Research on learning and intelligence shows that people who speak more than one language are more intelligent- or at least perform much better on intelligence tests, than people who are monolingual. People who spoke one language, and then had it choked off in order to learn another, do the poorest on tests (so that model of taking away the Spanish language for our bilingual Hispanic kids, is a very poor one, imo).
Thus Americans, in rejecting other languages, hurt themselves most of all. I am making sure my children all study Spanish, and my hope is that they all become bilingual, at the very least. If they choose to add other languages, all the better. Like musical literacy, linguistic literacy is linked to enhanced learning and test scores- and don't we all want our children to succeed? My children began their musical instruction at 8, and their linguistic instruction at 10. I am amazed at their proficiency. |
