To know more than one language can go a long way, from helping you travel the world to communicating with other people or even get a better job, but did you know that there are many benefits to knowing a second language?
Language ability is measured in 2 active parts – Speaking and Writing and 2 passive parts – Listening and Reading, this could also be called the output and input of a language. By reading dual language texts students are exposed to other cultures and are more likely to value inclusivity and embrace diversity. These students also show increased levels of empathy once they are able to see the world from multiple perspectives. This is the generation of the future and hopefully they’ll not only be academically capable but also culturally inclusive and better equipped to thrive in every area of life.
While a balanced bilingual has nearly equal abilities in 2 languages most bilinguals around the world know and use their languages in different proportions – Brazil is great example, being a country with lots of immigrants, many people developed two linguistic codes simultaneously learning Portuguese and Japanese, for example, at the same time, or Portuguese and German, growing up processing the world around them in two languages they are called balanced bilinguals.
A teenage boy that learns a second language at school, on the other hand will be a coordinate bilingual working with two sets of concepts. And, like 98% of the Brazilian population, if you happen to learn English in adulthood you will become a subordinate bilingual because you will learn a new language by filtering it through your primary language.
All types of bilingual people can become fully proficient in a language regardless of accent or pronunciation, so the difference between them is not an easy one to spot. In fact, only through imaging can we see how different aspects of language learning affect the bilingual brain. It’s common knowledge that the left side of the brain is responsible for analytical and logical processes, while the right hemisphere is more active in emotional and social skills and studies have led us to the critical period hypothesis!
Language acquisition involves both parts of the brain and lateralization (the split of the brain) develops gradually with age, that’s why children learn languages so easily because the plasticity of their developing brain allows them to use both hemispheres. Yes, language acquisition normally uses the left side but learning a language as a child gives you more of the social and emotional context.
Recent research shows that people who learn a language in adulthood don’t develop this emotional bias as easily and have a more rational approach when faced with problems in the second language than in their native one.
Regardless of when you acquire languages, being multilingual gives your brain remarkable advantages like a higher density of the gray matter that contains most of our neurons and synapses and the brain shows more activity in certain regions when we engage in the second language. Bilingual brains are more developed in areas that organize and process speech, the motor cortex which controls the lips and mouth, the Vernicas area where the brain organizes language for active speech, the Broca's area where language sounds are processed and the auditory cortex where auditory stimuli is received.
Another study has shown that bilingual students have better academic outcomes in the classroom, demonstrate increased reading comprehension, better long-term memory and find it easier to apply logic.
The higher activity of a bilingual brain throughout its life can also delay the onset of diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia by as much as five years. There are major cognitive benefits to bilingualism and a recent study showed that the effort and attention needed to switch between languages triggered more activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex potentially strengthening it. This is the part of the brain that plays a large role in executive function, problem solving, switching between tasks, and focusing while filtering out irrelevant information.
So, while bilingualism may not necessarily make you smarter, it does make your brain healthier, more complex and actively engaged, and even if you didn't have the good fortune of learning a second language as a child, it's never too late to do yourself a favor and make the linguistic leap from Olá, to "Hello, "Hola," or "Bonjour" because when it comes to our brains a little exercise can go a long way.
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