Summary Of My Two Minds By Catherine De Lange
READING RESPONSE
In the article “My Two Minds”, Catherine De Lange details the differences between bilingualism and monolinguals. It was believed that starting back in the 19th century, bilingualism would confuse the capability of a child to fully understand either language properly. Later studies then shown that people who were bilingual may not have as a diverse vocabulary, but the overall cognitive ability to speak another language did not hinder the overall development. Using a technique to be able to watch infants brain development with brain imaging, researchers were able to tell if there was a difference between bilingual and monolingual babies. With the monolingual babies, it was discovered that around the age of one, they were unable
to distinguish between sounds of any language. However, with the bilingual children, they exhibited “increased neural activity in response to completely unfamiliar languages at the end of their first year” (De Lange). Then young children were asked to pick the errors in a sentence such as “apples grow on noses”, the bilingual children we more inapt to correctly point out there were no grammatical errors. Later, there was a study to determine if this mental capacity had an effect on people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia. It was substantiated that the participants who were bilingual didn’t show symptoms of their illness until 4-5 years later than those who were monolingual. Lastly, there was curiosity if people acted differently based on what language they were speaking. It was concluded that depending in which language the questions were asked would vary the response given. For example, if asked in English, the response was more individualist, but if asked in Japanese, the response was more collectivist. This was the same when ask about objects as well. The response given was that of a geological reference of the language spoken.
DISCUSS HOW THIS MATERIAL RELATES TO PREVIOUS COURSE MATERIALS, OR HOW IT RELATES TO YOUR OWN PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES. (10 points)
When I was in high school, about ten years ago, I took 4 years of Spanish courses because I thought it would be beneficial and fun to learn another language. Once I was in my fourth year, I felt like I have made very minimal progress, and my classmates at the time appeared the same way. One year after graduation, I may have remembered a decent amount of vocabulary, but if ask to put together a sentence, I would have had little chance of success. I believe what you said in class to be very true, to the effect that going to another country and emerging oneself into the culture would have a much higher success of learning another language. There have been a couple people I have known over the years, that after spending as little as 6-8 months could speak a language better and I ever did after 4 years of schooling. Also, with going to college here in Dearborn, I have befriended many students that are bilingual. When speaking to me in English, their behavior looked different that if they spoke in another language to someone else. Even on occasion, they would substitute words from each language while they were speaking, but after reading this article, I can see why that would happen.
IDENTIFY EITHER A STRENGTH OR A WEAKNESS OF THIS MATERIAL AND EXPLAIN WHY. (8 points)
The biggest strength that I took from the article was that having the ability to be bilingual increased one’s cognitive ability. Being that I am a business student, being able to increase my ability to problem solving and improving my communication skills would be very beneficial. Also, the fact that it prolonged symptoms of Alzheimer’s on average of 4-5 years can give not only the person diagnosed with the disease more time to the value of life but also their partner. As my grandmother had Alzheimer’s, I’m sure my grandfather would have cherish being able to have a couple more years with her before the disease fully took over her mental capabilities.
In the article “My Two Minds”, Catherine De Lange details the differences between bilingualism and monolinguals. It was believed that starting back in the 19th century, bilingualism would confuse the capability of a child to fully understand either language properly. Later studies then shown that people who were bilingual may not have as a diverse vocabulary, but the overall cognitive ability to speak another language did not hinder the overall development. Using a technique to be able to watch infants brain development with brain imaging, researchers were able to tell if there was a difference between bilingual and monolingual babies. With the monolingual babies, it was discovered that around the age of one, they were unable
to distinguish between sounds of any language. However, with the bilingual children, they exhibited “increased neural activity in response to completely unfamiliar languages at the end of their first year” (De Lange). Then young children were asked to pick the errors in a sentence such as “apples grow on noses”, the bilingual children we more inapt to correctly point out there were no grammatical errors. Later, there was a study to determine if this mental capacity had an effect on people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia. It was substantiated that the participants who were bilingual didn’t show symptoms of their illness until 4-5 years later than those who were monolingual. Lastly, there was curiosity if people acted differently based on what language they were speaking. It was concluded that depending in which language the questions were asked would vary the response given. For example, if asked in English, the response was more individualist, but if asked in Japanese, the response was more collectivist. This was the same when ask about objects as well. The response given was that of a geological reference of the language spoken.
DISCUSS HOW THIS MATERIAL RELATES TO PREVIOUS COURSE MATERIALS, OR HOW IT RELATES TO YOUR OWN PERSONAL OR PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES. (10 points)
When I was in high school, about ten years ago, I took 4 years of Spanish courses because I thought it would be beneficial and fun to learn another language. Once I was in my fourth year, I felt like I have made very minimal progress, and my classmates at the time appeared the same way. One year after graduation, I may have remembered a decent amount of vocabulary, but if ask to put together a sentence, I would have had little chance of success. I believe what you said in class to be very true, to the effect that going to another country and emerging oneself into the culture would have a much higher success of learning another language. There have been a couple people I have known over the years, that after spending as little as 6-8 months could speak a language better and I ever did after 4 years of schooling. Also, with going to college here in Dearborn, I have befriended many students that are bilingual. When speaking to me in English, their behavior looked different that if they spoke in another language to someone else. Even on occasion, they would substitute words from each language while they were speaking, but after reading this article, I can see why that would happen.
IDENTIFY EITHER A STRENGTH OR A WEAKNESS OF THIS MATERIAL AND EXPLAIN WHY. (8 points)
The biggest strength that I took from the article was that having the ability to be bilingual increased one’s cognitive ability. Being that I am a business student, being able to increase my ability to problem solving and improving my communication skills would be very beneficial. Also, the fact that it prolonged symptoms of Alzheimer’s on average of 4-5 years can give not only the person diagnosed with the disease more time to the value of life but also their partner. As my grandmother had Alzheimer’s, I’m sure my grandfather would have cherish being able to have a couple more years with her before the disease fully took over her mental capabilities.