Are People Who Speak More Than One Language Smarter?

I'm Carolyn Presutti with the VOA Special English Health Report, from voaspecialenglish.com | / voalearningenglish
In the early nineteen fifties, researchers found that people scored lower on intelligence tests if they spoke more than one language. Research in the nineteen sixties found the opposite. So which is it? Researchers presented their newest studies in February at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The latest evidence shows that being bilingual does not necessarily make people smarter. But researcher Ellen Bialystok says it probably does make you better at certain skills. She says: "Imagine driving down the highway. There are many things that could capture your attention and you really need to be able to monitor all of them. Why would bilingualism make you any better at that?"And the answer, she says, is that bilingual people are often better at controlling their attention -- a function called the executive control system. She says it is possibly the most important cognitive system we have. It is where all of our decisions about what to attend to, what to ignore and what to process are made.Ms. Bialystok is a psychology professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. She says the best method to measure the executive control system is called the Stroop Test. A person is shown words in different colors. The person has to ignore the word but say the color. The problem is that the words are all names of colors.She explains: "So you would have the word 'blue' written in red, but you have to say 'red.' But blue is just lighting up all these circuits in your brain, and you really want to say 'blue.' So you need a mechanism to override that so that you can say 'red.' That's the executive control system."Her work shows that bilingual people continually practice this function. They have to, because both languages are active in their brain at the same time. They need to suppress one to be able to speak in the other. This mental exercise might help in other ways, too. Researchers say bilingual children are better able to separate a word from its meaning, and more likely to have friends from different cultures. Bilingual adults are often four to five years later than others in developing dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Foreign language study has increased in the United States. But linguist Alison Mackey at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. points out that English-speaking countries are still far behind the rest of the world. For VOA Special English I'm Carolyn Presutti.
(Adapted from a radio program broadcast 09March2011)

[@nin10do4eve]

i can speak 4 diffrent languages ;) am just blessed, i use all of them, english, french, finnish and pidgin

[@Virgo-888]

Thank you sooooooooo much It's help me so much to improve my english. I love all video of you. From Thailand

[@user-un9hk6do7e]

Thanks for this great kind of videos

[@dineshshepal3526]

I watch many youtube English speaking channels but I am not satisfied with their channel and maybe I found what I am looking for here and I think my search stops here. This is the best way to speak english thanks

[@wellisonsilvarodrigues1250]

this channel is very interesting because I'm brazilian and I understand how it is difficult to understand a person talking an English .

[@shauraas014]

😃 I´m Carolyn Presutti.
Here, Presutti has the meaning
as Maternity in Sanskrit,
an oldest indian language.

[@huyenlethanh9589]

This channel is very interesting and you speak slowly

[@Djeserful]

I am learning English, To understand your comment I used google translation for the word "weird", the results was first bizarre, and the others were :
strange
singular
curious
mysterious
fantastic
supernatural
baroque
But the first result "bizarre" has these synonyms : strange, weird, odd, funny, peculiar.
Can you help me to understand ? How do you find it weird ? strange or funny ? odd and peculiar or curious and mysterious ?

[@eduardoherrera796]

I think it depends. I speak Spanish, English, Portuguese and I’m currently studying Italian and I still can’t pass Algebra 2 and I’m in college…

[@lovevoke]

I absolutely agree with you.

[@KindMose-yx2im]

Much appreciate for leaning we are getting better each and every day

[@Hellsconsort]

A bit unusual. Not normal. As she spoke at a slow pace. The answer was in the context.

[@petanimal-birds-kh]

I really like with VOA from Cambodia 🇰🇭

[@rrrglucchesi]

I apreciated this subject.

[@Peiman-qs8ph]

Thank you

[@restinares]

Thank you❤️

[@nguyenphan0118]

it's difficultly for me....I can listen to it...:(

[@alex_a3000]

They speak slowly because it's much easier to catch the intonation, the melody, the stresses, especially when we talk about people non-English-speaking countries. It's obvious. If you are a real teacher you should know this. E.g. My native language is Russian, but I'm not sure Russian all (pronounciation, grammar) is not very simple for those who start to learn it

[@imegatrone]

I Really Like The Video I'm Carolyn Presutti with the VOA Special English Health Report From Your

[@jorgeluisburgoacosio9998]

I'm Spanish language native, but I speak English and Portuguese, working on my Italian, and I would like to speak French, Russian, Chinese and Japanese in the future

[@Thipham06]

Thanks

[@myloveforanimerocks]

I speak Malay, Indonesian and English

[@dongshengzhao1881]

good channel

[@oswack]

Thanks! now i know it was a good thing i took chinese class.... I hope everyone else appreciates this like I do. :)

[@joseantoniot9312]

In my opinion to be able to speak more than the native language is useful,help to find better jobs and well-paid jobs and also develop and makes work the brain. Specially english is a great language that open borders.

[@thitieppham588]

thanks!:))

[@MrOhnpe]

Great

[@debsaid]

@Iceland1944 "these people"? You should know that sounds quite derogatory when used in that way. Also, yes, she is speaking slowly because VOA Special English is for people who are learning English. PLENTY of non-English speakers find English difficult! *Especially* if they are beginners. I know this from experience because I teach ESL, and my students love VOA Special English.

[@danicc3850]

And what do you make of trilingual ADHDers like me? 😂 I guess it helped me better manage my ADHD symptoms. Wasn't diagnosed up until 27 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@markdost1476]

Trilingual here, 21 and probably have undiagnosed adhd. Any tips haha

[@Dennis0330]

VOALearningEnglish is the uploader... what do you think? :)

[@taifhamid1]

the Brain is like Memory card for example ppl who educated and learned alot will learn English slower than ppl who didn't and i know many ppl of that type and most of em are my friends because the Education took a space of their brain

[@MegaNunes2011]

i'd like to make american friend.

[@kalyanshrestha3952]

I don’t agree with this. I don’t consider myself smart, even though I speak four languages: English, Hindi, Nepali, and my mother tongue. While I can understand Japanese too, I’m not very proficient in speaking it.

[@bryanbariza]

CONGRATULATIONS TO READERS AND ALEX VILLARREAL Carolyn Presutti for having improved his diction (GOOD pronounce). NOW glad to listen. GOD BLESS. bryanbariza

[@doriphanie]

damn well i know 4 languages ! am i dumb?

[@adeadenlouyi-prince7601]

Twi, Yoruba, Arabic, Spanish, English :) multicultural people are the best

[@AnhNguyen-cm4nr]

yep,u r rigt
cuz iam studying english lol

[@nguyenphan0118]

it's difficultly for me....I can listen to it...:(