Stuff Your Brain Likes

Pretty much every day for the past five years, I’ve tried to spend an hour learning to speak Spanish.

How am I doing?

Well I often don’t get exactly what I order in a Mexican restaurant and I frequently confuse being married (“casado”) with being tired (“cansado”).

It’s taking some time to get good at this.

In some European counties 56% of the people speak two languages and 28% speak three languages.

While here in the US we are a monolingual culture. (What the heck, everybody speaks English right?). But research shows that it may make some sense to be multilingual.

Here’s some benefits that researchers cite for speaking more than one language:

• Bilingual people perform better in cognitive tests.
• Children who study a second language do better at logical reasoning, mathematics and English verbal tests and get better exam results.
• Multilingual adults do best in both verbal and nonverbal intelligence tests.
• In old age, bilingual people have less cognitive decline than monolinguals.
• Early exposure to a second language actually causes more connections to grow in a child’s brain and these connections in turn allow for easier learning in both languages. Creativity, flexibility and lateral thinking ability are fostered by exposure to two languages.
• Your ability to multi-task can improve.
• Learning a language at an older age can strengthen brain connections and keep you sharper.

OK, I’m sold, but how hard it is?

The earlier you start, the greater the chances of success and the easier the learning process.

Brain imaging shows younger people have greater phonetic (sound based) sensitivity.

So the neural pathways children use to learn a second language are different to those that adults use. It’s possible, especially for young children, to learn a language in 6 months.

But I’m a geezer – is it too late?

Whatever your age, you’ll learn fastest in an atmosphere where everyone speaks the language you’re trying to learn. Even if you’re already an adult, it’s never too late.

First you can move to a country where they speak the language you want to learn. In six months or so you’ll be reasonably fluent. At the very least you’ll get what you order in a restaurant.

If you can’t move (often hindered by stuff like kids, dogs, mortgages, etc.) then experts agree that maximizing your exposure to the language will help. Textbooks, CD’s software, DVD’s and finding a native speaker to talk to can help you learn. Progress is slow but highly rewarding.

If you don’t get embarrassed then you’ll find it challenging to get across what you are trying to say and often that will involve sharpening your thought process and drawing on different ways to communicate.

That sounds like a good brain exercise.

People from other cultures have different perspectives and perceptions. Speaking another language can open up new perspectives for you as well.

This story comes from the Brainskills.co.uk website which collects interesting information about how the brain works written by experts in neurology.

If you want to start modestly, here’s a simple Spanish language program (for Windows PC’s) that will get you going. It’s got lots of exercises and will give you the basics. After that you’ll be able to decide how to step up your learning.