Smartphones and privacy: Are we overreacting?
""Consumers should be extremely concerned about their privacy, especially in today's hyperconnected world," LaFollette said. "However, the media should play the role of educator and empower users to maintain their privacy when using mobile devices, [instead] of feeding the idea that privacy is out of the user's control."
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
ICFJ rewards a remarkable revolutionary mother | ICFJ Anywhere
By
Heba Albiety
An
Egyptian mother of three has walked away with the top prize in ICFJ’s online
course, Building News
Websites for Egyptian Citizen Journalists. Safaa Mohammad Abdul Hamid was
awarded with $1000 for her story “The
Best Day in the Life of a Revolutionary Mother”.
During
the course, Safaa learned how to use social networking sites and to write
reports using pictures, videos and maps. “Once I acquired the tools through
ICFJ's course, I used them and they worked, Safaa said. “The story moved everyone
who read it”.
The
mother of three said the course boosted her confidence and improved her
journalistic skills. It also gave her the opportunity to work as a program
producer for the satellite channel 25 January TV.
Safaa
is using the money to apply the knowledge she learned in the course to build a
journalistic website with the help of her friends. “Winning first prize
encouraged me and assured me that success is timeless and limitless because
working hard bears fruit no matter what,” she said.
Safaa’s
story was about the last days of the Mubarak regime. The story’s perspective
was unique as it shed light on the inner conflict Safaa, and many other
Egyptian mothers, went through during the protests. Many women felt compelled
to participate in the protests and were torn between their obligation to their
kids and their obligation to their country. Safaa said it was not an easy
decision to join the protests.
“I
wanted to join people who took to the streets for protests but at the same time
I did not want to risk my life for the sake of my kids,” Safaa said.
But
as the situation on the streets became tenser, Safaa told her kids how
important it was for her to participate in the protests. She told them that
Egypt was like a mother to her and that she had to stand by her in such
difficult times.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
The Hindu : Columns / Kalpana Sharma : The Other Half: Women and the Arab Spring
"She said that she did not believe that Sharia law was against human rights and democracy. But when it is left to men within a patriarchal system to interpret that law, inevitably the suppression of women's rights is justified. The best way to prevent that, she advised her Arab sisters, was to push for women's rights during the struggle. “Don't wait for the victory. Choose your allies. Dictate these conditions before the alliance”, she said."
Friday, November 4, 2011
Amanpour: Why Journalists Put Their Lives at Risk
Amanpour said a leading cause of death for journalists is murder. "We die mostly because people want to kill us," she said. "They want to shut up the truth. They don't want to hear it. So it takes a special kind of commitment to keep doing this work. It's really vital."
Thursday, November 3, 2011
'He has a right to speak,' said the cop to the banker
"BofABoss: "What, are you working for the credit union?"
MB[my best line of the day]: "No Sir, they work for me, unlike your bank that works for investors and shareholders.""
"Move Your Money Mondays": An Ongoing Strategy to Shrink the Big Wall Street Banks
November 5th is Bank Transfer Day. Tens of thousands of people have already pledged to close their accounts in big Wall Street banks on that day, and make the switch to small local banks or credit unions.
That's great news! But this should only be the beginning. The Move Your Money movement needs to continue long past November 5, and it needs to grow to millions of people.
How can we make this happen? The new website PleaseCloseMyAccount.com is proposing a specific plan of action. Follow me below the fold to read the details of the plan, the philosophy behind it, and why it will work better than anything else we could do to fight against the big and powerful Wall Street corporations.
The plan is called Move Your Money Mondays:
The plan is called Move Your Money Mondays:
1. Close your account on a Monday. This way, the banks will start their week — every week — by facing numerous customers closing their accounts. They will know that it’s not random; it’s a movement. And facing that movement at the beginning of the week will set the tone for their entire workweek.2. Wear a “Please Close My Account” shirt when you go to the bank to close your account. Do this if you really want to leave an impression on bank employees and other customers. There is nothing illegal about wearing a shirt expressing your principles, so the banks can’t stop it, but they will hate seeing people in those shirts come into their building. It’s a way you can make your views known without being involved in a protest rally or getting into an argument inside a bank.The combination of these two things, the special days and the special shirts, will result in a memorable experience for anyone in a bank on a Monday — and hopefully an experience that will grow in magnitude and visibility with each weekly repetition.
