4th October 2016 1:00
By Blue Tutors
Over the past decade, the number of polyglots (those who speak more than one language) has increased dramatically, however the popularity of foreign language study in the UK continues to fall year on year. Extensive research has been conducted on bilinguals that highlight the many advantages of speaking more than one language for you and for your brain beyond the obvious improved career prospects and global mobility.
Firstly, speaking more than one language produces measurable changes in the structure and performance of the human brain. Learning and using a second language is the brain’s equivalent of going for a run every morning. The mental workout, switching between different structures and systems, makes the brain more flexible and has a significant effect on performance in problem-solving tasks and memory tests, as well as the ability to multi-task effectively. It also improves your maths and first language too, as a greater knowledge of the use of grammar, conjugation and different sentence structures produces better reading, writing and listening comprehension results, and more effective communication in any language.
On a more subtle level, language has been shown to fundamentally change the way we view the world around us. Bilinguals have been shown to be more perceptive. Not only do they see more, but they process the information better; they show increased awareness of their surroundings and improved ability to distinguish between important and irrelevant information in tasks. The differences in observation have also been shown to be language specific. What we see and remember is affected by our ability to formulate it within a language’s vocabulary and structure. For example, German’s use of verbs leads German speakers to describe actions within the context of the end goal, whereas English focuses on the event itself. In bilinguals this tendency switches depending on the language context they are given a task in meaning their language mind-set alters their interpretation of events and information.
It not only changes how we experience our surroundings but also how we feel and think, moderating our emotions and improving our judgement. The same words and names have been shown to produce a different emotional response in different languages in bilinguals. This is thought to be due to the positive or negative associations around words, which change between languages because of the different cultural associations. Thinking through a choice in two languages has been shown to produce better evaluation of risks and benefits, removing some of the bias introduced by subtle implications of certain words and subconsciously leading us to more rational decision making.
Finally, one of the most obvious benefits of bilingualism is that it is one of the only proven ways of staving off dementia. The cognitive decline with aging has been consistently measured to occur five years later on average in those who speak more than one language, irrespective of socioeconomic status, gender, physical health and education. The bad news is, you’re A level French that you haven’t used in thirty years doesn’t count. The old adage “use it or lose it” is also true for the brain boosting ability of language, and the benefits are only seen when more than one language is used regularly over a period of time. The good news is that it is never too late to start, with adults reaching the same level of fluency as young learners and seeing the same benefits.