Speaking English (as a second language) changed my life. I started studying it self-taught as a child. Not only did it improve my grades in high school, but as soon as I got to college I got a job as a school teacher (I literally spent the morning of my 18th birthday teaching English to kids). I spent my entire college years working part-time as a teacher in various schools. And years later, after graduating as an engineer, English was a determining factor when I entered the oil industry. Later, when I studied French, I learned it much faster than the average student because of my discipline with languages.
But, in addition to the academic, labor, and social advantages, What differentiates bilinguals from monolinguals? How do speaking two (or several) languages change your brain?
Whether you run less risk of dementia or are better at multitasking, scientists have spent decades researching this topic (without quite agreeing), and after many years delving into it, they have come to some conclusions, among them that speaking several languages changes a bit how our brains are physically and how they work.
The wonderful thing is that no matter if you learn a second language since childhood, or if you start studying it at a later age, doing so will still leave a positive imprint on your brain. This brings me to the first of the five points in this article.
1. Are there differences between bilingual and monolingual brains?
The brains of bilingual people are a little different from those of monolinguals, there are certain areas of the brain specifically related to language, which are more robust or changed their way of connecting with other areas. This is due to the repetitive use of the tools that the bilingual brain employs when interpreting everything around it.
These tools called Cognitive Processes have four basic elements: perception, memory, attention, and emotion. When we face or surround ourselves with several languages, these cognitive processes are exercised more and this leaves physical marks (although small) in our brains.
2. Bilinguals show a greater ability to take another person's perspective.
This does not refer to empathy, but to a more contextual capacity, i.e. bilingualism offers a greater capacity to see situations from other angles. Bilingual people are social beings agile enough to determine which is the dominant language at that moment, or the language in which the other person wants to or can communicate, or which language within our mental inventory should be used at that moment. From children to older adults, bilinguals have demonstrated greater perspective-taking than monolinguals.
3. Bilinguals have a greater working memory.
This refers to a human being's ability to hold a series of items in the brain and work with them in the short term. In a laboratory test, all participants (monolinguals and bilinguals) had a similar ability to memorize a random sequence of numbers.....
45 - 34 - 6 - 82 -24 - 78 - 91 - 63
However, when the scientists asked the participants to recall that same series of numbers in reverse order....
63 - 91 - 78 - 24 - 82 - 6 - 34 - 45
... there the bilinguals were a little better. Since bilinguals face slightly harder or more difficult contextual or conversational situations than monolinguals, they seem to develop more working memory, so they are able to recall more items, and the work done with these items is significantly better than that done by monolinguals.
4. Bilingual brains demonstrate greater cognitive reserve.
This is the most recent thing scientists have discovered (and continue to study). Bilingual (or multilingual) brains tend to age better because they compensate more for the natural deterioration we all suffer as we get older. It has also been found that bilinguals cope better with neurodegenerative diseases.
This means that if bilinguals suffer from Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, for example, these diseases come later (by an average of 4 to 5 years), or with lesser effects than monolinguals.
This is due to the greater capacity in cognitive reserve that bilinguals have.
What is important or interesting here is that you do not have to be bilingual from birth to take advantage of these benefits. Learning a language (even in old age) could benefit your brain in the same way.
5. Are there disadvantages to being bilingual?
Scientists were also able to observe micro drawbacks to bilingualism or multilingualism. The first is that bilinguals tend to have a slightly smaller vocabulary in their two languages than monolingual speakers. The second is that bilinguals tend to take a few milliseconds longer to find the word they are looking for in their brain's inventory. It is something like the box where we have to search is more full of things. What is clear is that there is no cognitive disadvantage for speaking a second language.
Personally, I know that knowing other languages not only allows you to take possession of an inventory of words, phrases and sentences, but in the process you learn other cultures, to see the world from other points of view and above all, bilingualism improves your communication skills in oral or written form.
What about you? Do you speak two languages? What are the advantages or anecdotes that this has brought to your life? I would like to hear your comments. I end this article in my native language, Spanish...
¡Muchas gracias por leer! (Thank you very much for reading!)
N007.2021-09-26
Pictures from pixabay and pexels.
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