It matters that you speak 'two'

When I was about 3, I overheard my Dad pointing to me while talking to his friend, saying, “Sobrang hilig ng batang yan sa ‘usisa’ (she is overly fond of ‘usisa’).” And with all the power of inference I possessed at 3, I concluded that “usisa” was a form of sweet popped rice cake that I was so addicted to at that time. So the following morning when he was about to go to work, I casually reminded him to bring home some “usisa” for me which puzzled him. He then clarified to me (while probably trying very hard not to laugh) that “usisa” meant “probing.” He was telling his friend that I am driving him and others nuts with my questions! For a while, there were jokes in the family about it but oh well, I am a science writer now so the annoying trait became an indispensable tool. But the point is I really liked the word “usisa,” saying it and knowing what it meant. It slithered out of my tongue like a leaking mini-hose from a hydrant when I said it and it meant more than empty “chatter.” That was the case with every word I learned later on, whether English or Pilipino or some other language. I grew up equally enriched speaking both Pilipino and English.

I was part of a generation when “English only” was enforced in many private schools, including mine, but my parents who thought that those schools were silly to do that, spoke to us both in English and in straight Pilipino at home. They also thought that no amount of English in school could overturn the language in which they raised us day-in and day-out.

There is an evolutionary reason why there is such a thing as a “native” language, whatever it is. Our brains are wired to learn the language that would be most useful to our survival. If you are born here and since Pilipino is spoken by most here, it makes sense that you learn it so you will be understood and you can understand others. Think of the mishaps to your life and property if this was not the case. As babies and in early childhood, we are more able to learn so many languages because our brains are more plastic as young creatures. But for economy, our brains will retain the language/s that will be most useful to our survival. Why will the brain waste energy retaining the connections for languages that are seldom used? So whether it is one, two, three or more languages, you will learn what you need to learn and this learning will be further strengthened by usage. You speak a language because you need it and you retain it because you continue to need it.

Last May, Claudia Dreifus of the NY Times published her interview with cognitive scientist Ellen Bialystok who have spent 40 years learning about how speaking two languages strengthens the mind. Here is a summary of the interview pointing out why you are wrong to think that you are doing a favor to your kids if you are letting them learn only language.

1. Bilinguals show an ability to attend to important information and ignore the less important. Being used to speaking and understanding two languages sharpens the brain to sort through many things and filter.

2. Bilinguals are better at managing information as they grow old compared to those who only speak one language. Even bilinguals who had Alzheimer’s manifested their disease six years later than the monolinguals.

3. Brain rewires when you learn two languages so that even in brain scans, bilinguals were shown to use brain parts associated with language to solve non-verbal problems which arms them with more connections to approach a problem.

Bialystok said that bilingualism results from using languages ALL THE TIME. This means that all the benefits she enumerated above cannot be had if you only use one of the languages, like Pilipino, to speak only “to the tindera when you went to the tindahan, what you used to tell your katulong that you had an utos, and how you texted manong when you needed sundo na,” as James Soriano wrote in the Manila Bulletin last Aug. 24.

Learning and using only one language in your life deprives you of another inner highway to understanding and living. If you are a Filipino who insists on learning only English, think about it. Once that only English path gets jammed and flooded with unfamiliar things, I do not think any amount of English thinking and speaking can save you but your “manong driver” who would tell you to “sumakay na lang tayo sa padyak at dumaan sa mga eskinita para makauwi (let us just get a pedicab so we can pass through alleys to go home.)”  You may also miss to recognize George Canseco’s lyrical genius playing on your radio to lift you from the path to road rage. You get to live only half a life, and in some sense, using only half a brain.

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