Learning a new language can feel like performing magic. Suddenly, a whole other world opens up and you discover a completely new side of life. Of course, learning a language doesn't happen by magic, but rather through study. Here are some advantages about how the brain changes during language learning.
It sounds like something a child may ask: does learning new things make my brain grow bigger? It turns out that this is what language learning does to the brain. The researchers from Lund University in Sweden studied a group of students from the Swedish Armed Forces Interpreter Academy, who were going through a language learning program. For a control group, the researchers selected students who were studying medicine and cognitive (认知的) science at Umea University. The researchers discovered that brain structure changed only in the language learning group. The results suggest that language learning is a promising way to keep the brain in shape, and offers cognitive benefits more than other forms of study.
Many of us dream of being able to focus better, and according to a study published in the journal Brain and Language, learning new languages could help make that dream come true. The researchers from Northwestern University tested bilingual (双语的) and monolingual (单语的) individuals using a language comprehension task. The task involved listening to a word, and then selecting the corresponding image from a group of four. Bilingual participants were obviously better at figuring out the target word. It shows that being bilingual comes with more ability to leave aside unnecessary information, which is key to increasing focus.
Several other studies have shown a link between being bilingual and delaying the beginning of Alzheimer's disease by an average of four years. The reason for this delay, the researchers believe, is that learning a language challenges our gray cells, which helps prevent them from worsening. So just like exercising your body, providing your brain with a workout like learning languages has considerable health benefits.
