Discussion #2 - Intelligence
Does learning languages improve intelligence in general? And, genuinely, does a polylinguist have more IQ than a monolinguist?
There is someone at work (we'll call him Anthony, both because it's his name and for the sake of not saying "that guy I work with" everytime :P) who's got a really good average in his courses. He speaks fluently and everyday 3 languages. So I've come to the question above... and I think the answer could be a yes for the first, and a no for the second. The question was out of the fact that he speaks 3 majorly different languages (with different roots), so that his mind is more structured to learn. I'll come back on this later.
Because intelligence is non deterministic, there is no real matter of saying that guy is more intelligent BECAUSE of this. Therefore, I think that speaking many languages improves intelligence, but not that a person who speaks only his mother tongue can't be more intelligent that someone who had the chance (it's a chance more than a choice, since this specules that the language was learnt in an age where choices was not made by us but mainly by our parents/society/environnement). Following this, I also agree to the fact that someone can have learnt many tongues without ever being more intelligent (IQ speaking) than an apple. You have to improve yourself. But the premices can be made with this. I'm coming to the why.
A language structures the mind (in terms of neural paths) so that it recognizes certain pattern (expressions) in every day life. Since french people tends to have different expressions than english speaking people, and learns to use them (neural paths are formed to the nature of the expression, its meaning) correctly, they are more used to a certain kind of thinking.
Learning is mostly made by associating different patterns with the patterns we know first. One who is really good with mathematics, and hadn't never really philosophed (which use different neural paths, even a different part of the brain - right part), will have a hard time reading Marx or Kant. Why? Because he can't find a meaning to it, they do not depends on the mathematical theories, and his mind is not formed to use them easily.
With time, eventually, the brain becomes more and more static. Once the main neural paths are strong, the less important one will have hard time forming. So learning a lot of different things young helps to master learning, helping to trace patterns with everything that has touched the patterns we've learnt. Of course, this is mostly subconciously done.
And languages that are strongly separated (Spanish and French are close, Chinese and English are really far) helps learn patterns that have almost nothing in common. So when one comes to learn something, he already has a diversified brain which can both associate expressions or path of meaning in the languages he's learnt, and help him to choke the difference.
At least I think so. What do YOU think?
There is someone at work (we'll call him Anthony, both because it's his name and for the sake of not saying "that guy I work with" everytime :P) who's got a really good average in his courses. He speaks fluently and everyday 3 languages. So I've come to the question above... and I think the answer could be a yes for the first, and a no for the second. The question was out of the fact that he speaks 3 majorly different languages (with different roots), so that his mind is more structured to learn. I'll come back on this later.
Because intelligence is non deterministic, there is no real matter of saying that guy is more intelligent BECAUSE of this. Therefore, I think that speaking many languages improves intelligence, but not that a person who speaks only his mother tongue can't be more intelligent that someone who had the chance (it's a chance more than a choice, since this specules that the language was learnt in an age where choices was not made by us but mainly by our parents/society/environnement). Following this, I also agree to the fact that someone can have learnt many tongues without ever being more intelligent (IQ speaking) than an apple. You have to improve yourself. But the premices can be made with this. I'm coming to the why.
A language structures the mind (in terms of neural paths) so that it recognizes certain pattern (expressions) in every day life. Since french people tends to have different expressions than english speaking people, and learns to use them (neural paths are formed to the nature of the expression, its meaning) correctly, they are more used to a certain kind of thinking.
Learning is mostly made by associating different patterns with the patterns we know first. One who is really good with mathematics, and hadn't never really philosophed (which use different neural paths, even a different part of the brain - right part), will have a hard time reading Marx or Kant. Why? Because he can't find a meaning to it, they do not depends on the mathematical theories, and his mind is not formed to use them easily.
With time, eventually, the brain becomes more and more static. Once the main neural paths are strong, the less important one will have hard time forming. So learning a lot of different things young helps to master learning, helping to trace patterns with everything that has touched the patterns we've learnt. Of course, this is mostly subconciously done.
And languages that are strongly separated (Spanish and French are close, Chinese and English are really far) helps learn patterns that have almost nothing in common. So when one comes to learn something, he already has a diversified brain which can both associate expressions or path of meaning in the languages he's learnt, and help him to choke the difference.
At least I think so. What do YOU think?
1 Comments:
Strange theory.
In my opinion there are 3 kinds of intelligent ppl. Mathbrains, languagebrains and pplskillbrains.
Hence I can't say I find someone who speaks a lot of languages smarter than another guy. I do think of him more highly though, because when he gets to 4 languages, I know he'll be "better" in comparison than others. So yeah, then he's smarter.
Some ppl simply cannot make associations when learning languages, so I noticed with a new friend of mine lately. We were exchanging danish vs. dutch vs. english phrases. I could easily associate the root of a word with the same one in the other languages, while he saw nothing at all in my own dutch, only sometimes when i explained it thoroughly. He just didn't make the right links. In se, that would make me "smarter" on this issue.
Or not.
Seeing how I've studied many languages at school, including base-of-all-culture-Latin, I've learned to look at languages with a microscopical eye. Makes it easier to learn even more. So yes, the more design patterns you encounter, the easier it gets to learn more. Thats not iq-based. thats just practice and increasing base-knowledge you can refer to. Give a guy 1 mathbook and he'll fully understand it. put another one in a different room with 10 mathbooks and if he learns them, he'll fully understand them. Which one is smarter ? No way of knowing until you give the first one another 9 books to see if he can get there too. Its the resources you have. Not the intelligence imo.
I don't agree on ppl being able to speak many languages if they have the IQ of an apple. Less intelligent ppl will become "fuller" in their memorycapacity, because they don't have any compressiontechniques. More intelligent shall be able to rar them and store more nonsense. Moreso, superintelligent ones can use wavelets to encode and then! omg!
hehe
Also on the last part I dont agree. Me being able to understand what now... a base of 7 languages (?) did never help me to understand chinese. Simply because you cant call it a language, its drawings and 3word-ideas, not letters and sentences. No link in that.
I'll have more patience and determination though, knowing that I already did other things and achieved at those. Thats mental strength. not iq :p
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