Is being bilingual good for you brain? | BBC Ideas
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- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- What does bilingualism do to the brain? Are there benefits to speaking more than one language?
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Learn a language, play a musical instrument, learn a new physical skill.
I've tried to learn to play guitar but it was too difficult for me. but I'd like to learn it again one day, I dunno if guitar, but piano would be good
@@Vitor.Santos00 have you tried the ukulele?
Low investment in terms of purchasing and a load of fun to play.
@@GordonPavilionhow to play.I have one lying in my cupboard.
Speaking many languages can bring beauty in one’s life.
Yep 🇬🇪
Or connection. At age four, I didn't see right away of how profoundly big my own universe would get. Later I realized, by speaking more languages, more parts of the world become accessible, while at the same time making it smaller. All of a sudden, there is an entire world around you, you didn't even realize.
True. Speaking other languages makes our life colorful.
@@elita2cents english unlocks most of the world tho.
I used to be more emotional in my first language and more rational in my second language. But the longer I speak it and am immersed in it, the more emotional I’ve become.
You can only be fluent in a language when you emotionally feel it. Otherwise, they are just plain words spat out of our mouths. Exercise yourself to feel in every language you learn
@@inpursuitofknowledge1960 thas deep.
But yeah. Speaking without feelings powering your tongue is basically being a human version of ChatGPT
I struggle with being emotinal in english
I learnt to speak english and suddenly I heard and understood people from around the globe. So I am not limited to certain group of people but everyone who can speak english. Amazing
you dont need to learn another language since most people speak English but if your parents taught you another language, enjoy it. You can't throw it away after learning it, you might forget or even sound strange the less you speak it, it happens both ways. Your English gets worse or your spanish gets worse. Unless you get a job and use them both constantly.
It's not only good but it makes you more creative.
Maybe 🇬🇪
Not necessarily
I started German at 55. Best life decision I ever made.
Is it easy ?
Super! Viel Vergnügen und gutes Gelingen
@@dorisw5558 Ja danke, es is nicht einfach.
@@yeukchang1721 No, it's not. But after 11 months of study, I can now have basic conversations with Germans, and follow German films without subtitles.
Es ist nicht einfach aber es ist sehr gut.
I know many languages; python, javascript, html, css (totally a language), C, and java!
Lol future victim of ai 😂
fun fact: more than 90 million people speaks java natively as their mother tongue.
They are talking about real languages here! These are not good enough - unless you know some real languages like C++!
No Perl or php?
No C++? Booooooooooooooooooo!
I have met African people who are multi-lingual they speak like 4 languages at a very young age and very fluent aswell. So bi-lingual is not even a limit any more.
When was it a limit?
✅
I guess in native English-speaking countries bilingualism is the goal since people there have the least incentive to learn another language - their language is the lingua franca of the world. But you’re right - in my country (Kenya), for instance, everyone grows up speaking three languages - their first language, the national language, and the official language. I’ve had the chance to learn two “foreign languages” - German and Japanese - so personally I speak 5 languages. But I’m aware that individuals from all countries speak many more languages than me.
I speak 4 languages too
@@mirandaal4541so why aren’t all africans geniuses then
I'm quatrelingual and what I've noticed about myself is whichever language my brain switches onto, my mannerisms and gestures change accordingly 😅 Speaking several languages certainly do open the world's doors to you, but at times you sort of communicate with all of them at once, applying the most suitable phrase or word in the context, which could be a bit confusing for non-speakers 😂
Thanks for your input and great that you decided to share your journey with us! Beep Beep.
Not me im consistently socially awkward across all languages
I have days I can barely speak English and I'm native to it, so that wouldn't bother me lol. I'm learning Spanish and the fun part is just walking up to people and start speaking Spanish, it's like thier brains shut down for a 2nd trying to figure out what is going on lol.
@@thetightwadhomesteader3089
They’re not confused they’re just cringing internally trust me on this.
