Benefits
of Learning Languages
“They were not wrong about the interference: there is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other... It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles. ( The New York Times, 2012, p.1) Cognition is a term referring to the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension, such as thinking, knowing, remembering, judging and problem-solving. This is all more fully developed when learning another language.
“In a study of more than 200 bilingual and monolingual patients with Alzheimer’s disease, bilingual patients reported showing initial symptoms of the disease at about 77.7 years of age—5.1 years later than the monolingual average of 72.6” (Viorica Marian, and Anthony Shook, 2012, p.1).
Recent research indicates that bilingual speakers can outperform monolinguals--people who speak only one language--in certain mental abilities, such as editing out irrelevant information and focusing on important information, said Judith Kroll, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Penn State...Bilinguals seem to be better at this type of perspective taking." (Penn State News, 2011, p.1) A multilingual person switches from one task to another more rapidly than monolinguals because they perform better at activities that require conflict management.