Believe it or not, being bilingual can make you smarter – it can open more doors to intellectual strength and benefits. No matter how old you are, learning two languages can be beneficial to the mind.

Here are five ways that being bilingual can have you reap the cognitive benefits.

1. Better Reading Skills

“Bilingual people are more likely to read and write in two or more languages,” says Owen Maloney, a lifestyle writer at Paper fellows and Australian help. “Although biliteracy is less heard of more than the word ‘bilingual,’ being biliterate is actually beneficial, because people who learn to read in both languages tend to develop stronger reading skills.”

With better reading skills via biliteracy, comes these benefits:

· Vocabulary memorization

· Phonological awareness

· Metalinguistics (able to recognize language as a system that can be manipulated and explored)

“Being bilingual opens doors to more literal opportunities, especially in an educational setting,” adds Maloney. “Without the benefit of biliteracy, just literacy in one language won’t leave any impact on the learner.”

2. Better School Performance

Bilingual students tend to outperform monolingual students in school. With tasks that require executive control, bilingual students are able to exhibit behaviors like self-discipline, perseverance, and other skills that enable them to achieve goals, no matter how complex or abstract they are. As for abstract thinking, it can be beneficial for bilingual individuals, since that’s needed in a person’s intellect and motivation, along with concrete ideation. In other words, they would be able to differ between abstract and concrete. Thus, complex school assignments are no problem for bilinguals.

3. Higher Vocabulary Range

Vocabulary is very significant to literacy, especially since it’s the heart of what words mean. And, a high vocabulary range is beneficial to bilingual individuals, because it plays into literacy development.

While monolingual students are only exposed to the vocabulary from one language (their native tongue), bilingual students are usually exposed to more words in both languages. As such, bilinguals are more likely to pick up on familiar words and phrases in the opposite language,

thus naturally exposing them to more and more vocabulary words, the spelling, and how the alphabet is interpreted in two languages.

4. Stronger Memory Bank And Attention Spans

The assumption (now a misconception) used to be that learning a second language can delay intellectual development, according to early linguists, contemporary research will tell you otherwise. In actuality, bilingual people have stronger memories and better attention spans. Since learning two languages takes remembering terminology and paying attention to how words are heard, written, and pronounced, this gives bilingual people strengths, whether in school or in a work setting. These skills result in both academic and behavioral gains.

5. Task Management And Multitasking

“When doing a multitude of tasks, bilingual people often perform better on them than monolingual individuals,” says Tyler Graves, a tutor at Essayroo and State of writing. “Since tasks require the ability to resolve conflicts, bilingual people are more likely to remain calm when tackling tasks that involve inhibitory control. Also, bilingual people are more likely to switch between two tasks when necessary, making them ideal multitaskers.”

Being able to control the input from the inhibitory part of the brain, as well as the ability to reflect better cognitive control when multitasking, bilingual people are more likely to complete tasks with little to no issues or delays, versus monolingual people who might be limited to these abilities.

Conclusion

These are only five of the cognitive benefits that aren’t fully realized, since learning another language isn’t encouraged enough. However, if one was to learn two languages at an early age (or even now, as you read this article), you can have your share of the cognitive benefits of improving metalinguistic awareness, memory, visual-spatial skills, and creativity. Plus, your social skills will improve significantly, since you’ll be able to talk to more people in their own language, thus dissolving the dreaded language barrier in school and or work.

Bilingualism not only develops your brain for the better, but also helps maintain its activity and architecture. Therefore, this powerful intellect can be beneficial, whether you’re a student or a scholar; even long-time public speakers use this intellect to get their messages across.

So, should you go bilingual? The signs point to “yes.” Being monolingual will only give you some knowledge; but bilingualism asks you “Why settle for less, when you can have the whole thing?” Molly Crockett  writes for Ukwritings.com  As marketing writer, she shares her lifestyle and personal development advice with her audience