[etni] Fwd: Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power--from NPR
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- To: Etni <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 08:42:19 +0300
From: "Margie Cohen" <margiecj@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power--from NPR
Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power
NPR - April 4, 2011
In an interconnected world, speaking more than one language is
becoming increasingly common. Approximately one-fifth of Americans
speak a non-English language at home, and globally, as many as
two-thirds of children are brought up bilingual.
Research suggests that the growing numbers of bilingual speakers may
have an advantage that goes beyond communication: It turns out that
being bilingual is also good for your brain.
Judy and Paul Szentkiralyi both grew up bilingual in the U.S.,
speaking Hungarian with their families and English with their peers.
When they first started dating, they spoke English with each other.
But they knew they wanted to raise their children speaking both
languages, so when things turned serious they did something unusual -
they decided to switch to Hungarian.
Today, Hungarian is the primary language the Szentkiralyis use at
home. Their two daughters - Hannah, 14, and Julia, 8 - speak both
languages fluently, and without any accent. But they both heard only
Hungarian from mom and dad until the age of 3 or 4, when they started
school.
"When she did go to preschool that accent was very thick - she counted
like Vun, two, tree," said Judy Szentkiralyi, recalling Hanna's early
experience with English. "And by the time four or five months went by,
it was totally gone."
-- To read the whole article, go to:
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/04/135043787/being-bilingual-may-boost-your-brain-power
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