There is no better way to celebrate the European Day of Languages than reminding people how good it is to have more than one language in the brain. Multilingualism is a very good investment both for individuals and for societies, but this is not obvious in Scotland and the UK more generally, because of the ‘privileged monolingualism’ of English native speakers. The common perception that “everyone speaks English” makes foreign languages seem irrelevant and leads to lack of incentives to learn languages. Language skills in the UK are falling just as the need for them is growing. According to one estimate,[1] lack of language skills costs the UK economy £48 billion a year.
Edinburgh is one of the best places in the world to study bilingualism across the lifespan – simultaneous acquisition of two languages from birth, consecutive bilingualism in children, adult second language learning, first language attrition (what happens to your first language if you spend much of your adult life speaking a second language), and bilingualism in ageing. As it happens, today is also the website launch for a major new AHRC-funded project “Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies”, involving my colleague and Bilingualism Matters deputy director, Dr Thomas Bak.
Research also shows that knowledge of languages brings benefits for individuals, for businesses, and for communities. This is not just because language skills enable people to communicate freely with more people around the globe. We now also know that bilingualism often brings a variety of mental advantages. Bilinguals have a better intuitive grasp of how language works, so they often are ‘better at grammar’ in school and learn new languages more quickly. Bilingual children understand earlier than monolinguals that other people have a different perspective, because they regularly have to choose the right language depending on who they are talking to. Bilinguals also tend to have more focused attention and are better able to ignore irrelevant information. And the experience of speaking a second language, even when learned as an adult, acts as a kind of cognitive reserve that may delay the onset of dementia symptoms and slow down the typical decline of mental functions in healthy ageing.
While not all studies find these benefits, research has generally not found that bilingualism brings disadvantages. This contradicts many widespread misconceptions about early language learning. It’s still common for well-meaning teachers and medical professionals to advise parents not to speak a different language at home, believing it will cause confusion and hamper children’s progress in school. It’s equally common for many people to think that it’s too late to learn a foreign language well as an adult, and that time and money can be better spent on ‘more useful’ skills.
What can be done to encourage more people to learn languages? I founded Bilingualism Matters in 2008 with the aim of raising awareness about bilingualism through information campaigns, community events and professional training. Bilingualism Matters became a Centre at the University of Edinburgh in 2014. Since 2008 we have organised hundreds of talks for schools and parent groups in Scotland, and many information sessions for both public and private organisations. We have a large international network: 15 branches of Bilingualism Matters now operate all over Europe, 2 in the US, and one may soon open in Hong Kong. An important part of our work involves collaborating with educators. In Scotland, Bilingualism Matters contributed to the Government’s ‘1+2’ plan[2] for introducing foreign languages in primary schools, and we have been working closely with local education authorities on pilot projects aimed at evaluating the outcome of early language teaching and learning. We also work with business people: for example, we organised round tables and events with business leaders and journalists at the Financial Times in London. And we work on less privileged types of bilingualism as well, involving regional minority and immigrant languages, both in Scotland and in other European countries. The aim here is to persuade these communities that their home languages should be seen as a resource and an opportunity, rather than a problem. The EU-funded project “Advancing the European Multilingual Experience” seeks to bring together many of these research strands and advance our knowledge of what it means to be multilingual in 21st century Europe.
Recently we have often been asked what consequences Brexit might have on the perception of languages in the UK. We think that this is a time to intensify our efforts to change attitudes towards multilingualism. Language learning may be instrumental in removing mental barriers, fostering empathy towards different perspectives, and engaging curiosity towards other cultures: as such, it may well be the key to offset the tendency to retreat in a narrow monoglot world. We will continue to contribute to this process by doing research on multilingualism and by bridging the gap between research and society.
[1] CfBT Education and Employers Taskforce (2011). The economic case of language learning and the role of employer engagement.
[2] Scottish government, 2012. Language Learning in Scotland: A 1 + 2 Approach
Further information:
Advancing the European Multilingual Experience
Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies