Speaking two languages for the price of one

Though science has shown that language-switching slows a person down, a new study suggests that if you do it right, there is no price to pay.

The research suggests that consistency may allow bilingual speakers to avoid the costs that come with switching between languages, essentially allowing them to use two languages for the price of one.

Study author Daniel Kleinman of the University of Illinois said that the findings show that if bilinguals switch languages at the right times, they can do it without paying any cost. This goes against both popular belief and scientific wisdom that juggling two tasks should impair performance, but the results suggest that multi-tasking may be easier than it seems as long as people switch at the right times.

Kleinman and co-author Tamar Gollan of the University of California, San Diego speculated that people may show different outcomes in the lab than they do in everyday conversations because lab studies typically require bilingual speakers to switch languages on command and at times when those switches are likely to be inefficient.

If bilingual speakers were allowed to choose a language for a particular object or concept and then stick with it, the researchers hypothesized, they might be able to switch between languages without slowing down.

In other words, consistently using English to say "dog" and Spanish to say "casa" over the course of a conversation that toggles between the two languages could eliminate the costs that typically come with language-switching.

"Although bilinguals have been switching between languages for their entire lives, the strategies they use to decide when to switch may vary depending on context," Kleinman explains. "While speakers may sometimes adopt switching strategies that incur costs, these studies show that all bilinguals can be redirected quickly and easily to switch for free."

The research is published in Psychological Science.