Why is multilingualism good for you?

Thu, 11 August 2022 ,11:00 – 12:00 BST Online event

A look at why multilingualism is a resource for the wellbeing of individuals and societies.

These are exciting times for both the scientific and the public understanding of multilingualism. Old prejudices about learning more than one language in childhood are still widespread, yet new misconceptions treat language learning as a magic bullet. There are both obvious and less obvious benefits of multilingualism in any language. We need two types of ‘bridges’ to debunk old and new myths:

• Bridges that connect different research fields to understand the interacting factors affecting multilingualism.
• Bridges that bring a balanced picture of multilingualism research to people who need to make informed decisions.

As a collective, we can build both bridges, but they require academic and political collaboration.

Join Professor Jeremy Smith FRSE and Professor Antonella Sorace FRSE at this online panel discussion event, part of Curious, the online summer events programme from The Royal Society Edinburgh.

Register on Eventbrite

See the full Curious programme