has said that she is not very good at either language
Apropos that, today I listened to an interesting lecture under the title of 'Lifelong Bilingualism: Linguistic Costs, Cognitive Benefits, and Long-Term Consequences'. When we compare the group averages, people who speaks equally fluently two languages have a slower access to the vocabulary (in comparison with monolinguals - but also if the same person uses one language intensively, accessibility of words in the other decreases temporarily - that was examined also using EEG event-related potentials) in both of them and strong interference between the languages (due to coactivation of verbal representations of things in both languages at the same time), but it has also a very positive side - it results in a stronger cognitive control (e.g. initiating appropriate actions and inhibiting inappropriate actions)- it develops the prefrontal cortex. Even within the group of elder people with dementia, the onset of the disorder occured 6 years later in the bilingual people than in the monolinguals.
