Bilingual benefits at Edinburgh Tollcross: Scotsman

[faoileag]

http://news.scotsman.com/news/Gemma-Fra ... iclepage=2

For example, bilingual children tend to display improved attention and an enhanced ability to deal with complex information, have better metalinguistic skills and are more efficient language learners."

And the usual debate, not as yet too stupid. And Arthur has joined in.

[Seonaidh]

"...For example, bilingual children tend to display improved attention and an enhanced ability to deal with complex information, have better metalinguistic skills and are more efficient language learners."

Sin a tha mise a' creidsinn cuideachd. Ach a bheil "controlled experiment" air a bhith? Mar eisimpleir, ann an Dùn Èideann, tha mi a' creidsinn cuideachd gum bi seo ceart: "For example, the parents of children in Gaelic-medium education tend to display more attention to their children's development than parents in general."

[Níall Beag]

Mar eisimpleir, ann an Dùn Èideann, tha mi a' creidsinn cuideachd gum bi seo ceart: "For example, the parents of children in Gaelic-medium education tend to display more attention to their children's development than parents in general."

Seo cnag na cuise, nach e? The greatest preindicator of success in education is being born into a middle class family.

And I read recently that the link between childhood bilingualism and later language learning is not only not proven, it's not even borne out by the figures.

The process of learning a language as an adult is so different from the process of learning it as a child that there is very little that an adult language learner gains from being brought up bilingual (the notable exception being the ability to distinguish a larger number of distinct phonemes).