Language Learning Tips: Why the more languages you learn the smarter you get?
Are you interested to know why learning more languages makes you smarter? Great! I am going to talk about it in detail. So let’s start.
Learning foreign languages helps to develop your intelligence by smoothing out the way you think and, at the same time, enables your brain to solve complex problems and successfully perform essential or heavy tasks like planning. Here’s why learning languages makes you more competent than others.
There are hundreds of reasons to learn a language. Still, it is true that, for example, attention span, better memory, and lower risk of cognitive decline are some of the most important benefits we can consider when it comes to intelligence. By acquiring two skills. Or more languages.
Much evidence suggests that bilingualism (learning 2 languages) or multilingualism (learning more languages) is associated with delayed dementia. One such study was by Alan Bialstock, a professor at York University, who concluded that dementia could take up to five years to learn two languages, six years to learn three languages , and nine years to learn four languages or more.
Here are other proven benefits based on the fact that learning languages improve your:
Brain Development:
Learning a language helps improve people’s thinking and memory skills. Bilingual students focus better on ignoring distractions more effectively than speakers of only one language. This is also why we suggest student to learn English and Learn Cantonese at the same time to boost their brain power. As the language centers in the brain are very flexible, learning another language can develop new areas of your brain and strengthen your brain’s natural ability to focus.
Another thing found in the research was that multilingual people had more fit and more flexible brains. Researchers also examined the brain development of medical students compared to linguistics students. Although MED students study incredibly hard and learn new facts, their brains have not changed much compared to students learning new languages.
Improves your memory:
Evidence shows that learning words enhances memory, but it is more than simple repetition. Learning another language can make you more alert mentally because you are also paying attention to body language gestures. For example, where the word no actually means “yes” looking at body language can help you determine if there is no! It means “of course!”
Learning more than one language can stimulate the brain, making the brain grow. The scary reason behind Alzheimer’s disease and dementia is that the brain begins to shrink. Learning and studying new languages can counteract this effect. It also helps improve short-term and long-term memory, which is highly beneficial in everyday life and work-related matters.
When multilingual people switch to another language, it also changes the way they experience emotions. They start thinking about a foreign language. By mastering multiple languages, you have a greater ability to control or control negative emotions.
Research on bilingualism and emotion has shown that dominant bilinguals show stronger emotional responses in their first language (L1) as compared to their second language. Moreover, using a purposeful second language (L2) can reduce the experience of psychological distress.
Another research studied the effects of using a purposeful second language on the experience of negative emotions and distress. In general, negative writing is considered more painful than neutral writing. It serves as a validation of emotional content in two emotional categories.
Boost Your Confidence:
Any language learner can confirm their mistakes in front of a large audience while discovering a new language. It’s an essential part of the learning process! Learning a language means putting yourself out there and getting out of your comfort zone. The upside is the amazing perfection you will feel when talking to someone in their mother tongue.
Getting started can be difficult, but your confidence improves as you set goals and reach them. In addition to fun, learning new languages allows you to advance yourself. It makes you feel that you can achieve more than you think.
Learning new languages is a way to meet new people. Your life is happier with making new friends from other countries who appreciate your endeavors to speak their language and discover their culture. No one will judge your level because the important thing is that you are trying to communicate with them. You are trying to learn about new cultures and different ways of looking at life.
Encourage Creativity:
In some studies, being able to speak more than one language has been found to enhance this kind of creativity, as bilingualism improves mental flexibility and agility.
When your brain has access to a vast vocabulary, you are able to generate more ideas and concepts because your brain is open. Bilingual or multilingual people easily activate innovative thinking compared to someone who has mastered only one language. It’s all about the curves of learning to express yourself in another language. Promoting cultural awareness and new ways of expression is also essential for one’s creativity.
Multi-Tasking:
Last but not least, the benefit of learning more languages is that multilingual speakers increase their ability to solve problems. Using cognitive muscles to navigate multiple languages can make you more adept at waking up tasks in other ways.
Two languages are slow to form words but are better at doing multiple things than one language. Recent research by the National Institutes of Health, children who grow up learning to speak two languages are better able to switch between tasks than children who learn to speak only one language.
When you learn a new language, your mind is challenged to perform multitasking in a specific way. For example, if English is your mother language, you are in the middle of learning Chinese. When someone speaks to you in Chinese, your brain translates words from Chinese into English. Naturally, when you answer, you will compile your answer in English before translating it into Chinese.
Hence, this was why learning more languages makes you more efficient and innovative. I have mentioned several benefits. Therefore, don’t be afraid when learning a new language, as it boosts your memory, encourages confidence and discipline, and much more.
