At the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Tetova, on May 2, 2024, the researcher from Tirana, also the director of the “Albanian Institute of Cultural Studies (AICS)”, PhD. Elona Gjata held an interactive lecture with the students on the topic “Bilingualism in diverse societies: Challenge or advantage”. According to her, bilingualism as a phenomenon in a diverse society is always an advantage. She also emphasized that North Macedonia is a good case study since different nationalities live there, resulting in the use of different languages. This proves that the use of multiple languages does not endanger any language; instead, they develop in parallel.
This activity was developed through conversations with the students, where many issues were discussed, starting from the difficulties of being bilingual, environments where more than one language can be learned, and the influence of families with different ethnicities, up to the advantages of being bilingual. From the many discussions, it was confirmed that speaking more than one language brings various benefits in life and career, as the brain’s capacity expands and the level of intelligence increases, potentially reducing the risk of diseases such as dementia or Alzheimer’s. The students were quite active during this lecture and often intervened to complement or even oppose Professor Gjata’s ideas and examples.
At the end of the lecture, all those present filled out a form related to bilingualism and the ways they have learned foreign languages. This information will serve the professor in forming an even stronger opinion about the relevant topic.
