Learning a new language comes with a myriad of benefits – Ease of travel, access to new media, a broader understanding of a region’s culture – but these benefits are generally limited to the external world. An often overlooked advantage that comes with picking up a new language is the way it changes your mindset, and improves your cognitive ability. Below, we will cover some recent discoveries that demonstrate how being bilingual or multilingual improves your general intelligence, your ability to focus and multitask, and your memory.
Benefits for teenagers and adults
One study, performed by the National Library of Medicine, lasted over sixty years and helped demonstrate some of the long-term effects associated with learning a new language. In the year 1947, a homogenous group of 853 British children (11 years old) had their cognitive abilities tested – Reading, writing, general intelligence, that sort of stuff. In 2008, sixty-one years later, the group was tested again. After sorting the subjects by whether they were monolingual, bilingual, or multilingual, several interesting results were discovered. It was found that bilingual subjects had significantly higher levels of cognitive ability, from improved levels of memory and intelligence, and also displayed far less effects of the age-induced cognitive decline shared by their peers. It was also noted that “bilingual and multilingual subjects all displayed benefits from learning a second language, with no negatives” (NCBI, 2014). So, if you’d like to keep your brain fully functional for a few extra years in your old age, learning a second language might be your best bet at fighting off cognitive decline.
Benefits for infants
But the benefits of picking up a second language aren’t just limited to teenagers and adults. Data has proven that humans are able to start understanding the variations between different languages while still in the womb, which expounds during our toddler years. As toddlers, we can differentiate between two or more languages, while also being able to understand specific vocabulary in each before even being able to speak. With such a notable discovery, scientists wanted to find out if children who knew more than one language would benefit from the process of becoming bilingual.
In a three-part experiment, groups of toddlers (some of whom were bilingual, with the rest being monolingual) became the subject of language’s newest study. A set of three experiments were performed, which tested how quickly a study group of infants (which contained both bilingual and monolingual subjects) understood and reacted to a cue to look at a certain location in the test room. The goal was to identify if bilingual children had a faster reaction time, which might equate to improved cognitive abilities. As each experiment commenced, they began showing the same results – it became clear to the researchers that bilingual infants showed significantly improved “executive control” – a term for the skills that manage our mental processes such as planning, focusing, remembering instructions, and multi-tasking. With the combined results, researchers concluded that “these results suggest that perceiving and processing utterances from 2 languages during the first months of life improves domain-general components of EF (Executive Functions) well before language production begins” (PNAS, 2009). In other words, immersing your child in two languages during their early years is very likely to play a significant role in “lifelong cognitive benefit” (PNAS, 2009) during the infant years.
Benefits for all
But with such far-reaching claims of the benefits of bilingualism, it’s easy to assume there are some exaggerations being made by the researchers. To further determine if understanding multiple languages is even feasible as an infant, and if it has an effect on the infants mental capabilities, a third study was enacted. This study tested the executive function capabilities of bilingual and monolingual infants using a similar method as the aforementioned study, once again demonstrating that bilingual infants had improved executive function capabilities. To explain why this was the case, researchers hypothesized that infants who were bilingual were being raised in more complex learning environments, which allowed them to accelerate their cognitive control development. Cognitive control is used when differentiating between the varying patterns of different languages, which is clearly a necessity for toddlers in bilingual homes. This claim would also help explain some previous findings that bilingual teenagers and adults had similarly advanced executive function abilities. Furthermore, the study concluded that toddlers (and subsequently older possible subjects) had improved attentional focus abilities, since they were spending more time developing an understanding for multiple languages, rather than a single.
Summary
So – That’s a lot of information. I’ll recap it here. From the studies I’ve researched, several facts have become clear.
- Infants can become bilingual before being able to speak, and doing so improves their executive function capabilities (memory, planning, focus levels) and general intelligence.
- All age groups share similar mental improvements upon becoming bilingual, though infants show the greatest benefit.
- Being bilingual can help offset the effect of age-induced cognitive decline.
- Being bilingual has NO discernable negative effects on the human body or mind.
Basically, becoming bilingual is a great way to become smarter, and an even better way of ensuring your child is quick-witted and intelligent. Having an improved level of executive function is beneficial in almost every way – Why wouldn’t you want to give yourself or your offspring that advantage? Pick a language, and start learning with us today!
If you’re interested in reading more about the studies I researched for this article, check the links below:
NCBI Study:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4320748/
PNAS Study:
https://www.pnas.org/content/106/16/6556
EuropePMC Study:
