Does the language you speak lead to how smart you are?

Question

It's a bit hard to explain the question, but what I mean is, for example, people say English is a hard language to learn, and Esperanto is easy. So, if you learnt English, would you be smarter for learning and speaking a harder language?

btw i DO speak english

Answer 1

Buddy-- I've been doing an online search and searching through my old university library's website, and I have yet to find any evidence of the journal you are citing even existing. If you could give me a link to it I would really appreciate it.

In the meantime, I'm going to answer with what we learned in my Second Language Acquisition classes. First things first, whether or not a language is difficult to learn is based mostly on what your native language is. For most English speakers, a language like French or Spanish will be considered pretty easy, as there are a lot of similarities between the languages. However, if they were learning an Asian language where it is very different, they would see it as difficult. I had a German exchange student once tell me that French was much more difficult for her than English because English has a similar grammatical structure, for instance. So really, it's all relative.

The language that you speak has no bearing on intelligence. No language is "better" or "worse" than any other. I would like to read the study that buddy mentions, but as I can't find the journal, that's not possible at the moment. I would, however, question what language the subjects were tested in. There have been many cases of intelligence test results being skewed because the test-taker is being tested in a non-native tongue. I would like to see the study because I'm curious as to what tests they used and whether or not they are tests that are considered free of cultural and linguistic bias.

As for everything I have learned in school, language itself makes no difference in intelligence. Typically it is prejudicial views that lead to these opinions, and they are generally disproven over time.

What *has* been shown to be true is that learning a second language and continuing study on it when you become an older adult can lead to less incidence of dementia and Alzheimer's. This is for much the same reason that working crossword puzzles and what not is helpful: you are actively working your brain and using it.

I think someone mentioned before that you may be perceived as smarter for speaking certain languages, and this is DEFINITELY true. I think there tends to be an opinion in America that Spanish is a "lesser" language than English, and most people would be less impressed to hear someone speaks Spanish than that they speak German or French, etc. Granted that isn't true of everyone, but for many people it is, and it is a problem facing bilingual education students who feel that there language doesn't have the same inherent value as English. In many other countries, English is viewed as important and a tool to improve status, and therefore people who speak it will be looked on more positively than people who might speak other languages.

I hope this answers your question. :)

Answer 2

The simple answer:
No.

The more involved answer:
In the grand scheme of things, English is one of the easier languages to learn, and is therefore actually not the best indicator of intelligence. And if you are born in, or move to, a county with a difficult language, you can become fluent in the language but still be of low intelligence.

However as languages go, a much better indicator is not what language you speak, but rather how many. People who have learned to speak many different languages tend to be smarter overall. Though I should also point out that "smartness" and "Intelligence" are difficult to measure. Most IQ tests are little more that cultural exposure tests.

Yes, the smart ones will do well on an IQ test, but so will the not so smart ones who have simply had more exposure to the language/culture/topics/fields upon which the IQ test was based. But in any case, no, I don't believe there is any direct correlation between a specific language and intelligence.

Answer 3

Hahaha! Nooooo.....the language you speak you learned because of where you grew up, not how smart you are. Even if English were harder than some other languages, your natural language (if raised in the UK, Australia, or America, as well as a few others) would more than likely be English. But that wouldn't necessarily make you smarter than someone who spoke Esperanto or some other language considered easier than English.

Learning other languages has an advantage, in that you could go get a job in a country that uses one of those other languages. You could even be an interpreter. But again, that doesn't necessarily make you smarter that anyone else.

Believe me, I know some people who speak (a form of) English, but I don't think anyone would consider them to be a genious of any standing.

Answer 4

Well from the looks of it, YOU haven't "learnt" English YET. Anyways, studies have proven that those who speak English have an IQ 20-30 points above those that speak languages such as Spanish, French, or Arabic. Ironically, however, those who speak English in the UK are among the lowest; around 10 points lower. Even more ironic, of the 14 Arabic hi-jackers on 9/11, 10 spoke an English/Esperanto hybrid and ranked among the top 5 percentile.

Answer 5

Learning a foreign language like English is a relative matter, meaning what is hard for one person to learn may be easy for the other. I think once you have learned to write and speak a foreign language, you become smarter than you are.

Answer 6

There is some preliminary evidence that it does to a certain extent. However, much more research still needs to be done satisfy the linguistic community at large. They will want to see many, many studies.

An article appeared in the February 12, issue of "Science News" by B. Bower which relates to this topic... how tests conducted by a professor in Cyprus showed that Chinese school kids who read Chinese scored higher in spatial reasoning tests than their Greek counterparts. Greek is an alphabetic language just like English.

Please see the weblink below, the third article from the top:

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Science+News/2005/February/12-p510

Answer 7

English is a easy language, the proof is there's a lot of non english speakers who speak it fluently. Speaking a language is not a proof of your intelligence. All of us, we learnt our first language when we were babies.
Greetings from Spain!

Answer 8

It depends how well you learn any language. You are only as smart as you are. Other people may perceive you to be smarter because you have learned a difficult language but you were already intelligent to begin with. If you learned two easier languages does that make you smarter than someone who learns one difficult language?

Answer 9

Somehow it can help you but language does not guarantee you of being smart! It's how your I.Q. runs through for you to speak, learn and answer.

Answer 10

no. me as a filipino, learning english is as easy as ABC and 123