I can relate on that point either rs. As a brazilian, portuguese is quite unique and complicated language itself. Taking classes and studying English and Spanish by myself since teenager times, I did start notice that every language mode swit actually comes with no just the idiom as a whole, but in fact some specificaly body gestures are embbeded someway with It kkkkkkkkkk ex: If I start to chat in English, my Voice tone turns a bit low and I tend to move slower than usual. In other hand, when I speak Spanish, my body is possessed for a faster/shaky person kkkkkkk my hands moves flawlessly and quickly. Dont know what lies on these foundings but It is pretty funny to see yourself doing
As someone who can speak English, Tagalog, Mandarin, Hookien and now learning Japanese, I can attest learning languages can help stimulate your brain.
I consider learning Japanese as well and relearning German that I forgot.
It’s so sad that people really believed bilingualism was an ‘issue’. I hope the world knows that bilingualism is the future.
Learning new languages not only enhances brain function but also enriches our understanding of the world, opening doors to diverse cultural experiences and perspectives. 🌍
Used to take knowing Spanish for granted because I always spoke it with my parents. Now that I’m a bit older. I feel lucky that I know Spanish with ease without learning all correct grammatical rules. I can switch between English and Spanish. What discourages me from learning other languages is learning the correct form of grammar. Plus it has to be taught in a good engaging manner for me at least.
*your 👈 Attention headline writer! As one of those rare Brits who speaks more than English (+French, Spanish, Italian and German - in that order) bilingualism/multilingualism certainly helps keep the brain flexible and supple and in good nick. What always astonishes me about the culture we have created is that we place so much emphasis on exercising the physical body, but we neglect _the_ key part of that physical body (along with the heart): the brain! So many keep their abs trim but they let their brain go flabby. Learning another language(s) is easily one of the best ways of giving your brain regular and sustained work-outs.
@titteryenot4524....By ''so many'' do you mean British and Western people who consume alot alcohol, drugs, smoke alot, unhealthy lifestyle. Which all effects the cognitive developments of the brain. In the UK bilingualism and multilingualism is not much stimulated because alot of people already speak English and many Anglophones are very Anglophone centered where they feel learning ( French, Chinese, Yoruba, Hindi, Swahili, Arabic, Akan, Spanish etc.) Is not needed at all. I agree with you that learning another language is good for the brain work out, but that is just one aspect. The focus should also be on reading alot, learning and understanding various topics of human activity ( economics, politics, finance, maths, biology etc.) meditating, sleeping aswell so all the new information can be processed in the brain to develop ones cognitive skills.
English is the lingua franca of the world so the vast majority of British people just think: ‘well, wherever I go, some dude’ll speak English and so I’ll get by.’ It encourages laziness in Brits when it comes to languages. The only British people who really speak more than one language are those who live abroad (but even then, e.g. Spain, that’s not guaranteed) or university language graduates. Just for the record, it’s *a lot. You can have ‘allot’ or ‘a lot’ but ‘alot’ doesn’t exist and I’ve no idea why it has become a thing.
Probably the only good thing you've done in your useless life 😂
Ok, groomer
@@ijumpjudyy Is that all you do? You’re like a boring monkey with no tricks. 🐒 🥱
Very encouraging. This is one of many reasons I started learning foreign languages as a young adult. It has enriched my life in more ways than I could say in a book, let alone a comment on a video.
I speak three languages fluently. Hausa, English, and Pidgin. I have some trace amounts of Fulfulde as well. I have an open mind to learning new things. If I'm to go somewhere off the limits of my languages, I can still strive to learn the local language there.
Hi Lukman, fellow Nigerian here.
I speak English and Pidgin, but this year I’ve began learning Igbo - as an adult, and I’ve found many quirks that my friends who are native speakers have never noticed.
Although I guess you’re a native speaker, I wonder if you’ve noticed any quirky or fun aspects or inconsistencies in Hausa
I speak five languages and I’m an idiot.
@@em6bd4ck7nit’s just who I am, now I can be an idiot in a bunch of different countries 😎
Knowing you are idiot means you dont have mental issue by other Word you are fully healthy .
And if you are not selfish that means you are a good person
that is wise to say
@@siamakzurvan7876💯
🤣 No idiot would come up with something as funny as that! 🤣
English, Spanish, Portuguese and French as my four languages has been amazing, getting to see the world from 4 different perspectives. German and Catalan is next, maybe jump to Mandarin
If that was true, then we African would never get dementia.
It's well proven, but it is only a delay, so as a multilingual person you have an advantage but are not immune to dementia.
@caty863 I once read somewhere that dementia and Alzheimer’s are Allah’s way to lease the process of the lurking death around the near corner so those taking their leave are not too shattered….as sad as that sounds….🥹🇵🇸🍉
Growing up in Malaysia, its common to be tri- lingual or more as we learned English, Mandarin and Malaysian. On daily life, we go to the market, restaurants etc and spoke Cantonese, hokiean, tieochew, hakka due to the mass Chinese immigrants from China during the communist exit. History shows that Chinese merchants were sailing the south china sea as part of the Silk Road route since the late 1880s.
I learned Cantonese from watching Hong Kong soap opera and John Wood gangster movies 😅 ehich always had great songs.
Last year, I took a special project conducting phone interview with the California medical members who speaks either Mandarin or Cantonese. I read my questionnaire in English but translated directly into Mandarin or Cantonese, the elderly answered in Mandarin/Cantonese while I typed their answers in English. I'm still surprised that I could do that.😊
During summer semester at MSU, i took 12 weeks of French 101. So i can speak survival French during my French travel 😊
I was born and raised in Turkey so I spoke Turkish only growing up. At age 18 I moved to the USA and learnt English , at age 27 I moved to China and learnt Chinese. Now, at age 46 , I am learning Spanish and plan on moving to Argentina to improve my Spanish .. I am not sure if speaking different languages is good for my brain or that it has made me smarter, but I can say with utmost certainty that it has enriched my life beyond my wildest expectations ..
What kind of person could have thought that being bilingual was a bad thing?
Monolinguals. Americans.
📖 knowledge is POWER 💪
Inshallah i will learn Arabic, urdo , pashto , and English.
Does trilingual make it even better?
I belive quadlingle is better.
The more, the merrier.
quadlangual
@@ijumpjudyy Are you on crack?
@@toxoreed9334
*Lingual
I am English and have been living in France for 40 years and so am bi-lingual . I am now retired , and and learning Arabic from French !!
France is lost, we are invaded go to an other country !
Moi too
France is dying…go to an other country !
I used to know an older mathematician who worked in the engineering research centre where I worked who swore blind that his French enabled him to understand and solve mathematical problems easier.
I speak Somali native, Arabic second language and English and French fluently. I remember when I was read and memorised, particularly French, I felt my brain relaxation and happy. Bilingual isn't limit.
i am multilingual , I know Hindi Urdu bhojpuri Awadhi Braj and english
The more languages, the better. Life has no limits. People decide their limits.
It’s not just for reading regularly , one needs to speak both languages regularly
I make bilingual traditional Japanese house vlogs in Japanese and English. I can read the newspaper, books, and watch movies or listen to lectures in Japanese with little to no difficulty but I have studied for well over fifteen years. I couldn't imagine picking up a third language. My hats off to all the polygots out there. Much respect.
Some people (not me - I'm a monoglot grandparent but one of my polyglot grandchildren is studying languages) say the 2nd language is the hardest, the 3rd, 4th etc seem easy by comparison.
I love learning languages!! My dream is to speak six languages. Now I speak Arabic as a mother tongue, German, a little English and I am learning Spanish.
I'm trilangual 😅 and sometimes learning Korean , Santali , Spanish.
New brain connections, synapses, learning and challenging ourselves every day. Being bilingual is the confirmation that we are alive and well.
My dad has dementia. I learn three languages simultaneously and speak another three regularly. Let's see what happens to me!
Completely agree with the first language being more emotional. I speak French (1st) and English (2nd).
I grew up speaking 3 languages, since I finished school I learned another 4 fluently. Where I’m from in South Africa it’s quite common to speak a few different languages
It is a funny thing after learning another language, now i can speak to my self in my first language and answer in the second. Don t feel lonely anymore.
My first language Punjabi, and i can also speak Urdu and English. Now learning German..
The music is so loud in the background.
I can speak 4 languages, sometimes I don’t realize as I am changing languages.
It becomes more interesting when 1 language has different spoken and written forms. For example, spoken Cantonese is very different from written Chinese.
@ccheung350 Such is French as well.
