Are People Who Speak More Than One Language Smarter?

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  • čas přidán 12. 06. 2024
  • I'm Carolyn Presutti with the VOA Special English Health Report, from voaspecialenglish.com | / voalearningenglish
    In the early nineteen fifties, researchers found that people scored lower on intelligence tests if they spoke more than one language. Research in the nineteen sixties found the opposite. So which is it? Researchers presented their newest studies in February at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The latest evidence shows that being bilingual does not necessarily make people smarter. But researcher Ellen Bialystok says it probably does make you better at certain skills. She says: "Imagine driving down the highway. There are many things that could capture your attention and you really need to be able to monitor all of them. Why would bilingualism make you any better at that?"And the answer, she says, is that bilingual people are often better at controlling their attention -- a function called the executive control system. She says it is possibly the most important cognitive system we have. It is where all of our decisions about what to attend to, what to ignore and what to process are made.Ms. Bialystok is a psychology professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. She says the best method to measure the executive control system is called the Stroop Test. A person is shown words in different colors. The person has to ignore the word but say the color. The problem is that the words are all names of colors.She explains: "So you would have the word 'blue' written in red, but you have to say 'red.' But blue is just lighting up all these circuits in your brain, and you really want to say 'blue.' So you need a mechanism to override that so that you can say 'red.' That's the executive control system."Her work shows that bilingual people continually practice this function. They have to, because both languages are active in their brain at the same time. They need to suppress one to be able to speak in the other. This mental exercise might help in other ways, too. Researchers say bilingual children are better able to separate a word from its meaning, and more likely to have friends from different cultures. Bilingual adults are often four to five years later than others in developing dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Foreign language study has increased in the United States. But linguist Alison Mackey at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. points out that English-speaking countries are still far behind the rest of the world. For VOA Special English I'm Carolyn Presutti.
    (Adapted from a radio program broadcast 09March2011)

Komentáře • 42

  • @nin10do4eve
    @nin10do4eve Před 11 lety +19

    i can speak 4 diffrent languages ;) am just blessed, i use all of them, english, french, finnish and pidgin

  • @Virgo-888
    @Virgo-888 Před 12 lety +2

    Thank you sooooooooo much It's help me so much to improve my english. I love all video of you. From Thailand

  • @user-un9hk6do7e
    @user-un9hk6do7e Před 8 měsíci

    Thanks for this great kind of videos

  • @dineshshepal3526
    @dineshshepal3526 Před rokem

    I watch many youtube English speaking channels but I am not satisfied with their channel and maybe I found what I am looking for here and I think my search stops here. This is the best way to speak english thanks

  • @eduardoherrera796
    @eduardoherrera796 Před rokem +1

    I think it depends. I speak Spanish, English, Portuguese and I’m currently studying Italian and I still can’t pass Algebra 2 and I’m in college…

  • @wellisonsilvarodrigues1250
    @wellisonsilvarodrigues1250 Před 11 lety +9

    this channel is very interesting because I'm brazilian and I understand how it is difficult to understand a person talking an English .

  • @lovevoke
    @lovevoke Před 12 lety

    I absolutely agree with you.

  • @shauraas014
    @shauraas014 Před 7 lety +5

    😃 I´m Carolyn Presutti.
    Here, Presutti has the meaning
    as Maternity in Sanskrit,
    an oldest indian language.

  • @KindMose-yx2im
    @KindMose-yx2im Před 2 měsíci

    Much appreciate for leaning we are getting better each and every day

  • @Djeserful
    @Djeserful Před 10 lety +1

    I am learning English, To understand your comment I used google translation for the word "weird", the results was first bizarre, and the others were :
    strange
    singular
    curious
    mysterious
    fantastic
    supernatural
    baroque
    But the first result "bizarre" has these synonyms : strange, weird, odd, funny, peculiar.
    Can you help me to understand ? How do you find it weird ? strange or funny ? odd and peculiar or curious and mysterious ?

  • @Hellsconsort
    @Hellsconsort Před 10 lety +2

    A bit unusual. Not normal. As she spoke at a slow pace. The answer was in the context.

