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Vital words for understanding
creativity – central to the opening scene.
DELTA M1 – indicates a specific teaching qualification.
resources – key to understanding the discussion topic.
acquiring information – highlights a primary purpose of language learning.
translation – connects with the risks of misinterpretation.
multilingual – central theme; being able to speak multiple languages.
cognitive ability – crucial to the argument about mental benefits.
mental process – explains cognitive abilities.
perception – a part of cognitive skills.
reasoning – another important cognitive function.
evaluation – key to multilingual advantages.
pattern recognition – relates to multilingual brain advantages.
context – vital for understanding multilingualism benefits.
verify – emphasizes critical thinking enabled by multilingualism.
independent – underscores the empowerment from multilingualism.
perception – a part of cognitive skills.
As I sit here, filling the creativity slot in the calendar and waiting for my DELTA M1 results, I cannot help but wonder. This morning I had two sessions, among others, that I cannot wrap my head around.
Let’s talk about the first one – resources.
What is English for? What is the point of knowing another language? Acquiring information should be at the top of the list, in my opinion. When my client was talking about the resources he uses to get information, what’s wrong with the information, the sources, even the people who run these institutions – wow, I feel very lucky not to have those kinds of thoughts. Not to have the only choice. If you know more languages, you can browse, you can search, you can clarify, you can verify. You do not have to sit and wait for information in your mother tongue – without even imagining that it might be changed. I think it happens, but not deliberately. Translation is tricky and it only takes one small mistake to give the information a completely different meaning.
That got me thinking about whether there is a connection between information and the brain, and this is what I came up with: knowing more languages improves the brain’s ability to take in, process and evaluate information. Multilingual people can browse different sources in different languages and get a fuller picture of something without having to rely on potentially limited or altered translations.
I know, and research knows, that people who speak more languages (multilingual) have better cognitive abilities. Come on, Michaela, a cognitive ability? WTF is that? Sorry! A cognitive ability is a mental process and skill that enables us to acquire knowledge, understand information, solve problems and adapt to new situations. These abilities include functions such as perception, memory, reasoning, attention, language and decision-making. Multilingual people have more of these abilities as they move between languages. When it comes to evaluation, a multilingual person can cross-reference and verify details, minimising errors or misunderstandings caused by translation.
Bottom line: Being restricted to a single language limits cognitive freedom and makes people dependent on second-hand interpretations of information. Multilingualism empowers people to seek, clarify and verify information independently, using their brain’s natural ability to recognise patterns and understand context. So next time, instead of waiting for the evening news to bring us the information, go online and see for yourself. Like me this morning – I needed to hear exactly what the new American president was saying. I had to see his body language. I needed to take the time to do this for myself, because no matter what others say, I know why I agree or disagree and what it reminds me of.
The brain is a strange thing – I am writing this article in English, although my mother tongue is Czech. What does it tell you?
Let me know, I am curious.
M.