The brilliance of this plan is that it's repetitive and highly visible. If bank account closures spike every Monday, banks will know there's a movement going on; it would be impossible for them to think it's just random. Hopefully each Monday from now on will see a larger and larger number of people walking into banks and closing their accounts. Mondays could eventually become a totally lost day of productive business for the worst offending banks -- a day in which they spend their entire time just closing people's accounts, one after another. This will get their attention and they will start to think about making some changes in their corporate culture and policies to prevent another bitter Monday of losing customers.
The special shirts will ensure that they see what's going on. If people actually walk into their bank branches wearing a shirt proclaiming their desire to move their money from big Wall Street banks to small local banks and credit unions, it will be impossible for bank employees to misinterpret the situation. It will be obvious that the customers are closing their accounts as a matter of principle -- yet they won't have to say a word about it, because their principles will be written right on their sleeve! People can stride up to the counter, smile, and politely say "I'd like to please close my account" -- no argument or act of civil disobedience necessary -- and everyone in the bank, including the employees and other customers, will see their shirt and know that this particular account closure is part of a mass movement.
What is the philosophy behind this idea?
Free people can change the world. All they have to do is decide to exercise the power of their freedom in a spirit of unified action. Each individual doesn’t have to have a lot of money or power, since there are so many of us! The key is to work together for a goal we all believe in. ...The way it works is simple: Freedom of choice by huge numbers of individuals all doing the same thing at the same time. Global communications and social networking technology makes this possible as never before.The principle of nonparticipation is key. Corrupt systems in society cannot continue unless people agree to participate in them. If most people decide not to participate in a system, it tends to collapse due to lack of perceived legitimacy and lack of manpower to keep it going. ...Ordinary people have tremendous power to make change this way. We don’t have to rely on petitioning politicians, who rarely listen to people anyway unless they write them big checks for their campaigns. We don’t have to get coverage from the mainstream media; Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere provide a new, unfiltered way to spread a message. We don’t have to engage in civil disobedience or break any laws. All we have to do is become networked together in our common interests and goals, and then together use our freedom.
The single best thing people can do to change America's corrupt and broken financial system is to withdraw from its biggest and most powerful institutions and encourage everyone in society to do the same. Monopolies and oligarchies are bad for the economy and bad for the customer. Small businesses and competition are good. In a free market system such as the American economy is supposed to be, the customers have the power to determine which businesses grow or shrink, succeed or fail -- and this is true with banks just like with any business. These ideas can resonate with 99% of Americans, cutting across party lines and regardless of political ideology.
If we are serious about making change, this is the path we will take. We don't need to turn Occupy Wall Street into a left-wing political movement supporting candidates for office, and we don't need to focus entirely on occupying public parks in cities to make a statement about the right of freedom of speech and assembly. A stronger and more visible progressive political movement would be good, and continuing to Occupy Wall Street is good -- but in terms of themost effective way to fight back against the big Wall Street banks, there is nothing better than a mass movement of millions of American people walking into their local branch of Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, or Wells Fargo and saying "please close my account."
The people themselves can make the change they seek. We don't need to convince politicians to punish the biggest and most corrupt banks -- and frankly, no amount of pressure by Occupy Wall Street or any other group is likely to make politicians of either party listen to the majority of the American people on this issue and defy the financial corporations that are their biggest source of campaign funding. But these big banks will either be forced to reform themselves or else suffer severely at the hands of their (former) customers, if millions of people close their accounts as part of an ongoing and highly visible mass movement.
I submit that Move Your Money Mondays is the long-term answer. Let's build on the momentum already being generated by the November 5th Bank Transfer Day and keep it going and growing. Spread the word about PleaseCloseMyAccount.com and "Move Your Money Mondays" until it goes viral and we achieve the change we seek!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Acres of Diamonds Movie
Monday, October 24, 2011
Steve Jobs talks about managing people
"You have to be run by ideas, not hierarchy. The best ideas have to win, otherwise good people do not stay" Steve Jobs
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Great Quotes From Great Leaders Movie
Monday, September 19, 2011
Memoirs of the Revolution: Al-Jiza
"He asked me if I ever witnessed a massacre in my life. I knew the reason behind his question. “Dozens of wounded, dead around you, blood, pain everywhere and people dying in your arms – whoever had to witnesssuch moments naturally thinks about getting armed,” he said. “And not all people are university graduates or educated. But we know that no weapon would have been enough to face the tanks [of the army] so those ideas vanished quickly."
