The writer paints a picture of what it’s like to juggle two or three languages, drawing from her personal experience and an academic point of view, which many of us can relate to.

One Brain, Many Languages

I’m standing outside Dimapur railway station, apologizing to an incredibly confused taxi driver. He had just asked me where I would like to go, and completely inadvertently, I responded in a mish-mash of Nagamese and Hindi. I’m as baffled as the taxi driver. I am a proficient speaker of Nagamese, and yet somehow, in this very Nagamese setting, Hindi decided to reassert itself and interfere with Nagamese. I’m sure many must have faced a similar situation and wondered what might be the cause.

Leonard Bloomfield (1933) defines bilingualism as “the condition in which the two living languages exist side by side in a country, each spoken by one national group, representing a fairly large population of the people.” More recently, Grosjean (1992) defined bilingualism as “the regular use of two (or more) languages, and bilinguals are those who need and use two (or more) languages in their everyday lives.” So how does our brain cope with the use of more than one or two languages? Bilinguals and multilinguals, on a daily basis, juggle the languages they know with ease but sometimes it can be a challenge to switch back and forth from one language to another. For multilinguals, all the languages they know can be activated at the same time, even when they are using only one language. For instance, if you want to say the word ‘cat’ as a Nagamese-English bilingual, not just ‘cat’ is activated but also its translation equivalent in Nagamese, ‘billi’ is activated.

This double activation of the languages could lead to interference in speech, with the languages interfering with each other when the speakers don’t expect it. Thus, the speakers have to exercise immense control in keeping the two languages apart and choosing the relevant language. This ability is quite remarkable if we think about it. How speakers exhibit such control is explained by the concepts of facilitation activation for the relevant language and inhibition suppression for the irrelevant language. Intrusions and lapses can occur in the form of vocabulary slip-ups when this control system fails. In recent years, researchers have found that language control could lead to cognitive advantages. Bilingualism has been linked in some studies to cognitive benefits such as memory, attention, and problem-solving, but it has also been linked in others to the delayed onset of cognitive aging such as dementia and the incidence of neuropathology such as Alzheimer’s disease. The idea is that because the languages are always activated to some degree and are constantly interacting and interfering with each other, a lifetime of experience of a multilingual continuously monitoring and resolving the competition between the languages will result in great language control, which will spill over to great cognitive control and benefits. Because using language is one of the most complex activities of a human being, engaging in demanding language control experiences may result in more pronounced cognitive benefits and improvements. But the jury is still out on the advantages of multilingualism.

No matter the advantages, language is one of the most complex and unique abilities of humans. And knowing more than one language brings the social benefit of being able to interact and communicate with many people, apart from the cognitive benefits. Learning a new language opens you up to new cultures and expands your views and worldview. When you learn a new language, you are not merely learning new and unfamiliar words; you are also learning about the people, culture, traditions, and values of the place where the language is spoken. Learning a new language fosters cultural awareness and acceptance and lays the groundwork for linguistic diversity. Language barriers are being broken, and relationships are being formed all over the world as a result of knowing more than one language.

And although my ability to speak many languages has brought me many advantages, I have not been spared the blushes yet. Consequently, I still experience language slip-ups, but I continue to put myself in difficult conversational situations, all in the name of language control, of course.

Degree of Thought is a weekly community column initiated by Tetso College in partnership with The Morung Express. Degree of Thought will delve into the social, cultural, political and educational issues around us. The views expressed here do not reflect the opinion of the institution. Tetso College is a NAAC Accredited UGC recognised Commerce and Arts College. Currently, the Degree of Thought Column is managed by the Department of Mass Communication, and the editorial team are Dr. Jenny Lalmuanpuii, Asst. Professor; K.C. Gabriela, Asst. Professor; and Rinsit Sareo, Asst. Manager, IT, Media & Communications.

For feedback or comments please email: dot@tetsocollege.org