Learn a language in 2009 and improve your brain

As a linguist by training, I have always liked learning new languages.  In fact, English is not my native language, Russian is.  I started truly learning English when I was in high school and added a few more languages later while studying linguistics.  After reading "The Bilingual Brain" in the Society for Neuroscience Brain Briefings,  I am considering adding a new language to my 2009 resolutions: 

"Parlez vous francais? Sprechen Sie Deutsches? Hablas español? If so, and you also speak English (or any other language), your brain may have developed some distinct advantages over your monolingual peers. New research into the neurobiology of bilingualism has found that being fluent in two languages, particularly from early childhood, not only enhances a person’s ability to concentrate, but might also protect against the onset of dementia and other age-related cognitive decline."

Those who start learning languages at an early age benefit the most.

"In fact, being bilingual may give children an advantage at school. Bilingual preschoolers have been found to be better able than their monolingual peers at focusing on a task while tuning out distractions. A similar enhanced ability to concentrate—a sign of a well-functioning working memory—has been found in bilingual adults, particularly those who became fluent in two languages at an early age. It may be that managing two languages helps the brain sharpen—and retain—its ability to focus while ignoring irrelevant information."

I am glad I am raising my daughter bilingual (English and Russian), and we'll be adding Spanish soon.

Adults benefit from learning languages as well.  There are many misconceptions surrounding adult language learning, especially about the "critical period" hypothesis that argues that the brain is too rigid to learn after puberty, making second language acquisition more difficult for adults.  Current neuroscience research into the competitive nature of brain plasticity offers a different explanation.  The skills we practice compete for our brain map space.  In his book "The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science," Norman Doidge writes:

"As we age, the more we use our native language, the more it comes to dominate our linguistic map space. Thus it is also because our brain is plastic—and because plasticity is competitive—that it is so hard to learn a new language and end the tyranny of the mother tongue.

But why, if this is true, is it easier to learn a second language when we are young? Is there not competition then too? Not really. If two languages are learned at the same time, during the critical period, both get a foothold. Brain scans, says Merzenich, show that in a bilingual child all the sounds of its two languages share a single large map, a library of sounds from both languages."

This can also explain why learning a language as an adult is quite possible and much easier if you immerse yourself in the environment where that language is spoken, or if you otherwise have a strong need or desire to learn it, for example, when your close friends, your spouse, or your co-workers speak a different language.  If you put enough attention into it, it will happen.   It is, to a large extent,  an issue of priorities, time, and motivation. 

What language are you learning this year?

Comments

[Air Monitor]

Learning a language in 2009 is a great idea. I recommend going to a language school. If in Melbourne take a look at www.languagechamps.com as a starting point, or get a Then take a trip for a few weeks to a country to immerse yourself in the culture. Sometimes it is worth getting a translator for the first few days to get you comfortable, then go out on your own. It will be a great experience.