The Bilingual Edge

By Fabrice Jaumont, PhD

At a recent public talk on bilingualism, language acquisition, and identity in New York, world-renowned
psycholinguist François Grosjean asserted: “The bilingual is a human communicator, a speaker, and a hearer
in his or her own right who manages life with two or more languages.” i In considering this definition, one
might wonder whether this seemingly daunting task of “managing life” in more than one language is worth the
struggle bilinguals inherently face. In other words, is bilingualism an asset or a liability, both for the student in
the classroom and, later, for everyday life? What differences might there be between bilinguals and
monolinguals, both in terms of their cognitive functions and their ways of navigating society? Just how
important is it to be bilingual?
Many of the advantages of bilingualism are intuitive. For instance, bilinguals can communicate with far
more people around the globe and, as a result, have access to far more literary, academic, and artistic works, as
well as professional and social networks, than monolinguals. Bilinguals also learn other languages more easily
than their monolingual peers because after mastering a second language, individuals are able to call upon the
strategies they employed to acquire a third or fourth language. Finally, bilingualism fosters an attitude of
multiculturalism and open-mindedness. As François Grosjean explains so eloquently, the identity of the
bilingual “transcends national boundaries.ii
Bilingual people possess at least three spaces where they can “belong.” These can be seen as aspects of tri-
nationalism. In my own case, I feel French when using French, American when using English, and French-
American when interacting with other bilinguals, and therefore using a mix of the two languages. Bilingualism
opens doors to a wide range of cultures and communities that would have remained otherwise closed off to a
monolingual person. Instead of having one linguistic “home” or comfort zone, bilinguals have many. As one
might expect, a multilingual life is extraordinarily rich, diverse, and full of possibilities. As geographical
barriers continue to dissolve in this era of globalization, borders no longer restrain the spread of ideas and
cultures throughout the world. The complex identity of the bilingual is more relevant today than it has ever
been, and will continue to play an increasingly important role in the future.
In addition to the many cognitive advantages of knowing multiple languages, bilinguals often benefit from
an increased emotional intelligence. Researchers such as psychologist and author Daniel Goleman describe
this phenomenon as an increased self-awareness and awareness of others; a special capacity of bilinguals to
better understand the perspective of another person through the cultural window of language; and an ability to
experience a kind of empathy that is linguistically rooted but ultimately culturally experienced. iii Emotions are
an intrinsic and unique component of each language, highlighting why bilinguals are more adept at navigating
and discerning a range of feelings across cultures. In the same vein, the ability to look at the same event or idea
from a different linguistic and cultural perspective is enormously helpful in developing interpersonal
relationships and navigating interactions with people of different backgrounds, both from within the same
society and from around the world. Bilingualism is an investment with an incredible payoff. Speakers of two or
more languages can readily be called upon when asked to brainstorm a new approach, try out a new idea, or
understand a position that is different from their own. These tools help bilinguals navigate the complex
globalized world with ease and operate on a more sophisticated level of understanding.
There are countless practical benefits to being bilingual. In recent years, important studies have examined
how bilingual programs improve educational outcomes by analyzing how bilingual students learn. Researchers
stress that bilingual students have a greater metalinguistic awareness iv—in other words, they are more aware of
language as a system—and process data with ease at the cognitive level. Because of these cognitive advantages,
bilingual students demonstrate an increased control of attention, a longer memory span, and an aptitude to
solve problems of above-average difficulty.v
Moreover, being bilingual at a young age can lead to many more opportunities to study and work abroad.
Companies that employ bilingual people benefit materially with translation and interpretation services,
facilitating communication with a larger clientele. In addition to the obvious assets of cultural and linguistic
competencies, bilingual candidates are often preferred in the workforce as they have the ability to quickly
adapt to new environments. These cutting-edge advantages can lead, subsequently, to higher salaries and more
comprehensive access to the global job market.
In her pioneering work, Ellen Bialystok, research professor and chair
in Lifespan Cognitive Development at York University, proved that bilingualism as an experience has a
profound and clear impact on the structure and organization of the brain. She found that bilinguals benefit
from lifelong advantages in problem solving thanks to the constant rewiring of their executive control
system—a network of processes in the brain that gather information and structure it for evaluation, and take
stock of our surroundings in order to adjust our behavior in response. Bilinguals’ constant need to process
information in two languages activates the executive control system more intensely. Their efforts to resolve
problems or confusions for both verbal and nonverbal tasks in two language systems then reorganize that
network. In the end, this reorganized network is more efficient than the monolingual equivalent. Bialystok also
demonstrated that bilingualism is an outstanding source of cognitive reserve, an idea that refers to the way the
brain is able to improve its performance through the use of cerebral connections. These studies highlight the
very powerful ability of our daily experiences to fundamentally reshape the bilingual mind.
Research in neuroscience also highlights that learning to speak two languages from childhood is not only
beneficial in regard to cognitive development and social opportunities, but also pays off in old age. Recent
work by a team led by Ana Ines Ansaldo, director of the Brain Plasticity, Communication and Ageing
Laboratory and professor at the University of Montreal, shows that, contrary to elderly monolinguals, elderly
bilinguals performed problem-solving tasks with high success, without utilizing certain areas of the brain that
are particularly vulnerable to aging. In a sense, lifelong bilingualism rewires the brain in such a way that it
could be considered an insurance policy against age-related brain decline. vi

Fabrice Jaumont, PhD

Author of The Bilingual Revolution: The Future of Education is in Two
Languages (TBR Books, 2017)

i You can watch this interview online: Life as Bilingual: A Conversation with Francois Grosjean by Fabrice
Jaumont.
ii For more information on this topic, read François Grosjean, Bilingual: Life and Reality.
iii For more information on this topic, read Daniel Goleman, The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New
Insights
iv The concept of metalinguistic awareness refers to the ability to objectify language as a process as well as an
object made by human beings. It is helpful to explaining the execution and transfer of linguistic knowledge
across languages (e.g. code switching as well as translation among bilinguals).
v For further reading on the matter, Wayne Thomas, Virginia Collier, Colin Baker, Margarita Espino
Calderón and Liliana Minaya-Rowe, to name but a few, have done an excellent job of demonstrating the
 effectiveness of dual-language education. Their studies are listed in the bibliography section of the book.
vi On this topic, several studies conducted by Ana Ines Ansaldo and Landa Ghazi-Saidi are referenced in the
bibliography section of the book