I don't see how being bilingual was ever thought to be a bad thing. It was necessary to negotiate from the time humans stood on two feet. Even animals negotiate. I think the best time to learn a language is anytime you feel like you want to. When you want to your apt to learn more and get more out of it.
We should also compare children who speak one language at home and one at school with those who speak more than one language at home. I see big differences.
I would like to tell you my story, I am from Colombia my first language is Spanish, but I started to learn English two years ago, and today I can understand a bit of English, and I am improving my speaking and listening skills in my opinion when we learned a new language our Brain can open the world.
I would think it depends on the type of language. Chinese of course comes to mind for developing attention and sensitivity to sounds. Often, there may be sounds which slight tonal changes which refer to different meanings. With continual practice, i'd imagine it would train the brain's attention ability and sensitivity to changes stimuli.
Who ever said that speaking more than one language was a disadvantage?!? Seems as though this report generalises what people “used to think”.
I had never heard of such an idea before seeing this video. Where I live, speaking more than just your native language has been a key sign of an educated and smart person ever since the middle ages. This is out of necessity, since our language is relatively small and was not the language of education and power in the past.
2005 my friend who lived in England was told by a community nurse that her baby should be introduced to one language first, then taught a second when older My friend already knew this was nonsense and was able to show research to the "Health Visitor".
learning languages later in life is more challenging, but also more restorative
One side benefit of being multilingual is that it allows people to switch codes to express a wider range of emotions. Some societies are not traditionally very expressive emotionally, specially for some genders (i.e men). Switching to another language, however, lifts the awkwardness from expressing feelings.
you can express your feelings in any language
I have lived in the U.S. and India so I speak English fluently,learned some Spanish at school while in America (where I did my primary education) and when I moved to India with my family for the rest of my schooling I learned Indian languages such as Hindi,Sanskrit and improved my Tamil which I speak at home along with English(I couldn’t speak Tamil when I lived in the USA where I lived till my primary education was completed). Once I got a grasp of Tamil after moving to India I found it easy to understand similar languages such as Malayalam and later languages such as Telugu and Kannada although there are some differences from Tamil. I also started to understand languages similar to Hindi such as Marathi, Gujarati, bit of Punjabi,bit of Bengali and some Urdu,some Nepali and some Sinhala due to similarities in the languages originating in surrounding areas and easy travel in the earlier days causing the spread of the languages in surrounding regions as well. Thus due to me becoming a polyglot it helps me in thinking about complex things and solutions these days. So from my aspect being polyglot is advantageous.
I did my dissertation on this 13 years ago. Really incredible literature behind it. Some a little absurd, but a lot of it makes sense and is well evident in our society, especially in London!
I started leaning chines and Arabic and Italian, but I can't forget the words I leant, I found japanese polish Italian Spanish to be the most easiest language to learn.
I'm fluent in Arabic, English, Mandarin, Urdu and some Swahili.
Hello, Salam, Привет. I use two languages emotionally as I grew up speaking both, having people speaking and even mixing both of the languages around. English is really on the rational side but I am getting immersed. That explanation about emotional/rational use of the language explains a lot about why I thought that Eng is not emotional :) Thank you so much!
That is a brilliant report. Thank you.
imagine writing the title for a video uploaded to BBC News and misspelling "your" even more ironically on the subject of language...
Good news about the health benefits of multple languages! 2005 a friend in England was told by a Health Visitor (community nurse?) to only use one language with the baby, or it would hold back baby's language development. Research had already confirmed this was nonsense, my friend knew this, so shared the good news, politely, with the health visitor.
I speak English French German and Mandarin。我说得英语 法语 德语 和 中文。
Thank you for good news. I’m learning the french when I was 44 yrs old, but it’s very difficult. On my mind with giving up the learning the new language, you make me up again. Thanks.
I'm learning Spanish and italian. I've played around a little with the other romance languages (even smaller ones like catalán) for fun.... French seems like the hardest of the romance languages. Bonjour! Comment ça va? Tu parles français, n'est-ce pas? Je ne parle pas français. Je parle espagnol et un peu italien.
Keep at it. I'm sure even a little progress is beneficial. 👍🏾
I speak 3 languages and 2 more on a lower but still usable level, It feels good to be able to use every one of them.