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
They said, I thought
They said, I thought
John Dunbar said:
''When I know who you are, I serve you. When I know who I am, I am you! ''
I thought:
When I serve you knowing who you are and when I am you knowing who I am: I serve myself when I serve you.
John Dunbar said:
‘’ You never lose. You always win.’’ John Dunbar
I thought:
We only lose when we think there is loss.
Will Steel said:
‘’Life is meaningless ‘’
I thought:
It does not mean anything that life does not mean anything.
Will Steel said:
‘’Our suffering is our meaning’’
I thought:
We are imprisoned in our meaning. We are trapped in the false reflection of our words.
Will Steel said:
'' Having an extraordinary life is about being unreasonable''
I thought:
Maturity is the realization that irrationality is what makes you live a full vivid life!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Drop the Orientalist term ‘Arab Spring’
Drop the Orientalist term ‘Arab Spring’August 17, 2011 12:32 AMBy Rami G. Khouri
| The Daily Star |
A fascinating aspect of the current wave of citizen revolts that is toppling, challenging or reforming regimes across the Arab world is that people around the world use different terms to describe the phenomenon. The term that seems to have gained much currency across the Western world is “the Arab Spring.” I find this totally inappropriate, and have banished it from my own writing and speaking. I urge my fellow journalists to consider doing the same.
The most important reason for this is that this term is not used at all by those brave men and women who have been on the streets demonstrating and dying for seven months now. Every time I run into a Tunisian, Egyptian, Libyan, Syrian, Bahraini or Yemeni, I ask them how they refer to their own political actions. Their answer is an almost universal, “Revolution” (or thawra, in Arabic). And when they refer to the collective activities of Arabs across the region, they often use the plural “revolutions” (or thawrat).
They also use descriptor collective-nouns such as the Arab “uprising” (intifada), the Arab “awakening” (sahwa), or the Arab renaissance (nahda), the latter mirroring the initial Arab Awakening against Ottoman and European domination in the early years of the 20th century. I personally like the term “Arab citizen revolt,” which captures the common demand among all Arab demonstrators to enjoy full citizenship rights with appropriate constitutional guarantees.
The terms Arabs use to describe themselves are far stronger and more substantive than “Arab Spring.” Inherent in the term “spring,” for sure, is the idea of an awakening after the winter slumber. However, it also denotes a brief or limited transitional moment that soon gives way to the next season of summer. It mirrors Czechoslovakia’s brief “Prague Spring” liberalism of 1968, which the Russians quickly halted, and also the European revolutions of 1848 a century earlier.
Tellingly, the “spring” metaphor was not applied to the revolutions that swept the Soviet Empire in the 1980s and early 1990s. When real change happens, the world tends to describe this as a revolution, not a spring – except, it seems, in the Arab world.
Perhaps I exaggerate, but I am troubled by the unspoken connotations that accompany calling this phenomenon a “spring,” which downplays the severity of the challenge to existing regimes and downgrades the intensity and depth of the courage that ordinary men and women summon when they dare to take on their often brutal, well armed national security services. “Spring” is a passive term – it just happens to people – helpless people who have no power and no say in the process. The terms that Arabs use to describe themselves epitomize activism, will, empowerment, determination and agency, denoting citizens who have the power to change their world and are going about that business with diligence and perseverance.
I suspect that the popularity of the “Arab Spring” term across the Western world quietly mirrors some subtle Orientalism at work, lumping all Arabs as a single mass of people who all think and behave the same way. It might also hide another troubling factor: Many quarters of many Western lands remain hesitant in fully acknowledging – let alone embracing or supporting – the implications of free Arabs pursuing self-determination who have the power to define their countries and shape their national policies.
