Bilingualism as a Global Language

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Bilingualism By Aurora Ramazzotti The modern world is in continuous development. Cultures change, people travel; globalization can be found around the corner and on the other side of the planet, too. Being open-minded is a requirement these days and bilingualism is no longer an option for those who want to guarantee themselves a future in our society. As a matter of fact it has been proved that knowing two or more languages makes a person smarter and forces the brain to resolve internal conflict thus strengthening its cognitive muscles. However the positive and negative impacts of bilingualism on individuals are still discussed and questioned. So how do we decide whether or not we should go beyond our mother tongue, setting aside our roots to learn about other cultures through speaking different languages? Well for starters, I personally don’t know how it can be seen as a disadvantage to manage a language other than your own. It may be because I was raised in an environment where I was in direct contact with cultures that weren’t mine every day since a young age, or because, even as a baby, I couldn’t stand not being able to express my thoughts. Either way, it concerns me that some people still haven’t understood the importance of knowing another language. I mean, how can you listen to your favourite singer and not understand what he’s saying in most of the songs? Doesn’t it make your life easier to just be able to communicate with people when you go on holiday in a foreign country? Yes, it’s true: being aware of your own culture and maintaining it is important too, but how are we supposed to enlarge our range of opportunities if we remain stuck in the tyranny and commodity of our mother tongue? The truth is that most monolingual speakers often justify themselves saying that they simply didn’t have economical availability in the past. I can’t count the
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