Importance of Bilingual Education

How is learning more than one language beneficial for students and professionals? This post, which brings forth importance of bilingual education, tries to answer this question.

Thanks to the various means of communication, transportation as well as globalization, the world today has become a smaller place.

Today, we have people from one part of the world, shifting to another, for work, travel and education, a lot more than what it was a few decades back.

Intermingling of people from different cultures has increased the importance of learning more than one language. Read on to know more on the importance of bilingualism in education.

Enhances Skills and Creativity

Researchers have shown that students who learn more than one language have greater analytical and problem solving abilities. They are more creative and confident than their peers.

Multilingual students have better vocabularies and can express themselves variably. As they can express better, they are less likely to behave aggressively compared to the  single language speaking ones.

Increases Learning Pace

There are many minorities in America who speak their native language at home. It is seen that bilingual language fastens pace of learning subjects in native speaking children.

When subjects are taught in their native language, multilingual students exhibit a better grasp and comfort level, allowing for smoother learning compared to English-only instruction, which may hinder their pace of learning.

Meanwhile, when they are learning math, science and other subjects, they are instructed and made to learn English as well.

Thus, it's a win-win for naïve speakers, as they can learn English as well as other subjects side by side, at the same pace as English speaking students do.

Contributes to Professional Success

Being bilingual is a valuable asset for corporate executives, especially in multinational companies where diverse cultural collaboration is common.

Such an executive is trusted more due to his ability to understand customers of the foreign market. Bilingual executives can be useful when interacting with foreign clients as well as fellow international employees.

Researchers have shown that because of all these reasons, employers pay bilingual executives much more than those who know only one language.

A bilingual executive can earn anywhere over five percent more than employees who speak only one language. Thus, it leads to greater success in career and a better salary and lifestyle.

Opens Door for Government Jobs

According to estimates, for 21% Americans, English is a secondary language i.e. they speak some other language at home. Most of these are immigrants and minorities in US.

Many government jobs, especially those that involve dealing with minorities and immigrants or formulating/reviewing policies for them, need applicants to be bilingual. It helps a person secure government jobs.

Contributes to Personal Growth

Bilingualism contributes significantly to individual development by fostering an understanding of different cultures alongside language proficiency.

This widens horizons of the individual, making him more accepting and comfortable with people, different than him. Thus, bilingual education, in a way, contributes to the overall growth of a person.

Today, in United States, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese are two languages considered most useful, besides English. The reason being majority of  minorities in America speak Spanish and China, which is soon going to be a major player in world politics and economics.

Thus, it can be rightly said that being multilingual has numerous advantages. Bilingual education is a must today, as it builds individual skills and contributes  to a person's personal and professional success.