There are many reasons why an individual would choose to learn a different language. From attending advanced online English courses to classes specialising in developing a fluency in French or Italian, practical goals are often involved. For example, it may be necessary to speak a new language in order to take advantage of an employment opportunity abroad. There are likewise times when possessing bilingual skills is required before enjoying a much-needed holiday.
However, the advantages of speaking a foreign language go far beyond everyday concerns. Recent studies have found that a host of mental faculties can be improved over time. Let us take a look at some surprising benefits associated with bilingual studies in order to better understand the big picture.
The Notion of Mental Plasticity
One interesting characteristic of the brain involves what is known as neural plasticity. This term is essentially used to describe the ways in which the pathways between neurons (cells) realign themselves based on the types of tasks that are being performed. Over time, these connections become permanent (this is one of the reasons why habits can be difficult to break).
The centres of the brain associated with linguistic skills are noted for their neural plasticity. In other words, developing these regions can positively impact other areas such as those associated with reasoning, problem solving and cognition.
Multitasking Benefits
One of the challenges which many individuals will face when learning a new language involves the ability to switch back and forth between sentences and grammar. After all, many of the rules associated with the English language are not compatible with other dialects such as Italian or Spanish. The brain will therefore be forced to work in different ways.
This is one of the reasons why bilingual individuals tend to perform better when required to multitask. They often find it easier to concentrate on two problems simultaneously; a quality providing numerous advantages when tackling everyday problems.
Addressing Brain Injuries
In the past, the majority of brain injuries were thought to be permanent in nature. Thus, even patients who were otherwise healthy had little hope of ever experiencing a sense of normalcy. The good news is that these observations have been proven false to a large extent in recent times.
It has been shown that learning a second language can help portions of the brain associated with memory to heal over time. Other theories suggest that becoming bilingual can improve levels of self-esteem and emotional well-being as a whole. These are obviously important benefits for anyone who may find it difficult to cope with a long (and frequently frustrating) recovery.
We can now see that learning a second language offers a host of surprising advantages. Perhaps the most interesting takeaway point here is that experts are only now beginning to comprehend the astounding capabilities of the mind. This is why there is no doubt that even more ground-breaking discoveries are set to take the scientific community by storm in the near future.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of sciencetimes.com
