Brain, Vol. 122, No. 12, 2207-2208,
December 1999
© 1999 Oxford University Press
Editorial |
Fitting two languages into one brain
INSERM Unit 334, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, CEA/DRM/DSV, Orsay, France
As Europe moves into the next century, the language barrier appears more formidable than ever. Eleven languages are recognized as official languages of the European community, but the actual number of languages needed to operate with other countries must be closer to 40. Multilingualism is a complex problem for the European administration, which has had to appoint the largest translation service in the world, Brussels' Joint Interpreting and Conference Service. But multilingualism also poses special challenges to the human brain. How can cerebral circuits that normally handle a single phonology, lexicon and syntax adapt to the storage of multiple language systems? Consider the case of German and English. Verbs are placed at the end of sentences in German, but not in English. How then do English–German bilinguals avoid
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