Bilingualism's advantages and its influence on L3 acquisition

This topic is related to a doubt I had when I was starting to study Portuguese. In some occasions, I have seen how English interfere when I and my classmates are performing a role on a Portuguese dialogue. It has to be, I guess, because when I’m trying to say something in Portuguese, what comes first to my mind is English, and it’s the same thing with bilingual people who know English. So I decided to investigate about it, and show you a little bit of the advantages of this cognitive phenomenon.

When a bilingual person is in the process of learning a third language, it is normal to see the interference of the L2. However, this interfering can be an advantage on a time. According to Peal & Lambert “The Relation of bilingualism to intelligence” (1962), students of languages that already are bilinguals or multilingual, enjoy the advantages of knowing two languages in the process of acquisition of a third one. Here are some examples:

First, the knowledge of the native language is more competitive. In order to have a better proficiency in the L2, students have to be good with L1.

Second, the cognitive process of subjects who are bilinguals shows a better flexibility with the language learned, and they are more creative.

And finally, subjects who are able to read in both languages have better results that those who read only one.

There are plenty of advantages, but on the next article I will interpret a little more about this interesting topic and the research made on this.