Being bilingual has been a real blessing in my life. It has opened the door to so many opportunities that would've been unthinkable had I been monolingual. Although my reasons for raising bilingual kids have more to do with heritage than anything else, I'm not going to deny that the added benefits that you'll find below don't make me extremely happy that my kids speak both English and Spanish.
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1. Being bilingual makes you smarter. Bilingual people are smarter, there's no doubt about it. I know it sounds cocky, but it's true and it's been proven in more than one study. I could get into all the scientific details, but all you have to know is that it's an obvious workout for the brain to go from one language to the other and to know when to use one language and suppress the other. As a bilingual writer, believe, I know.
2. Being bilingual makes you healthier. Yes, speaking two or more languages can make you healthier by delaying the onset of dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer's disease by more than four years.
3. Being bilingual makes you more desirable. More and more companies are realizing the power of hiring bilingual employees, so being able to speak two languages puts you at an advantage right off the bat.
4. Being bilingual can make you richer. Employees who speak two languages are paid more than their monolingual counterparts for obvious reasons. I mean, think about it, your employers are getting two workers for the price of one.
5. Being bilingual makes traveling easier. It's not like you can't travel abroad if you don't speak the language of the country you're visiting. But imagine how much more fulfilling your trip will be if you can talk to the locals in their own language.
6. Being bilingual makes learning a third language easier. Once you learn a second language, learning a third, fourth (and so on) language is much easier. I know this to be true from my own experience. I learned French after learning English and I'm now moving on to Italian.