Western powers for the past century and a half or so have assumed that they can shape and control most aspects of power and policy across the Arab world, whether due to imperial self-interest, energy requirements, economic needs, or pro-Israeli biases. As Arab citizens shed docility and threaten to take control of their own societies, many in the West are unsure how to deal with this possibility.
Perhaps some in the West also do not want to acknowledge the full reality of Arabs reconfiguring their power structures, because Western powers (including Russia) supported those old, failed authoritarian systems that are now being challenged and changed. An “Arab Spring” conveniently removes the element of culpability and foreign complicity in the dark, bitter and endless “winter” that we endured for three generations of incompetent Arab police and family-mafia states.
Revolutionary, self-assertive Arabs frighten many people abroad. Softer Arabs who sway with the seasons and the winds may be more comforting. However, if in their greatest moment of modern historical self-assertion and nationalist struggle Arab citizenries find that major politicians and media in the West refer to them in the vocabulary of the wind and tides, we are certain to continue feeling the century-long impact of the great battle of colonialism versus nationalist resistance that seems still to define the Arab region’s relations with many Western powers.
Language may be the easiest place to start reversing this troubling legacy. Dropping the term “Arab Spring” for something more accurate is my suggested starting point.
Rami G. Khouri is published twice weekly by THE DAILY STAR.
The most important reason for this is that this term is not used at all by those brave men and women who have been on the streets demonstrating and dying for seven months now. Every time I run into a Tunisian, Egyptian, Libyan, Syrian, Bahraini or Yemeni, I ask them how they refer to their own political actions. Their answer is an almost universal, “Revolution” (or thawra, in Arabic). And when they refer to the collective activities of Arabs across the region, they often use the plural “revolutions” (or thawrat).
They also use descriptor collective-nouns such as the Arab “uprising” (intifada), the Arab “awakening” (sahwa), or the Arab renaissance (nahda), the latter mirroring the initial Arab Awakening against Ottoman and European domination in the early years of the 20th century. I personally like the term “Arab citizen revolt,” which captures the common demand among all Arab demonstrators to enjoy full citizenship rights with appropriate constitutional guarantees.
The terms Arabs use to describe themselves are far stronger and more substantive than “Arab Spring.” Inherent in the term “spring,” for sure, is the idea of an awakening after the winter slumber. However, it also denotes a brief or limited transitional moment that soon gives way to the next season of summer. It mirrors Czechoslovakia’s brief “Prague Spring” liberalism of 1968, which the Russians quickly halted, and also the European revolutions of 1848 a century earlier.
Tellingly, the “spring” metaphor was not applied to the revolutions that swept the Soviet Empire in the 1980s and early 1990s. When real change happens, the world tends to describe this as a revolution, not a spring – except, it seems, in the Arab world.
Perhaps I exaggerate, but I am troubled by the unspoken connotations that accompany calling this phenomenon a “spring,” which downplays the severity of the challenge to existing regimes and downgrades the intensity and depth of the courage that ordinary men and women summon when they dare to take on their often brutal, well armed national security services. “Spring” is a passive term – it just happens to people – helpless people who have no power and no say in the process. The terms that Arabs use to describe themselves epitomize activism, will, empowerment, determination and agency, denoting citizens who have the power to change their world and are going about that business with diligence and perseverance.
I suspect that the popularity of the “Arab Spring” term across the Western world quietly mirrors some subtle Orientalism at work, lumping all Arabs as a single mass of people who all think and behave the same way. It might also hide another troubling factor: Many quarters of many Western lands remain hesitant in fully acknowledging – let alone embracing or supporting – the implications of free Arabs pursuing self-determination who have the power to define their countries and shape their national policies.
Western powers for the past century and a half or so have assumed that they can shape and control most aspects of power and policy across the Arab world, whether due to imperial self-interest, energy requirements, economic needs, or pro-Israeli biases. As Arab citizens shed docility and threaten to take control of their own societies, many in the West are unsure how to deal with this possibility.
Perhaps some in the West also do not want to acknowledge the full reality of Arabs reconfiguring their power structures, because Western powers (including Russia) supported those old, failed authoritarian systems that are now being challenged and changed. An “Arab Spring” conveniently removes the element of culpability and foreign complicity in the dark, bitter and endless “winter” that we endured for three generations of incompetent Arab police and family-mafia states.