I met my girlfriend because I learned how to communicate in Spanish❤ It opened up my world, now she is learning mine to emerge more in my culture.
I speak Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and English(not so fluent though). I also speak Cantonese, which is a dialect of Chinese. Learning different languages provides me with distinct perspectives on the world and diverse ways of thinking about everything. Furthermore, it allows me to experience amazing cultural nuances. When mentally translating certain phrases, I find myself immersed in an introspective state, truly relishing the opportunity to delve into their profound cultural meanings and explain their depth."
i speak fluent swahili, sheng, kikuyu & english 👍👍👍👍
3 of those are not real languages
@@DragoonGalaxy7 I’d consider only one of the languages mentioned by the person above not a real language which three do you consider?
In Malaysia it’s common to be able to speak several languages. Some of them can speak 3-7 commonly😅
I was bilingual and now I’m byelingual 😢
This scientific fact es de verdad muy realista et hunain parce que les langues around the world are pretty useful y entender canciones de boleros ,tangos ,avec mon cerveau plus grand et fort .I love to understand you.
Hi
There are still institutions that believe that being bilingual makes you handicap, this is reflected in the educational system were the school tries to move the student into a ESL when they are already fluent in English and what is worst that even after they have taken an exit exam from ESL they still try to move into those classes instead of moving on to regular English class.
I was bilingual since childhood, and now I speak 4 languages. But I struggle to communicate without mixing them. Very often, the word or expression I'm looking for, comes to my mind in the wrong language, which is often pretty inconvenient.
wonderful piece thank you bbc!!!
I’ve been bilingual since toddlerhood. Bengali maybe my native language but it’s through American media and studying in a school run under the British curriculum, I’m just as fluent in English than I am, in Bengali.
Totally agree. English is my first language but I’m very fluent in French, I lived & worked in Paris. But I also have a little German & Russian plus Armenian. I’m trying to build my vocabulary in the former two. Phonetically the Russian is definitely a challenge . Oh yes I do have some Gaelic as well, which is very interesting.
I’ve been in Japan for about 11 years; not fluent but I can read at about a 3rd grade level.
I feel such a clarity in thinking these days.
When I get tired of thinking in English I read a children’s book or study some grammar point and I get refreshed.
I hope my 1 years can speak at least 3 languages.
I sing and know some songs in other languages.
If you think about maths is a language too, as are computer codes.
I was taught French and German at school and can still read them a bit.
I was taught to read and write in my own language from around 3 and half to 4, but was singing pop songs at 2 and a half.
I think that if you can guess what someone is saying by the tone of the voice, you can pick up other people's words.
To really learn about other people, you have to be able to talk to strangers in the street, or anywhere else. Many people don't, let alone talking to their own social circle frequently.
I speak 3 languages + some sprinkles of others, and omg my brain is weird. I'll start slurring random words in my native language or say things backwards, it's weird. I'm sure there's benefits but it definitely changes how you structure words and sentences
When it's obsession like mine it's a problem. I am a Portuguese native speaker and know English and French the best. I understand Spanish and Italian, but can't speak well. I can also read in Catalan. This year, I've been learning mostly Romanian and German, while trying to keeping a reading routine in the 6 first mentioned languages. Needless to say, it's exhausting.
The best part of learning a second language is it increases the awareness of how arbitrary a human language's vocabulary is in its relationship with what it denotes, which in turn might broaden one's outlook at life in general. But the attentional resources of our brain are limited at a given time so being bilingual might have its disadvantages when you need to process some verbal information in a split second with two competing processing languages in the brain.
Now that I'm trying to learn my 3rd international language (japanese) I appreciate being born in the Philippines more because if you're from here, it's almost impossible not to pick up english as your 2nd language, you didn't even have to learn it, you just acquire it naturally. I can imagine the struggle of let's say koreans and japanese trying to learn English, must be hard as me trying to learn japanese now.
Makes sense the study was conducted in Toronto- voted the most cosmopolitan city in the world by the UN.
It definitely makes one think differently.
Exactly, learning a new language is like discovering a new life
I‘d love to hear a counter argument against bilingual tbh, just for a different perspective, which what I now value after becoming a bilingual
I agree 👍
I speak 4 languages, two things I notice about myself.
