There’s a reason why so many polyglots are known for increased mental abilities – learning an additional language (or three) helps increase your brain’s development.
By learning a language, you learn to think in new and unique ways. And you develop a vast network of neural connections specifically designed for language, speaking, listening, comprehension, and associations.
Have you considered learning a second language? You really should – here’s why.
Why Learn a Second or Foreign Language?
Aside from the long list of cognitive benefits to mastering a second or foreign language, there are other reasons why being able to speak more than one language and engaging in the language-learning journey is so important.
Most importantly, it’s a lot of fun!
Learning a language is also challenging, and it is a way to help your brain think in new and unusual ways. Languages open doors, and when you speak more than one language, you will find that you think differently about the world as you become a global citizen and are not simply a member of your own country or community (though there’s nothing wrong with that, either).
Nothing could be more satisfying and deliciously challenging than going down the linguistic road of possibilities.
The Brain and Language
When we engage in language learning, we stimulate the brain on multiple levels. The human brain is excellent at pattern recognition, and language is all about patterns. The structure of languages helps the brain to better organize information, memorize facts, and form ideas. These all contribute to the brain growing, maturing, and becoming more capable.
We think in language. Our thoughts are shaped by words, word order, and even the meaning of words. In different languages, words have slightly different meanings too. There’s nuances to languages that can’t, ironically, be explained in words.
Developing such a diverse mental capability because of speaking more than one language and learning additional languages has a great many different benefits.
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11 Cognitive Benefits of Learning an Additional Language
So let’s dive into why you should really try to learn at least one additional language, if not more.
1. Skills Acquisitions
You become a reader of people. What people say, how they say things, and the way in which they express themselves become a map to the world, and you’ve mastered the GPS of that map.
2. Memory Development
Human memory is like a muscle, and when you stretch it by learning new things, it’s the mental equivalent of going to the gym for a workout. The more things you remember, the greater your capacity for memory becomes.
3. Better Math Skills
Studies have even found that learning new languages can improve your mathematical skills. Your brain starts to recognize patterns, structures, formulas, and remember better, which all help improve your ability to process mathematics.
Languages make for an agile mind, which thrives with the challenge of mathematics. Mastering the structures of more than one language can help you move from concrete mathematics (1 + 1) to abstract mathematics (formula and theoretical-based mathematics).
4. Improved Focus
Since you have to concentrate when you learn a new language, you develop a better focus. You can shut out the world around you while you learn how to move your tongue, expel air, and shape lips to form foreign words.
The result of all that attention to detail is that you can concentrate much better, which will help you with further studies, memory, and mental clarity. Switching between tasks, accomplishing more complex tasks, and being more mentally flexible are all thanks to better focus.
5. Increased Intelligence
As you can tell, when you learn languages and speak them, your brain gets a workout. A brain that memorizes better, has clearer focus, and develops greater agility is a more intelligent brain.
Learning a language lets you speak to people from other nations, sing in different words, think in wider varieties, and embrace the culture that comes with a language. Your brain stretches, filling with great and wonderful ideas – all because of language – which boosts your thinking abilities. You get smarter.
6. Stave Off Mental Decline
As we age, our brains often begin to stagnate, decline, and slow down. Dementia, Alzheimer’s, and many other cognitive diseases are the fears most of us don’t want to even contemplate. However, by learning a new language, your brain remains healthy, keeps developing, and regenerates neural connections.
With a language lesson daily, you can keep your mind flexible, which helps to stop these mental diseases from getting an early foothold. And since language improves memory, it also means you’re less likely to forget things.
7. Better Creativity
With language comes the wonderful benefit of an increased creativity. Our brain, as you probably learned in high school biology, is made of two hemispheres. The right side of the brain is geared at speaking and critical thinking, while the left side is where you are creative, artistic, and engage in problem-solving.
However, with language, your brain can better share functionality across the two hemispheres. Your brain thrives when the two hemispheres work together. So language helps improve the way your brain solves problems, talks to itself and others, and comes up with new ideas.
Again, the all-important patterning and structure of languages help make your brain better. With an improved structure, it can make connections you never would have before. This is where art emerges.
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8. Increased Confidence
You speak better, think better, have creativity, and also develop new skills. Is it any wonder you will have a greater self-confidence too? With all that mental gym work, your brain has reached the equivalent of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s physique.
You don’t have to back down for anyone!
9. Greater Cultural Sensitivity
Languages don’t exist in a void. Each nation has its language (or languages), and therefore, culture is part of language.
When you learn a language, you also develop a deeper understanding of the culture that goes with that language. You start to question, interpret, and appreciate your own culture more.
You will find that with more languages, you become tolerant, welcoming, and a cultural connoisseur. Speak someone’s language, and you will begin to really understand how they think.
10. Improved Social Skills
Being able to speak more than one language means you will become more adept at speaking to people who speak your languages, but you will also be more confident, which improves your communication skills. So you will have more to discuss, more to share, and an open approach to others.
Plus, being able to tell a witty joke in a range of languages can make you the life of the party too.
11. Increased Career Development
Speaking more than one language is a real asset to add to your résumé. It makes you an invaluable addition to any company, and your employers will have a new-found respect for your abilities.
Chances are, you will also slot into a higher salary bracket and be eligible for career opportunities because of your ability to speak more languages than one.
What to Consider When Choosing an Additional Language to Learn
Now, it’s not like you can choose to add your additional language to your day, like you choose a tie for today.
When you want to enjoy the benefits of a language, you have to practice that language daily.
Languages that aren’t frequently spoken won’t offer much benefit to your cognitive development. While you may believe you are bilingual, you won’t actually have mastered the skills and talents of speaking another language.
You are essentially not bilingual enough.
To really be considered bilingual or a polyglot, you have to regularly practice the languages you speak, think in them, read in them, and become immersed in the cultures of those languages.
What Language Should I Learn?
Choosing a language that you won’t speak, can’t listen to, and will only use when traveling thousands of miles away will be a recipe for a failed language exercise. A language in disuse will offer no cognitive benefits to you, so choose wisely.
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Final Thoughts
I love the languages I speak, and I enjoy using them frequently. In a world brought together by online chat rooms, forums, and all the functionality of the internet, it’s easier than ever to learn a new language, practice it, and enjoy all the thrills of speaking that language.
What language have you recently begun learning and how has it improved your thinking?
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