#artifact7

Bilingualism, or also known as multilingualism is often defined as speaking and/or understanding two or more different languages. This word can often be associated with individuals who have other languages aside from their own (e.g. Filipinos using English, Filipino and other languages in the country.)

In this discussion, we will target two questions:

What are the benefits of bilingualism in countries like Philippines and Japan?

How can these affect the IQ of the individuals using different languages? 

According to Cummins (1976), the competency of bilingual learners becomes a great variable when it comes to experiences and cognition. Once a learner is able to manifest bilingualism, there can be possible and positive effects even though there can also be inconsistencies in the manifestations.

Now, what brought me to this topic is our classroom discussion in our Philosophy class. Our instructor in the said class had told us that bilingualism or multilingualism enhances our IQ. This has been based in several articles and researches; however, there are also researches saying the other way around.

Based on the research of Sampath (2005), global intelligence and global nonverbal intelligence are not mediated by the proficiency in other languages. However, there are interdependent variables that contributed to the study such as  the analysis of nonverbal language and intelligence, environment and language contributors. The opposite of this research came from several articles telling that there is actually a decrease of IQ when one is actually using more languages. The study shows that there is a limited scope of vocabulary words and the tendency of each user is to let the IQ depreciate (Boughan, 2016).

Now, let us enumerate some of the advantages and effects of bilingualism/multilingualism based on Grosjean (2011) and Bhatajharjee (2012).

Multilinguals are able to analyze the different aspects of language such as phonology, syntax and semantics. However, this only happens when the attention of the user is selective or the control is inhibitory. The recurring pattern of mistakes happen with language conflict or ambiguity.

There may be an actual inhibition ability and this is shaped through the suppression of the other languages used. Yet, researches show that bilinguals or multilinguals are more productive when it comes to tasks that does not need inhibition.

Changes matter when it comes to a new environment as if the user is monitoring the view while driving. A certain bilingual or multilingual are able to shift their language immediately once needed and this has become an advantage for those who are not familiar with their foreign language.

There is also a study concerning 44 Spanish-English elderly bilinguals and they were compared to users who only use English solely. The study has found that these bilinguals are less prone with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease compare to those who are only using one language only. 

These are just some of the benefits brought by bilingualism. Though there are oppositions about the said topic, I still believe that being a bilingual is more beneficial than using only one language. This is still being studied in different countries and with the help of linguists and scientists, more answers are getting more reliable when it comes to bilingualism. Bilingualism is not a bad influence in deconstruction and translation. It contributes more flavors and ideas once a certain concept is produced.

Reflection:

The importance of language is we are able to communicate with other people, may it be verbal or nonverbal. It does not only enhance our speaking skills, but we are also able to contextualize ourselves with the different countries who have first used the foreign language we are using. 

Bilingualism or multilingualism is really evident here in the Philippines. As I have observed Filipinos who use different languages absolutely when travelling, it gets easier for them to deal with other people, culture, beliefs and traditions. Even if there is a loophole in the K-12 curriculum here in the Philippines, I still believe that the transitioning of mother tongue, to Filipino and up to English can still be enhanced.  The beauty of bilingualism is how a certain language can be a reflection of the culture it originated.

Sources:

American Speech Language Association. Bilingualism. Retrieved from https://www.asha.org/practice/multicultural/issues/bll.htm

Boughan, M. (2016). Does bilingualism reflect high IQ? Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/Does-bilingualism-reflect-high-IQ

Bhattacharjee, Y. (2012). Why bilinguals are smarter? Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html

ARTIFACT 7: Logo from the150logo.ca

http://the150logo.ca/

ARTIFACT 4: Parks Canada Webpage

As part of Canada 150 festivities, free admission is offered to all Parks Canada locations. This is an explicit government program and appears in the Liberal Party’s 2015 election platform (44). This clearly supports the theme of reconnecting Canadians with the natural environment by encouraging them to visit national parks. The purpose of promoting domestic and international tourism is explicit, and items (such as the Discovery Pass) can be unpacked. Symbols related to Canada’s natural environment often contain implicit messages of nativism grounded in a metanarrative of Euro-Canadian environmental imperialism, conquest, and transformation (Osborne 2006, 164). The name ‘Discovery Pass’ continues to evoke this image, whereby Canadians “discover” their natural environment, and the promotion of tourism frames national parks as a commodity or tool to generate revenue.  As Osborne notes, tourism plays a formative role in the creation of identities (2006, 162). Such programs allow Canadians to project environmentalist values externally while also aligning these values to economic interests. By marketing this initiative internationally, this program also allows Canada to be branded for this audience, further entrenching certain brands. Overall, this initiative creates a brand that promotes Canada as one inline with its natural environment, and this has underpinnings of environmental imperialism where Canada’s natural environment exists to be exploited for economic gain. This artifact creates a disconnect between image and policy, albeit on different layers: while the policy contained within the webpage reflects the environmentalist theme, it cannot be easily reconciled with other environmental decisions such as the approval of the Kinder Morgan pipeline. This also reflects the dilemma faced by neoliberal centrist and centre-left parties: while their voter base may desire strong environmental protection, business interests seek to curtail environmental regulation and exploit the natural environment (Harvey 2005, 66). While this predominately applies to the Canadian energy sector, it is also evident in the tourism sector in this example (though in an admittedly more innocuous way).

Critical reflection and relation to other artifacts:

ARTIFACT 7/PHOTO ESSAY EXAMPLE 3

The second is a video depicting one of the sillier moments we see the Titan in when taken out of context. (Artifact 7) The comical depiction of the titans is obvious and intended though exaggerated for laughs in this video. Fans know that the titans are the main threat to humanity in the show, but they pick up on the nuances of their portrayal. Any scene involving the Titans in the show usually is accompanied by death, destruction, and gory, bloody depictions of the titans satisfying their craving for humans. If the creators of the show wanted fans to see titans only as fearsome beings, they would not have had the titans act so unintelligently. They can be outwitted, outsmarted, and outmaneuvered by humans which gives us hope.