The Importance of Being Bilingual | Maria Giannini | TEDxSantaCatalinaSchool

The benefits of bilingual education are enormous. Local dual-immersion programs help develop more empathetic citizens and improve the world. Bilingual education allows communities to produce citizens who can leverage language as the tool to transcend linguistic and cultural barriers. Bilingual education also offers great cognitive benefits the earlier it is begun. Maria Giannini is the former Vice President and current senior producer of e2k Sports. She has had the opportunity to travel the world and work with clients such as the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Microsoft, Sony, Marvel Films, and Pixar. Maria also served as the Executive Director for the San Diego Charger Girls for nearly 15 years. Now, she is very active in her community, working with several local non-profit groups, like The Boys and Girls Club and the Junior League of Monterey County. Maria is passionate about dual language immersion in education and is a founding member of Dual Language Program Advocates. Maria currently resides in Salinas, California with her husband, Dirk Giannini, and their two daughters. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@retobilinguismo]

25 countries speak Spanish: Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Equatorial Guinea (Africa) and Argentina.

[@MarttiSuomivuori]

To me, it is remarkable how the people speaking Latin languages always seem so surprised when they understand a person talking another Latin language. I can understand an everyday conversation in Spanish but when I try to say something, it comes out in French. The French people of my age seem to think that languages are difficult. The younger generation is different.

[@sharonkaysnowton]

Maria Giannini, I truly enjoyed your TEDx Talks on the importance of being bilingual. You made a lot of valid points about native Spanish speakers being forced to learn English with Prop 227. I am soo glad you found the dual immersion education. I would wish all children are bilingual, bi-literate and bi-cultural. I talk to my children and grandchildren in Spanish. They speak both languages yet still prefer English. So, glad you made it a mission to educate all about the importance of being bilingual. Thank you for this TEDx Talks.

[@edgarmayorga8419]

Show your knowledge of two languages and be proud, PROUD of it, señor/ señora.

[@samruddhishikhare8775]

I think it's señor / señorita * 😊

[@susanastephens7156]

Fantastic , dual immersion should be practiced everywhere

[@Sakurasan2023]

Agreed 👍

[@prof.hernangiannini4462]

we share almost the same experience! first of all, my name is Hernán Giannini so we share the same surname and I´m a bilingual teacher from Argentina! My mother is from Italy and my father from Argentina so I was born in a bilingual house!!! so glad to be a bilingual teacher of English and Spanish and I also know Italian. I love languages!!!

[@conchita-ud8jc]

Italian language is so interesting. i would like to learn it someday

[@1p4142136]

I am of the belief that to fight dementia ( not prevent it but slow it down) is a constant battle with learning throughout your life. For example you can learn 5 languages before the age of 10 and then procrastinate the remainder of your life will certainly not have the same benefit as if you instead learn those languages spread out in intervals throughout your life, constant learning as a way of life.

[@hectornegron9155]

A french lady reacted in French to my posting of the lyrics in Spanish of this song she apparently knew of. Using the Google translator I translated what she had written and reacted to her comment in French since she apparently doesn't speak English nor Spanish. Long story short. I've been able to communicate with her in French since yesterday and it has been one of the most beautiful experiences I've had in my life. Especially considering I don't know anything about the French language even though my great great grandfather was French. He moved from Corsica to Puerto Rico in the 17th century and so I never met him. I'm sure for her it wasn't a big deal but for me it was.

[@fienevandijk7224]

If I ever start a family I'd love to start it with a foreigner and raise him/her multilingually

[@thetongueofangels1882]

Or you could learn the other language too🙃

[@fienevandijk7224]

@@thetongueofangels1882 I'm learning 10 other languages, but I don't feel confident teaching a language that I'm not fluent in, and that includes English. But if I date a foreigner I'd learn that person's native language too, for sure

[@kmetofficial5800]

As a bilingual person you never get to master either language which is something I wish I could. It made me introverted because I also think before I speak … mostly all the time.

[@Skaye273]

I think you are probably too hard on yourself. No-one ever learns English 100% perfectly - it has too many words. I imagine many other languages are the same. Also, most monolingual English speakers are not as good at their native tongue as some people for whom it is a 2nd language.

[@pep590]

You master your first language by most standards. Don't sell yourself short.

[@dylandomingos4994]

this is my best friends mom

[@christianbarillas4013]

I'm from El salvador!

[@camoflageginger9291]

The importance on being universally multi-lingual.

[@andreaquispedecruz8013]

Amen

[@andreacausley4611]

👏👏👏👏

[@KeyboardPussy]

Giannini is an ethnic Italian surname...

[@andreaquispedecruz8013]

Okiy

[@spanishwithsimon]

In really enjoyed your talk!! I've brought up my son who was born in Spain to speak native speaker level English. I've written about the 5 key strategies that any parent can use(even non natives) to ensure their child speaks a second language from birth. THE 5 KEY STRATEGIES OF SUCCESSFUL BILINGUAL FAMILIES by Simon Brampton. My book practically guarantees success. It's also available in Spanish.

[@Angel0_1994]

The subtitles for the ' El Gato y el murciélago, story sucked; they don't match.

[@pep590]

Yes, terrible.

[@geoffsmith76]

“There are hundreds of countries that speak Spanish.” 😂😂😂😂

[@pep590]

Yeah, I was like...what???

[@JZNLRD]

Could of very well of used your favorite and eldest nephew Jason lee Rooney Darman . You know I’m still alive and had lives with several family you funded. Why not use me just wondering?

[@blackopsguy1023]

*could have

[@frozenplasticknife9731]

Cringe, she makes it sound like being bilingual is such a hard thing and so special when it isn’t. Most people in Europe easily speak fluently 3 or more languages. Plus her Spanish is god awful, her accent is horrible and we can clearly see how uncomfortable she is with the language.

[@frozenplasticknife9731]

Anna Francisca 0:17? She speaks it so well? Lmao plus its the only phrase she managed to say the whole 15 minutes.

[@LOKI77able]

I'm European and I can speak six languages to an advanced or upper-intermediate level. Your claim that MOST people over here master three or more languages is exaggerated if applied to Europe as a whole, however, it is quite often true in the case of small or smaller European countries.

[@pep590]

It is pretty special in the US where most Americans are monolingual as are most of the ones from Mexico on down thru South America.

[@asunagullo]

She is not bilingual. She speaks Spanish with an awfull accent

[@larissalauer5984]

It can be incredibly difficult to lose your native accent after a certain age, because it is determined by the movements of your mouth and the sound of your native language. These become fixed by habit, even when you become fluent in another language. However, having an accent does not impede your ability to understand a language and connect with a culture through it. You can be multilingual with strong accents :)

[@julial9770]

She speaks Spanish. Being bilingual doesn't account for your accent

[@rafaella8471]

Having an accent is completely normal. It is easy for a native speaker to criticize non-native's accents... If she can speak and be understood, she is bilingual. That's it,

[@asunagullo]

@@rafaella8471 She is not bilingual and she is talking about being so. She coudln't understand a person speaking quickly, as anybody can see becasue she struggles with the language.

[@yanavassileva1777]

asunagullo I think you have a very limited view of what bilingual really is. There are three times of bilingual people. A compound bilingual- a person that has learned both languages at the same time as a baby. A coordinate bilingual a person working with two sets of concepts and learning English at school for example and Spanish at home. And finally subordinate bilingual are people that learned another language by filtering it through their native language, like if you immigrate to another country in your 30s and have to learn the language. Anyway the therm bilingual is used to describe any person that knows 2 languages, no matter the accent.