Linguistic intelligence: what is it and how can it be improved?

Verbal ability can be improved little by little by following these tips.

The ability to express ourselves through language is one of those characteristics that distinguishes us from other living beings. Verbal communication is also a useful tool that has allowed us to survive in adverse environments, to better understand our surroundings and to form large communities in which hundreds of people cooperate with each other.

In short, we are a thriving species in part because of our ability to combine words with each other. We can call this ability Linguistic intelligence (o verbal intelligence).

A definition of Linguistic Intelligence

Think of the way you would explain to another person that a flower pot has fallen to the ground and broken. Simple, isn't it? Now think about this other situation: you have to read a two-page text in which a philosopher explains what metaphysics is for her, and give a summary of it to another person.

You will probably think that the latter task is much more complicated, even though you have not read the text. Even though you are able to cope well with the language in your day-to-day life, some tasks that involve the use of language are more complicated, some tasks involving the use of words seem especially difficult in comparison to others.. Some of these activities, in fact, may seem impossible to perform, such as explaining how we feel to a person whose language we do not fully master.

These small everyday pitfalls serve to give us an idea of what Linguistic Intelligence is: the degree to which a person is able to skillfully use language to express and understand ideas and to achieve goals based on this ability.

Linguistic Intelligence (sometimes also called Verbal Intelligence) is part of Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Howard Gardnerand taking it into account allows us to create strategies to enhance the use of language.

A tool to adapt to the environment

Reality is not something easy to understand, so the way to formulate explanations about it should not be either. The vast majority of people are born with the ability to learn language, but not all of us get along equally well with our native language.. And it is possible that in some situations we feel that we do not have control over the words, that our linguistic intelligence is not as developed as the context requires.

This is precisely why linguistic intelligence is important: taking into account its existence, we can know to what extent we are able to make ourselves understood and understand what is said to us, both spoken and written. This is especially important if we take into account that the use of language allows us to get closer to our objectives and, therefore, having more or less linguistic Intelligence affects our ability to manage problems, tackle projects or even maintain healthy relationships with other people. with other people.

How can we improve our linguistic intelligence?

If it is true that Intelligence can be quickly summarized as the ability to find solutions to new problems in the most effective way, it is no less true that it can be improved by taking some habits and routines.It is no less true that it can be improved by taking some habits and routines. Linguistic intelligence, as a concrete parcel within the broader concept of "intelligence", is not an exception to this rule. This means that we can take steps to influence our level of performance in Linguistic Intelligenceby changing for the better our ability to adapt to new situations in which a skillful handling of words is useful (hard to find a situation in which this is not the case!).

Knowing all this, you can start introducing small changes in your daily life to improve your language skills. Here are some pointers and recommendations to boost your Linguistic Intelligence.

1. Start a personal journal

Starting a journal is a good first step. You will write about topics that affect you indirectly and that you find interesting or relevant, so it is difficult for this activity to become boring. Also, you won't have the pressure of having to write something impressive to impress someone, because they are written for you, which no one else needs to see. It will be easy for you to improve your verbal skills if you force yourself to explain your experiences and feelings..

2. Choose an interesting topic and write a short essay about it.

Writing freely about what you feel and based on your own way of seeing reality is a good way to train your linguistic intelligence, but it is advisable to set yourself challenges so that your linguistic intelligence can be improved. It is a good idea to set yourself challenges so that the level of difficulty of the tasks is not always the same.. That is why, in addition to writing a diary, it is good to delimit somewhat more universal topics and write about them. This will force you to expand your vocabulary and improve your ability to express yourself on a specific topic in longer or shorter texts.

3. Appreciate the value of a good dialogue

If you want to polish your linguistic intelligence, you may also find it useful to it might be useful for you to interact with people with whom you do not usually communicate.. People with concerns and interests different from yours, people with whom you cannot use your own slang and who force you to get out of your comfort zone. comfort zone when it comes to talking. There is nothing better than the challenge of communicating with someone who has a different point of view to become able to understand and be understood.

4. Read a lot and read well

There are few things better for discovering expressions and vocabulary than reading. reading. There is an almost infinite number of books in which you can memorize and review all kinds of linguistic routes while being entertained or learning about things that interest you.. However, if you want to improve your linguistic intelligence by getting the most out of books, it is best to take care of what you read. Try to get your hands on books by a variety of authors, to see a little bit of everything.

5. Do you give poetry and music a chance?

The poetry and music have the added value of breaking the conventions of grammar to communicate and express phenomena and emotions. Coming into contact with lyrical forms of expression can get you used to seeing language as a creative game in which words are at the service of the message, not the in which words are at the service of the message, not the other way around. In fact, there is an example in which it was proven that musical training in preschool children served to improve their verbal intelligence.

Linguistic intelligence in children

These recommendations may be useful for you, but some of them can also be adapted to can be adapted for children to train them in the abilities related to linguistic Intelligence. After all, it is in the early stages of childhood when it is most important to have the means to quickly learn the rudiments of language, which will be developed during growth.

Bibliographical references:

• Operskalski, O. T., Paul, E. J., Colom, R., Barbey, A. K., Grafman, J. (2015). Lesion Mapping the Four-Factor Structure of Emotional Intelligence. Front. Hum. Neurosci.
• Triglia, Adrian; Regader, Bertrand; and Garcia-Allen, Jonathan (2018). "What is intelligence? From IQ to multiple intelligences". EMSE Publishing.