Check back in 10 years after the replication crisis has burned through this field.
It seems far-fetched to you that learning a second language has benefits for the brain?
Maybe smart healthy people are the type to learn a second language?
Multilingual People Have Healthier, More Engaged Brains? (2016)
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Re: Multilingual People Have Healthier, More Engaged Brains? (2016)
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
The fact that it seems intuitive increases the risk that the study is wrong
As someone who grew up in a bilingual environment, it seems intuitive to me that I'm worse for it (in terms of my social dealings and my problem-solving skills). I think if I had linguistic skills tested, I would probably be rated above-average for both English and my maternal tongue, but somehow to me it just doesn't feel that way... and I find this profoundly annoying, I feel home nowhere.
Under-reporting of one’s ability is often related to having a _higher_ ability though. perhaps a heightened perception of your linguistic shortcomings is an unfortunate by-product of that superior ability
I don’t know what I believe is true - I’m just saying it’s possible the study could be true AND it also be the case that many multilinguals feel the opposite
Re: Multilingual People Have Healthier, More Engaged Brains? (2016)
#13I foresee a lot of comments from monolingual americans and brits trying to dispute this.
Re: Multilingual People Have Healthier, More Engaged Brains? (2016)
#14Re: Multilingual People Have Healthier, More Engaged Brains? (2016)
#15I often wonder if learning a dialect of a certain field has a similar effect. For example math terms or a complex programming language with things like monads
Re: Multilingual People Have Healthier, More Engaged Brains? (2016)
#16I foresee a lot of comments from monolingual americans and brits trying to dispute this.
Am I really monolingual when I'm fluent in multiple programming languages and endless niche industry jargon?
Jokes aside, I'd assume the context switching would be psychologically rather similar.
Re: Multilingual People Have Healthier, More Engaged Brains? (2016)
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
The fact that it seems intuitive increases the risk that the study is wrong
As someone who grew up in a bilingual environment, it seems intuitive to me that I'm worse for it (in terms of my social dealings and my problem-solving skills). I think if I had linguistic skills tested, I would probably be rated above-average for both English and my maternal tongue, but somehow to me it just doesn't feel that way... and I find this profoundly annoying, I feel home nowhere.
I'm not bilingual, so this is an outsider looking in, but piggybacking off the sibling comment I wonder if you feel you're worse at language because you'll often have thoughts during a conversation that your brain can express easily in one language but not the one currently being spoken? So you often feel like you're having trouble expressing yourself in any given language?
One could argue that such events occur for everyone, but for a monolingual it would speak to the failings of the one language they speak, not of their inability to express thoughts. Or maybe such events occur more often for those who are bilingual because the brain can come up with a greater diversity of thoughts, owing to its mastery of two "modes" of thought.
Re: Multilingual People Have Healthier, More Engaged Brains? (2016)
#18Re: Multilingual People Have Healthier, More Engaged Brains? (2016)
#19I foresee a lot of comments from monolingual americans and brits trying to dispute this.
Am I really monolingual when I'm fluent in multiple programming languages and endless niche industry jargon? Jokes aside, I'd assume the context switching would be psychologically rather similar.
Yes
Re: Multilingual People Have Healthier, More Engaged Brains? (2016)
#20I foresee a lot of comments from monolingual americans and brits trying to dispute this.
Am I really monolingual when I'm fluent in multiple programming languages and endless niche industry jargon? Jokes aside, I'd assume the context switching would be psychologically rather similar.
The context switching between programming languages bears no subjective similarity to human language.
As someone who knows 2 human languages and 6-8 computer languages, it's just not at all similar. They don't use the same parts of your brain, for starters. You can't describe a dream in Java.