Being monolingual, bilingual or multilingual: pros and cons in patients with dementia

This article looks at the advantages and disadvantages of being monolingual or multilingual, with particular reference to dementia patients who belong to ethnic minorities. There has been some progress in understanding the field of cultural diversity and the variations between different ethnic groups in relation to their specific difficulties when suffering from dementia (Hendrie et al, 2001). However, research has largely been targeted towards cultural variations and dementia, while the language aspects have not been properly researched.