Community | November 28, 2009 | 26 comments

Brains Benefit from Multilingualism

source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029151807.htm

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Vierotchka
For a considerable time already there has been discussion within scientific circles about whether knowing and using multiple languages could possibly have positive effects on the human brain and thinking. There have been a number of international studies on the subject, which indicate that the ability to use more than one language brings an individual a considerable advantage.

(more at link)

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I speak five languages... :)
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26 comments // Brains Benefit from Multilingualism

  • loupetho
    • 0
      loupetho  

    • Absolutely
      ฉันพบซอฟต์แวร์แปลเป็นประโยชน์มาก.
      Я нахожу перевода программного обеспечения очень полезно.
      내가 번역 소프트웨어는 매우 유용합니다.
      我觉得翻译软件非常有用。
      أجد ترجمة برامج مفيدة للغاية.
      אני מוצא את תוכנת התרגום מאוד שימושי.
      मैं अनुवाद बहुत उपयोगी सॉफ्टवेयर लगता है.
      私の翻訳ソフトウェアは非常に便利です。

    • 2 years ago
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • I finally decided to learn another language. So I settled on Persian. I just began a month or so ago, but learning another language is easier than I thought. Rather surprised myself.
      Perhaps my brain will work better when I take my tests at school. :))

    • 2 years ago
  • tangibleparadox
    • 0
      tangibleparadox  

    • i am reminded of an old joke i've always loved:

      if you speak three languages, you're trilingual.

      if you speak two languages, you're bilingual.

      if you speak one language, you're american.

      ;P

    • 2 years ago
  • calm_incense
    • 0
      calm_incense  
    • tangibleparadox:

      Most people in Anglophone countries (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) speak only one language. This holds similarly true for the French, Russians, Chinese, and Latin Americans, all of whose languages are regional lingua francas.

      The only major regions that are truly characteristically multilingual are Europe (excluding France, Hungary, Greece, Spain, Italy, and some others), Africa, India, and Indonesia.

      Indians and Scandinavians are the only ones that typically speak more than just two languages.

      My point is, Americans aren't the only monolinguals out there.

    • 2 years ago
  • jubal
    • 0
      jubal  

    • I wish I hadn't been so lazy in HS as to take Spanish, which I learned from birth and taken French instead. I would have challenged myself more. But hindsight is always the best teacher isn't? I wish I knew then what I know now I would have done things differently when it comes to education.

    • 2 years ago
  • artemis6
  • calm_incense
  • galwayman
    • 0
      galwayman  

    • the only language other then English is I speak Irish Gaelic.if you live in an english speaking country and don't learn to speak english then get out! i fully support making English our official language! while its fine to speak other languages for the purpose of travel, too many people come here and refuse to learn English,it should be a condition of them being let in as immigrants,am so tired of political correctness,it has ruined america and every civilized country!

    • 2 years ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  
    • galwayman:

      I wish Gaelic was taught in schools - it is such a musical and beautiful language, whether from Brittany, Galicia (in northern Spain) Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, or from other British isles.

    • 2 years ago
  • 02
    • 0
      02  

    • Yeah but - when you get older, you may start thinking in several languages; and if - you accidentally talk that way, your inheritors will put you away.

      So if you learn several languages you gotta get the habit of not talking.

      Right?

    • 2 years ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  
    • 02:

      Multilingual people always can switch from language to language in their thinking, and do so - it is a reflection of the agility of their minds. Old age changes nothing.

    • 2 years ago
  • 02
  • royulery
    • 0
      royulery  

    • i agree of course, but also consider that word play within one language adds an extra dimension to the mind and mayhaps a more organized mind than the multilinguanist.
      once irony was a master sport where the duality of meaning of a word gave a different meaning than the intended. once conversations were interesting because of the conversationalist not the factoids. our language under willy the shake was chess compared to our online tic-tac-toe
      i know few who play well at words and actually i'm not that good, but i appreciate catching the dry mock of sardony as it passes singeing the dullard unawares.

    • 2 years ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  
    • royulery:

      Every language has its own particular word play. That is why puns cannot be translated, for example. To be able to navigate with ease and familiarity among word plays of different languages is a delight. :)

    • 2 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • oesday igpay atinlay ountcay? ;-) J/K. I actually took latin in high school, and while people thought that was weird I whizzed through my SATs because of it.;-) I also know bits of German, Spanish, Italian and French. Hopefully one day I will get to learn French entirely. I think it the most beautiful language there is.

    • 2 years ago
  • EdJoyProductions
  • Vierotchka
  • galwayman
  • EdJoyProductions
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  
    • galwayman:

      Sorry to hear about that - I hope the break did you some good, allowing you to focus on other things that might be more important than posting on Current!

      So, what terrorists would that be? Depending on one's bias, beliefs, politics, etc., one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. You need not fear communism or socialism, they are most unlikely to ever occur in your country, and pose no threat to good people.

    • 2 years ago
  • samthesixth
  • samthesixth
  • Vierotchka
  • vladbox
    • 0
      vladbox  

    • Merci de votre article est tout à fait vrai.
      La mayoria de los Norteamericanos (excluyendo los Canuckos) ven en otras lenguas un handicap.
      I am in with three fluent. Shuugyou nihongo, genki desu.

    • 2 years ago
  • lenhart
    • 0
      lenhart  

    • I believe this to be true. The brain 'maps' itself as one learns. It is fine to learn 'one' way of doing something but it is better and involves the creation of additional neural paths involving more brain cells when alternatives are considered and even better ones created in and by the process.

      The Gestalt psychologists would say of this process that one gestalt if is destroyed and a better, more encompassing one resulting from the process.

      Certainly, the learning of a new language results in the creation of new 'gestalts'. See: "The Biological Basis of Imagination". Authors: Gerard, R. W.. Publication: The Scientific Monthly, Volume 62, Issue 6, pp. 477-499

    • 2 years ago
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