http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/...guals.html

"... The researchers recorded the eye movements of 45 bilingual Belgian students as they read sentences in their native Dutch tongue. The key finding was that they read Dutch words faster when the equivalent word in their second language, English, was similar or the same as the Dutch word. Specifically, they spent less time fixating on words like "piloot" ("pilot" in English) than on control words like "eend" (that's "duck" in English).

Van Aassche and her colleagues said this shows that even when bilinguals read sentence after sentence in their native tongue, access to words in their second language remains open, rather than switched off, thus having an effect on the way the native language is processed... "

nest0r Wrote:Van Aassche and her colleagues said this shows that even when bilinguals read sentence after sentence in their native tongue, access to words in their second language remains open, rather than switched off, thus having an effect on the way the native language is processed... "

How'd they reach that conclusion? It could also be the level of exposure to the word and it's variation makes reading it easier as double exposure leads to faster comprehension.

Maybe I should actually read the damn article....maybe.

kazelee Wrote:

nest0r Wrote:Van Aassche and her colleagues said this shows that even when bilinguals read sentence after sentence in their native tongue, access to words in their second language remains open, rather than switched off, thus having an effect on the way the native language is processed... "

How'd they reach that conclusion? It could also be the level of exposure to the word and it's variation makes reading it easier as double exposure leads to faster comprehension.

Maybe I should actually read the damn article....maybe.

What's the difference? (Wish I could afford to read the original article to understand whether the neural implications they're making is the same as what's being described in the blog.)

"access to words in their second language remains open, rather than switched off, thus having an effect on the way the native language is processed"

...Is a larger conjecture. To me, it seems like they are reaching a bit farther than they should in saying this.

nest0r Wrote:Wish I could afford to read the original article

In case "afford" = "have to pay", I'm getting it for free from my college network; message me if you can't download the PDF.

This doesn't have anything to do with the survey, but I've noticed that I'm much more aware of meaning when reading my native language after studying Japanese than I was before. Before, words I learned in context were processed subconsciously, but now sometimes I see words that I know and think about their meaning before moving on.

I think it actually reduces my reading speed when I run into a word that I reprocess like this, but once I reprocess it, I feel as though I understand the meaning of it a lot better.

kazelee Wrote:"access to words in their second language remains open, rather than switched off, thus having an effect on the way the native language is processed"

...Is a larger conjecture. To me, it seems like they are reaching a bit farther than they should in saying this.

From the abstract: "Thus, this study shows that one of people's most automated skills, reading in one's native language, is changed by the knowledge of a second language."

Hmm. Even if they're only reading the L1 word faster because they have effectively had more exposure via the L2 cognate, doesn't the benefit of that exposure depend upon activating the same associations that were used in the 'doubled' exposure to the variations? It would still be a bit of a different conjecture, as you say though, because they'd be relying on single-word cues that could trigger specific access, thus perhaps rather than a general switch it's better to think of activating certain paths in a network. Or something. That metaphor is kind of what threw me off originally. Also, relying on eye movements to judge reading speed, and the fact, as a commenter on the above page mentioned, that they're using languages with the same scripts. I'm sure there's better articles out there that look at something besides cognates, getting to the semantic level or somesuch, like this kind of research: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-b...4/ABSTRACT

epsilondelta Wrote:

nest0r Wrote:Wish I could afford to read the original article

In case "afford" = "have to pay", I'm getting it for free from my college network; message me if you can't download the PDF.

Thanks very much for the offer, but there's about 10000000000000000000000000 articles I'm dying to get access to, so I'll just find some way to get uni access again. Or find that pirate site I read about a while ago that was sharing this sort of paid access research material.

FutureBlues Wrote:This doesn't have anything to do with the survey, but I've noticed that I'm much more aware of meaning when reading my native language after studying Japanese than I was before. Before, words I learned in context were processed subconsciously, but now sometimes I see words that I know and think about their meaning before moving on.

I think it actually reduces my reading speed when I run into a word that I reprocess like this, but once I reprocess it, I feel as though I understand the meaning of it a lot better.

Same here, that whole process of switching and integrating has simultaneously dishabituated me and brought me closer to English. Which is why I started studying another language originally. Kind of like cheating on one's spouse in order to appreciate them more! j/k

kazelee Wrote:It could also be the level of exposure to the word and it's variation makes reading it easier as double exposure leads to faster comprehension.

That was my first thought as well. Far too many studies these days reach 'conclusions' without actually using the scientific method properly.

I don't doubt that learning a second language -does- change almost every aspect of your life, but to say WHY each change happens is a whole different matter.