Revolutionary, self-assertive Arabs frighten many people abroad. Softer Arabs who sway with the seasons and the winds may be more comforting. However, if in their greatest moment of modern historical self-assertion and nationalist struggle Arab citizenries find that major politicians and media in the West refer to them in the vocabulary of the wind and tides, we are certain to continue feeling the century-long impact of the great battle of colonialism versus nationalist resistance that seems still to define the Arab region’s relations with many Western powers.
Language may be the easiest place to start reversing this troubling legacy. Dropping the term “Arab Spring” for something more accurate is my suggested starting point.
Rami G. Khouri is published twice weekly by THE DAILY STAR.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2011/Aug-17/Drop-the-Orientalist-term-Arab-Spring.ashx#ixzz1VIkdj89i
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Love is Real Immortality!
Ernest Hemingway: All men fear death. It's a natural fear that consumes us all. We fear death because we feel that we haven't loved well enough or loved at all, which ultimately are one and the same. However, when you make love with a truly great woman, one that deserves the utmost respect in this world and one that makes you feel truly powerful, that fear of death completely disappears. Because when you are sharing your body and heart with a great woman, the world fades away. You two are the only ones in the entire universe. You conquer what most lesser men have never conquered before, you have conquered a great woman's heart, the most vulnerable thing she can offer to another. Death no longer lingers in the mind. Fear no longer clouds your heart. Only passion for living, and for loving, become your sole reality. This is no easy task for it takes insurmountable courage. But remember this, for that moment when you are making love with a woman true greatness you will feel immortal.
As quoted in Audy Allen's latest movie Midnight in Paris.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Jalal ad-Din Rumi __ I am not from this world
Why think thus O men of piety
I have returned to sobriety
I am neither a Moslem nor a Hindu
I am not Christian, Zoroastrian, nor Jew
I am neither of the West nor the East
Not of the ocean, nor an earthly beast
I am neither a natural wonder
Nor from the stars yonder
Neither flesh of dust, nor wind inspire
Nor water in veins, nor made of fire
I am neither an earthly carpet, nor gems terrestrial
Nor am I confined to Creation, nor the Throne Celestial
Not of ancient promises, nor of future prophecy
Not of hellish anguish, nor of paradisic ecstasy
Neither the progeny of Adam, nor Eve
Nor of the world of heavenly make-believe
My place is the no-place
My image is without face
Neither of body nor the soul
I am of the Divine Whole.
I eliminated duality with joyous laughter
Saw the unity of here and the hereafter
Unity is what I sing, unity is what I speak
Unity is what I know, unity is what I seek
Intoxicated from the chalice of Love
I have lost both worlds below and above
Sole destiny that comes to me
Licentious mendicity
In my whole life, even if once
Forgot His name even per chance
For that hour spent, for such moment
I'd give my life, and thus repent
Beloved Master, Shams-e Tabrizi
In this world with Love I'm so drunk
The path of Love isn't easy
I am shipwrecked and must be sunk.
I have returned to sobriety
I am neither a Moslem nor a Hindu
I am not Christian, Zoroastrian, nor Jew
I am neither of the West nor the East
Not of the ocean, nor an earthly beast
I am neither a natural wonder
Nor from the stars yonder
Neither flesh of dust, nor wind inspire
Nor water in veins, nor made of fire
I am neither an earthly carpet, nor gems terrestrial
Nor am I confined to Creation, nor the Throne Celestial
Not of ancient promises, nor of future prophecy
Not of hellish anguish, nor of paradisic ecstasy
Neither the progeny of Adam, nor Eve
Nor of the world of heavenly make-believe
My place is the no-place
My image is without face
Neither of body nor the soul
I am of the Divine Whole.
I eliminated duality with joyous laughter
Saw the unity of here and the hereafter
Unity is what I sing, unity is what I speak
Unity is what I know, unity is what I seek
Intoxicated from the chalice of Love
I have lost both worlds below and above
Sole destiny that comes to me
Licentious mendicity
In my whole life, even if once
Forgot His name even per chance
For that hour spent, for such moment
I'd give my life, and thus repent
Beloved Master, Shams-e Tabrizi
In this world with Love I'm so drunk
The path of Love isn't easy
I am shipwrecked and must be sunk.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Meet the man steering social media to challenge Saudi ban on women drivers | IJNet
by Heba Albiety
To challenge Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving, activists this summer got behind the wheel -- and in front of their computer and smart phone screens with a social media campaign.
