Bilingualism makes us smarter longer

An article in The New York Times today makes the case that not only does bilingualism make us smarter as children, it also wards off mental deterioration in older people.

I might add my own two cents on this subject. There is no time in life when bilingualism is anything less than a great bonus (except when memorizing vocabulary lists, that’s just the price you pay).  Traveling, watching television, reading newspapers in another language, speaking with the local hardware store owner or taxi driver or musician in his or her native language is a kick which opens your social life and sprinkles glitter on our everyday activities.

endangered languages, linguistics, linguistics in the classroom, multilingualism, psycholinguistics

endangered languages, language planning and policy, multilingualism, psycholinguistics