When you have always been bilingual, like I have, you quite often take it for granted and forget how important an aspect it is in your life. So today I want to shout from the rooftops (or tweet from the top of a tree) the first 20 reasons for being thankful for all the languages I know. These are not in order of importance, just in the order they came into my mind.
I am thankful that…
1 – my parents raised me to be bilingual – it gave me a good start in life and a solid foundation for further language learning.
2 – my daughters have also become bilingual and they can communicate with their relatives who live in many different parts of the world.
3 – I learnt and still can speak the Finland-Swedish dialect of my home village Dagsmark, Finland.
4 – my language skills have often been the deciding factor when I have been offered a new job.
5 – according to research, my brain’s executive control centre has grown thanks to the use of more than one language.
6 – travelling in different countries has been so much easier and more enjoyable.
7 – I have had the opportunity to read great literature in the language it was originally written in.
8 – I was able to choose in which language I wanted to study, and also attend a university abroad for a while.
9 – when I was young I had pen pals (with pen and paper via snail mail!) in several countries all over the world.
10 – my languages have enabled me to have closer relationships with people from other countries and cultures.
11 – I have apparently postponed a possible dementia by about 4.5 years by being bilingual.
12 – knowing many languages has made it easier to move between countries.
13 – being bilingual has made me more open-minded.
14 – I have been able to help others when they have struggled with languages.
15 – my bilingualism has, according to research, enhanced my creativity.
16 – knowing the language of a culture gives me a better understanding of it.
17 – speaking more than one language is thought to have positively impacted my school results.
18 – it has been much more easier to learn additional languages.
19 – I can now help other families bring up their children to become bilingual.
20 – my languages have hugely contributed to who I am and what I do – they are a big part of my identity.
… and Thank You for reading!
Hi Rita! Your 20 reasons really resonate with me–I like how you reference everything from personal experience to research to literature. Hooray for multilingualism! Thank you for sharing.
Thank YOU, Sarah! I have actually come up with many more reasons since I posted it 🙂
The topic is particularly appropriate today – we’re celebrating the European Day of Multilingual Blogging – so I will be writing short posts in German, Finnish, Swedish and my Finland-Swedish dialect later on
Hi Rita! this is informative and well-detailed 🙂 thank you for sharing this.