But it wasn't only women agitating for their right to drive. In fact, it was a man who launched the campaign, Saudi Women for Driving on Facebook,Twitter and YouTube to support “Women Driver’s Day,”.
That man, Ali AlAhmad, is a Saudi journalist, researcher, activist and expert in Saudi political affairs and Saudi-American relations. He's broken well-known stories including the murder of Wall Street reporter Daniel Pearl.
AlAhmad, who has taught his sisters and friends to drive, launched the campaign to drum up international support for Saudi women. He videotaped messages of support from women from women around the world.
IJNet talked with AlAhmad in Washington D.C. about the campaign.
IJNet: When and why did you decide to organize the Saudi Women’s Driving Campaign?
I decided to organize the campaign right after Manal AlSharief’s arrest for challenging the driving ban on women. I thought the campaign would encourage more Saudi women to break the ban and start driving publicly.
IJNet: Why did you use social media to promote the campaign?
I think social media is the most effective medium in countries that lack freedom of expression where traditional media does not reflect the real concerns of people.
IJNet: A Saudi male organizes a campaign that supports women’s rights. How did that happen?
The women’s driving campaign will not help only females but also males. The more we allow women to practice their rights and become more independent, the more women will share responsibilities with men and the easier life becomes for both of us. The campaign encourages women to make a choice and decide whether they want to drive or not. I support this action of making a choice and taking a decision.
IJNet: Do you know of any other men who supported the campaign?
The husbands, brothers, or sons of some Saudi women who took on the streets and started their engines accompanied them and/or videotaped while they were driving.
IJNet: How did using social media help the campaign?
I cannot think of any other way I could have done it if I did not use social media. The government can block websites whose content contradicts with their policy. On the other hand, they cannot block Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube because they do not want to ruin their image in front of the world.
IJNet: Do you think people’s reliance on social media reflects their distrust of traditional media?
In countries like Saudi Arabia, no one relies on official TV stations or on traditional media anymore. Saudis now get news from social media because it is the only place where they can get away from heavy censorship. People feel that traditional media is outdated because it does not reflect their concerns and their views. Not only that, people feel that the official media is fooling them.
For more stories like this one, sign up for our free weekly newsletter.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action | Video on TED.com
Simon Sinek points out a great distinction between "leaders" and "those who lead". His talk inspired to conclude that, Success is a vision that overtakes reality and replaces it!
"Leaders hold a position of power or authority and power but those who lead inspire us. Whether they are individuals or organizations , we follow those who lead, not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead, not for them, but for ourselves. And those who start with 'WHY', that have the ability to inspire those around them or find others who inspire them." Simon Sinek
Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action | Video on TED.com
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The Bilingual Advantage
The Bilingual Advantage
By CLAUDIA DREIFUS
Published: May 30, 2011
A cognitive neuroscientist, Ellen Bialystok has spent almost 40 years learning about how bilingualism sharpens the mind. Her good news: Among other benefits, the regular use of two languages appears to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms. Dr. Bialystok, 62, a distinguished research professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, was awarded a $100,000 Killam Prize last year for her contributions to social science. We spoke for two hours in a Washington hotel room in February and again, more recently, by telephone. An edited version of the two conversations follows.
Q. How did you begin studying bilingualism?
A. You know, I didn’t start trying to find out whether bilingualism was bad or good. I did my doctorate in psychology: on how children acquire language. When I finished graduate school, in 1976, there was a job shortage in Canada for Ph.D.’s. The only position I found was with a research project studying second language acquisition in school children. It wasn’t my area. But it was close enough.
As a psychologist, I brought neuroscience questions to the study, like “How does the acquisition of a second language change thought?” It was these types of questions that naturally led to the bilingualism research. The way research works is, it takes you down a road. You then follow that road.
Q. So what exactly did you find on this unexpected road?
A. As we did our research, you could see there was a big difference in the way monolingual and bilingual children processed language. We found that if you gave 5- and 6-year-olds language problems to solve, monolingual and bilingual children knew, pretty much, the same amount of language.