  • @nguyenphan0118
    @nguyenphan0118 Před 11 lety +2

    it's difficultly for me....I can listen to it...:(

  • @huyenlethanh9589
    @huyenlethanh9589 Před rokem +1

    This channel is very interesting and you speak slowly

  • @restinares
    @restinares Před rokem

    Thank you❤️

  • @Peiman-qs8ph
    @Peiman-qs8ph Před 3 měsíci

    Thank you

  • @alex_a3000
    @alex_a3000 Před 12 lety +3

    They speak slowly because it's much easier to catch the intonation, the melody, the stresses, especially when we talk about people non-English-speaking countries. It's obvious. If you are a real teacher you should know this. E.g. My native language is Russian, but I'm not sure Russian all (pronounciation, grammar) is not very simple for those who start to learn it

  • @Thipham06
    @Thipham06 Před 2 lety

    Thanks

  • @rrrglucchesi
    @rrrglucchesi Před 12 lety

    I apreciated this subject.

  • @petanimal-birds-kh
    @petanimal-birds-kh Před 5 měsíci

    I really like with VOA from Cambodia 🇰🇭

  • @oswack
    @oswack Před 11 lety

    Thanks! now i know it was a good thing i took chinese class.... I hope everyone else appreciates this like I do. :)

  • @jorgeluisburgoacosio9998

    I'm Spanish language native, but I speak English and Portuguese, working on my Italian, and I would like to speak French, Russian, Chinese and Japanese in the future

  • @myloveforanimerocks
    @myloveforanimerocks Před 11 lety +8

    I speak Malay, Indonesian and English

  • @imegatrone
    @imegatrone Před 12 lety

    I Really Like The Video I'm Carolyn Presutti with the VOA Special English Health Report From Your

  • @MrOhnpe
    @MrOhnpe Před 11 lety

    Great

  • @thitieppham588
    @thitieppham588 Před 10 lety

    thanks!:))

  • @danicc3850
    @danicc3850 Před rokem +3

    And what do you make of trilingual ADHDers like me? 😂 I guess it helped me better manage my ADHD symptoms. Wasn't diagnosed up until 27 🤷🏼‍♂️

    • @markdost1476
      @markdost1476 Před rokem

      Trilingual here, 21 and probably have undiagnosed adhd. Any tips haha

  • @dongshengzhao1881
    @dongshengzhao1881 Před rokem

    good channel

  • @debsaid
    @debsaid Před 12 lety

    @Iceland1944 "these people"? You should know that sounds quite derogatory when used in that way. Also, yes, she is speaking slowly because VOA Special English is for people who are learning English. PLENTY of non-English speakers find English difficult! *Especially* if they are beginners. I know this from experience because I teach ESL, and my students love VOA Special English.

  • @joseantoniot9312
    @joseantoniot9312 Před 2 lety +2

    In my opinion to be able to speak more than the native language is useful,help to find better jobs and well-paid jobs and also develop and makes work the brain. Specially english is a great language that open borders.

  • @Dennis0330
    @Dennis0330 Před 11 lety

    VOALearningEnglish is the uploader... what do you think? :)

  • @taifhamid1
    @taifhamid1 Před 12 lety +1

    the Brain is like Memory card for example ppl who educated and learned alot will learn English slower than ppl who didn't and i know many ppl of that type and most of em are my friends because the Education took a space of their brain

  • @MegaNunes2011
    @MegaNunes2011 Před 11 lety +1

    i'd like to make american friend.

  • @kalyanshrestha3952
    @kalyanshrestha3952 Před 8 měsíci

    I don’t agree with this. I don’t consider myself smart, even though I speak four languages: English, Hindi, Nepali, and my mother tongue. While I can understand Japanese too, I’m not very proficient in speaking it.

  • @bryanbariza
    @bryanbariza Před 11 lety

    CONGRATULATIONS TO READERS AND ALEX VILLARREAL Carolyn Presutti for having improved his diction (GOOD pronounce). NOW glad to listen. GOD BLESS. bryanbariza

  • @doriphanie
    @doriphanie Před 12 lety

    damn well i know 4 languages ! am i dumb?

  • @adeadenlouyi-prince7601
    @adeadenlouyi-prince7601 Před 10 lety +1

    Twi, Yoruba, Arabic, Spanish, English :) multicultural people are the best

  • @AnhNguyen-cm4nr
    @AnhNguyen-cm4nr Před 11 lety +1

    yep,u r rigt
    cuz iam studying english lol

  • @nguyenphan0118
    @nguyenphan0118 Před 11 lety

    it's difficultly for me....I can listen to it...:(