|
Bilingualism Promotes a Better Understanding |
|
|
I have always seen bilingualism as a very useful tool for life. It's
good for better employment opportunities, traveling, and business. Now,
I believe it goes beyond being just a tool, but bilingualism is a
methodology unto itself to help build an understanding, integration and
unity amongst human-beings, cultures, experiences and life itself. It
is a methodology that enables us to understand, share or condemn
(having factual reasons about) values of different cultures.
After reading the article called Ex-pat retirees told 'think ahead' I
thought about the importance of learning those values which go beyond
pure grammatical rules and memorization; the values that dwell in the
environment.
What makes human-beings different from other animals is the use of
language. Thought and language go together as well. Many people believe
that persons who are fluent or have acquired a good command of
different languages show a wider approach to reality, are educated in
plurality, are welcoming to accept diversity and therefore share values
of some sort of cosmopolitanism. In other words, they are more tolerant
and more adaptable to different environments.
|
|
Last Updated ( Friday, 18 May 2007 )
|
