Language feeds the brain
by Maitri Pamo
When I was a child, my family was friends with another family with two girls who were very close in age to my sister and me. We mocked them because they would answer in English when their parents spoke to them in Spanish. We felt that it was a lacuna in their development and were pleased that we had the ability to speak a second language. My parents were strict enforcers of the ‘Spanish in the home’ rule. I am grateful for that, despite the fact that my sister and I speak English to each other now.
A few nights ago, as I was falling asleep, I recalled a poem I had memorized and found that I was making subtle muscular changes in my tongue and lips as the words appeared in my brain. The changes were clearly associated with the pronunciation of French. I was delighted to notice that I was doing it.
I have always felt that language acquisition has been easier for me than for most people who grew up monolingual. I have discovered that there are many things that are advantages for people who grow up knowing more than one language, in addition to the obvious ones
