Growing up in the distinctly multicultural city of Montreal, I spent most of my childhood days at my Sicilian grandparents’ apartment before my American mother would fetch me home to my Canadian father and brother in the suburbs. In the span of a single day, I would be exposed to Italian, French and English. Speaking exclusively English at home, I had a sound grasp of the language and often acted as impromptu translator in conversation. When a Francophone friend or a well-meaning grandparent struggled to recall the English counterpart to a word I would immediately offer its translation, a feeling of pride as my reward as I watched their faces assume the lightbulb “a-ha” look of comprehension.

I do not believe the way my brain has come to function is unusual, but rather reflects the tremendous influence of our world’s increasingly multicultural landscape on young minds. Various studies conducted at York, Northwestern and Pompeu Fabra University have supported the claim that the bilingual brain is wired differently than its unilingual equivalent. Research has shown that bilinguals have tangible advantages in the mental capacities of task-switching, language comprehension and working memory. The development of these characteristics has been linked to the multilingual lifestyle, the act of toggling between languages requiring an increased level of focus and attention to one’s surroundings to maintain conversation in multiple dialects.

Clear evidence has shown that in any given conversation, all languages known to a multilingual are actively drawn upon by the brain regardless of their immediate application. This phenomenon demands that the mind be able to selectively focus its attention on one language at a time, managing its unique speech patterns, pronunciation and grammar structure while simultaneously inhibiting the expression of another language. This linguistic juggling act strengthens and physically shapes the control mechanisms of the brain, crafting flexible minds better suited to functioning in our fast-paced society.

That being bilingual presents tangible learning benefits is reassuring in a city where over fifty percent of the population hails from outside Canada. Once seen as a barrier to high achievement in school and beyond, it is clear that a knowledge of multiple languages has more advantages than were once thought possible. That’s a message that can’t be lost in translation.

 This article appeared in an edited version in The Varsity here.