognitive neuroscientist and Psychology Professor of York University Ellen Bialystok conducted a study with a team of researchers to test the cognitive abilities of 104 middle aged and older adults. CBC News of Canada reports:
"Bilingual adults performed better, and the bilingual advantage increased substantially in those over 60...'It shows that a specific experience, bilingualism, has the ability to modify a central aspect of cognitive functioning and keep the brain functioning at a higher level as normal aging inevitably slows us down,' Bialystok said...Bilingual people use executive functions every day to juggle their two languages. The regular practice may explain why they performed better."
And in an interview with the New York Times, Bialystok reveals she and her team conducted another study, this time involving Alzheimer's patients:
"We looked at the medical records of 400 Alzheimer’s patients. On average, the bilinguals showed Alzheimer’s symptoms five or six years later than those who spoke only one language. This didn’t mean that the bilinguals didn’t have Alzheimer’s. It meant that as the disease took root in their brains, they were able to continue functioning at a higher level. They could cope with the disease for longer."
Perhaps the most astounding study is reported on by Knowable Magazine. Evidently, bilinguals have a higher volume of gray matter than those who speak only one language. The Cleveland Clinic explains that gray matter is a type of brain tissue that consists of high concentrations of neurons (brain cells) and branches for communication with other cells. Because of this high concentration of brain cells, "grey matter is the seat of a human’s unique ability to think and reason. The grey matter is the place where the processing of sensation, perception, voluntary movement, learning, speech and cognition takes place."
Results of a study of brain matter in university students. The red areas indicate where one group had more gray matter than the other. The bilinguals had much more. CREDIT: ADAPTED FROM O.A. OLULADE ET AL / CEREBRAL CORTEX 2016 by KNOWABLE MAGAZINE
The results of these studies are nearly impossible to ignore - learning another language can only make you smarter.
When I was younger and hadn't yet learned another language, I most surely followed the crowd of arrogance and made fun of someone with a foreign accent on one or more occasions. But what I failed to realize was that a foreign accent wasn't a sign of indignity, but rather of someone smarter, than me.
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