But on one question, there was a difference. We asked all the children if a certain illogical sentence was grammatically correct: “Apples grow on noses.” The monolingual children couldn’t answer. They’d say, “That’s silly” and they’d stall. But the bilingual children would say, in their own words, “It’s silly, but it’s grammatically correct.” The bilinguals, we found, manifested a cognitive system with the ability to attend to important information and ignore the less important.
Q. How does this work — do you understand it?
A. Yes. There’s a system in your brain, the executive control system. It’s a general manager. Its job is to keep you focused on what is relevant, while ignoring distractions. It’s what makes it possible for you to hold two different things in your mind at one time and switch between them.
If you have two languages and you use them regularly, the way the brain’s networks work is that every time you speak, both languages pop up and the executive control system has to sort through everything and attend to what’s relevant in the moment. Therefore the bilinguals use that system more, and it’s that regular use that makes that system more efficient.
Q. One of your most startling recent findings is that bilingualism helps forestall the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. How did you come to learn this?
A. We did two kinds of studies. In the first, published in 2004, we found that normally aging bilinguals had better cognitive functioning than normally aging monolinguals.Bilingual older adults performed better than monolingual older adults on executive control tasks. That was very impressive because it didn’t have to be that way. It could have turned out that everybody just lost function equally as they got older.
That evidence made us look at people who didn’t have normal cognitive function. In our next studies , we looked at the medical records of 400 Alzheimer’s patients. On average,the bilinguals showed Alzheimer’s symptoms five or six years later than those who spoke only one language. This didn’t mean that the bilinguals didn’t have Alzheimer’s. It meant that as the disease took root in their brains, they were able to continue functioning at a higher level. They could cope with the disease for longer.
Q. So high school French is useful for something other than ordering a special meal in a restaurant?
A. Sorry, no. You have to use both languages all the time. You won’t get the bilingual benefit from occasional use.
Q. One would think bilingualism might help with multitasking — does it?
A. Yes, multitasking is one of the things the executive control system handles. We wondered, “Are bilinguals better at multitasking?” So we put monolinguals and bilinguals into a driving simulator. Through headphones, we gave them extra tasks to do — as if they were driving and talking on cellphones. We then measured how much worse their driving got. Now, everybody’s driving got worse. But the bilinguals, their driving didn’t drop as much. Because adding on another task while trying to concentrate on a driving problem, that’s what bilingualism gives you — though I wouldn’t advise doing this.
Q. Has the development of new neuroimaging technologies changed your work?
A. Tremendously. It used to be that we could only see what parts of the brain lit up when our subjects performed different tasks. Now, with the new technologies, we can see how all the brain structures work in accord with each other.
In terms of monolinguals and bilinguals, the big thing that we have found is that the connections are different. So we have monolinguals solving a problem, and they use X systems, but when bilinguals solve the same problem, they use others. One of the things we’ve seen is that on certain kinds of even nonverbal tests, bilingual people are faster. Why? Well, when we look in their brains through neuroimaging, it appears like they’re using a different kind of a network that might include language centers to solve a completely nonverbal problem. Their whole brain appears to rewire because of bilingualism.
Q. Bilingualism used to be considered a negative thing — at least in the United States. Is it still?
A. Until about the 1960s, the conventional wisdom was that bilingualism was a disadvantage. Some of this was xenophobia. Thanks to science, we now know that the opposite is true.
Q. Many immigrants choose not to teach their children their native language. Is this a good thing?
A. I’m asked about this all the time. People e-mail me and say, “I’m getting married to someone from another culture, what should we do with the children?” I always say, “You’re sitting on a potential gift.”
There are two major reasons people should pass their heritage language onto children. First, it connects children to their ancestors. The second is my research: Bilingualism is good for you. It makes brains stronger. It is brain exercise.
Q. Are you bilingual?
A. Well, I have fully bilingual grandchildren because my daughter married a Frenchman. When my daughter announced her engagement to her French boyfriend, we were a little surprised. It’s always astonishing when your child announces she’s getting married. She said, “But Mom, it’ll be fine, our children will be bilingual!”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html?_r=2&src=tptw
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