Folium: The Neural Advantage of Speaking Two Languages via Scientific American
Creative Commons Media via Flickr User Akira Ohgaki
Folium: The Neural Advantage of Speaking Two Languages via Scientific American
Folium often makes the case for multilingualism in regards to business, travel, or marketability. But this time we would like to dig a little deeper into the brain, and how knowing multiple languages fundamentally changes the way you think!
The ability to speak a second language isn’t the only thing that distinguishes bilingual people from their monolingual counterparts—their brains work differently, too. Research has shown, for instance, that children who know two languages more easily solve problems that involve misleading cues. A new study published in Psychological Science reveals that knowledge of a second language—even one learned in adolescence—affects how people read in their native tongue. The findings suggest that after learning a second language, people never look at words the same way again. – Scientific American
Brain Wiring via Flickr User Lisa Brewster
In order to avoid becoming too technical, the article explains how the brain recognizes cognates (words that are similar in form and meaning in multiple languages) and takes less time to process them while reading. Essentially, multilingual people read words faster, and comprehend more than monolingual people.
For some students, education is simply the process of memorizing facts and spewing them back out on exams. Lather, rinse, and repeat until you receive your diploma. But it’s studies like these that show us that there’s more going on underneath the hood than we think. Learning languages, and learning them well changes the wiring in the brain, and this can result in drastic changes in the way that we perceive everyday life. We can wire and rewire our brains with new information for as long as we let them!
Has language study affected the way that you perceive the world? How about the way you listen, read or write?
Resources:
The LEAF Project
www.leaflanguages.org
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