Category: Video

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How language shapes the way we think | Lera Boroditsky

Posted on by jannetteaguilera

Does language shape the way we think? Charlemagne, Holy emperor said “to have a second language is to have a second soul.” This means that our language creates our reality. Languages affect cognitive ability. For example, in an aboriginal community in Australia Kuuk Thaayorre in Pormpuraaw (on the west edge of Cape York), they talk in cardinal directions (not left or right) such as north, west, east, and south. Instead of saying hello, they say “which way are you going?” You respond with something like “north-north east in the far distance, how about you?” They can stay oriented very well because they are trained by their culture. Also, if they were to sort something in chronological order, they would place them from east to west (instead of left to right) in way it corresponds to their landscape.

There are languages that don’t have a number system thus not deep in mathematics. Also, Russians have different names for shades of blue while we have only the color blue. As such, Russians are faster to tell the difference between a darker and lighter blue. Their brains will show a “surprise reaction” as the color shifts from dark to light as a categorical change. Some languages have a gramatical gender. Like the sun has a feminine gender in German while a masculine one in Spanish. These genders do affect the way that language speakers perceive the world. For example, Germans described a bridge as “beautiful” and “elegant” due to its feminine gender, while Spanish speakers describe it as “long” and “strong” with its masculine gender. Languages are structured differently such as “he broke the vase” while in Spanish you say “they vase broke” since it was an accident. People of different languages pay attention to different things depending on what language requires us to do. In English we remember who did it while in Spanish we remember if it was an accident (intentions). We tend to blame more in English. The speaker states: “The beauty of linguistic diversity is that it reveals to us just how ingenious and how flexible the mind is. Human minds have invented not one cognitive universe, but 7,000 — 7,000 languages spoken around the world.” We can also create languages. We are losing one language a week, thus in 100 years we will lose half. She concludes that we reflect on how are we shaped to think and how do we want to think.

While this Youtube video does not discuss the bilingual brain specifically, it does discuss how language affects us. I include this in my studies to see the role that language has on us in determining our perceptions about the world, and how that is applicable to helping us see the role that two or more languages learned together can affect the way we see and respond to others and the world around us. This increase in perceptions is an advantage of having a bilingual or multilingual brain. 

Video Source:
TED. (2018, May 2). How language shapes the way we think | Lera Boroditsky [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKK7wGAYP6k
Posted in Video

Bilingual and Monolingual Baby Brains Differ in Response to Language

Posted on by jannetteaguilera

This video shows a study between bilingual and monolingual babies in regards to brain activity. Eleven month old babies would hear the sounds of both Spanish and English. Bilingual babies (from bilingual families) would respond to both Spanish and English sounds while Monolingual babies (who only have heard English) only respond to English sounds. Thus the infant brain of eleven months specializes in language(s) being practiced around them. Also, bilinguals showed stronger responses in the prefrontal and orbitofrontal Cortex which are associated with executive function skills and are known to activate when bilingual adults switch between two languages. Thus babies are already practice switching between to languages.

Youtube Video

This study shows how the bilingual brain is different to that of the monolingual brain in terms of activity when engaged in specific sounds. As such, it helps answer my question as to how the bilingual brain is developed. 

Video Source:
I-LABS Tech Support. (2016, March 22). Bilingual and monolingual baby brains differ in response to language [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?time_continue=160&v=TAYhj-gekqw
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Language On The Brain Podcast Episode 1: Bilingualism

Posted on by jannetteaguilera

The YouTube video called “Language On The Brain Podcast Episode 1: Bilingualism” is part of the Language on the Brain Podcast that from The Interesting Channel published on May 14, 2014. According to the speaker, she speaks of a balanced bilingual who learns two languages at a young age together and the dominate bilingual who learned one language first and took on a second one later in life. She states that those with “high proficiency in one or more languages would induce more focal activity in core regions of the language network in the brain whereas a lower proficiency would be accompanied by a wider distribution of activity in less core areas. ” She then speaks more of how defining bilingual is confusing since some consider it to mean having knowledge of how to speak a language versus being completely fluent in the language. She then says that it is unclear as to what it means to be fluent or the uncertainty as to what constitute as a language. She also discusses how there is debate as to whether bilingual education is good for children and how in the 1960s that bilingual education “would be detrimental to a child’s education, that they wouldn’t develop a full knowledge of either language.” She claims that there are actual cognitive advantages of multilingualism and bilingualism. For example, “it has actually been proving that the onset of various types of dementia happens later in multilingual… you keep your brain active, you use more of your brain areas.” Also, “being bilingual gives you a sense of metalinguistics, so you literally think about what you are saying,” which helps you think more deeply and make better decisions. She promotes the fact that you have exposure to foreign films and music.

This source is useful to my guiding questions as it demonstrates some basics of bilingual language, metacognition, and the brain. 

Video/ Podcast Source:
Cat (Producer). (2014, May 14). Bilingualism [Show #1]. Language On The Brain. Podcast retrieved  from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgmQh8SWh2A
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The Benefits of a bilingual Brain

Posted on by jannetteaguilera

The YouTube video called “The benefits of a bilingual brain-Mia Nacamulli” is about the bilingual brain, how it develops and how it can benefit our lives. One interesting quote found in the video was “The heightened workout a bilingual brain receives through its life can also help delay the onset of diseases, like Alzheimers’s and dementia by as much as 5 years.” Through this video, I learned that there are three types of bilinguals which consist of the compound bilingual, the coordinate bilingual and the subordinate bilingual. The compound bilingual learn two languages from an early age, the coordinate bilingual learns two languages in two contexts such as home and school, and the subordinate bilingual learns a second language by filtering it through their primary language. Also, being bilingual used to be seen as a learning handicap but newer research shows that the frequent switching of the brain between the two languages causes a strengthening of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which helps with problem-solving.

This resource is useful as it provides a brief overview of the bilingual brain, which helps me answer the questions on how the bilingual brain develops and what are some of the benefits that are not just social but also relating to our brain development.

Video Source:
TED-Ed. (2015, June 23). The benefits of a bilingual brain - Mia Nacamulli [Video file]. Retrieved  from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMmOLN5zBLY