First, more languages doesn't translate to intelligence or wisdom, because I'm still an idiot.
Second, my personality changes speaking different languages. I feel friendly speaking Indonesian, aggressive speaking Mandarin, illogical speaking English, and thoughtful of others speaking Japanese. I prefer speaking Indonesian and Japanese, because it makes me friendly and thoughtful of others.
I don't know who used to think that way, but I have always known it is a good thing ❤
Thank you very much ❤❤
They say "All languages are active in our brain all at the same time." How come I forget many words of my mother tongue if I do not speak it for let's say 6 months or more? I mean, if all languages are always active then none of the languages should get rusty.
Outside of the US/Canada, I think the bilingualism is the norm. Balanced very high level bilinguals, however, are very rare.
❤ and trustful friends - parents with time and respect are the best
not necessary background music
I am Haitian born citizen from childhood Iearned Haitian creole and French then moved to Dominican Republic then learned Spanish and English I can change from one another without effort but there are times I know a vocabulary in one language and forgot it in the rest especially when I need it.
Someone at BBC cannot distinguish between the correct use of 'you' and 'your. Why is that OK?
Every language has its unique way of describing reality, and the process of arriving at x conclusion for example.
Speaking more than one language allows you to see and appreciate the many different methods ,but yet how so similar people all are.
Right now the world is facing something never seen before, internet. It is rubbing together of different cultures , the exposure of corruption and so on that will allow humanity to recreate itself as we enter the next phase of life.
Actually internet just proved how English is basically the only language you need
arabic, russian , french and German are honourable mentions but thats it.
I think being bilingual is essential nowadays, because we need English to communicate with people from various countries
This sentence doesn’t even make sense. Are you assuming that we all or most of us aren’t English speakers ???
@@marxyy The native tongues of most people aren't English
@@containedhurricane Most people here? It definitely is considering this is BBC lol
English speakers can then focus entirely on sciences.
@@marxyy Most people in the world
I questioned myself seeing the title as a trilingual - can't feel more blessed to be exposed to many languages from my younger years. I get the whole world served to me, times 3!
For context I’m a Brit and I’ve been very slowly studying Japanese over the last 10 years. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to write Japanese but I hope to speak it near fluently at some point in my future before AI and technology eliminates the need to learn a foreign language. I see it as a life long challenge
Language study has no end. The time you give to it is always returned.
@@yaketythackcope. Human lifespan is only about 40 years, between 10-50
Before or after is an existence where you’re hardly alive. Wasting decades on languages seems silly
Stop turning things into lifelong challenges and set a deadline.
It is a true treasure that everybody should sought fir
Im so happy that I learned english all by myself without any help
I am bilingual! I speak:
1. My native language Arabic (speak fluently Lebanese dialect, read and write slower)
2. English (speak fluently but I have a bit of an accent, read and write fluently)
Honorable mentions:
1. I also found out that I could understand some Spanish even though I have never tried to learn it (because I used to watch some telenovelas, even though they are harder to find with English subtitles, then I found I could understand around 50% of what they are saying without English subtitles)
2. I was also taught French in school as a third language, so I know some French words but that's as far as it goes (but interestingly enough I can read French passages, maybe 70% or 80% correctly but I don't really understand what I am reading heh. I can't write it - I forgot lol)
I have a question: why are you reading and writing your native language (Arabic) less fluently than English? 🤔 Confused.
@@titteryenot4524 Because I haven't read it or written it in ages! Also writing and reading in Arabic is harder than English (the language itself is more difficult). I immigrated with my parents to the U.S. many years ago, and even when I was younger my parents always encouraged me to do my outside reading in English (because they wanted to make sure I was fluent in it, even though they themselves read in Arabic much better), so I learned to read and write fluently in English.
@@Lovely-DeeMAh, you never mentioned the US immigration thing. Makes sense now. Ty.👍
This was incredible.
I am an English speaker. I can't profess to be bi/multilingual, but I have taken Latin and German and have a passing understanding of Mexican Spanish. The nature of my careers (retired now) brought me into contact with many other languages. I think that having (more or less) learned other languages enabled me to correctly interpret broken English, thereby "getting on with things" and limiting embarrassment. Does that make my brain better? Time will tell! 🙂