What your language says about you

over 4 billion people worldwide are bilingual or multilingual meaning they speak more than one language which is so impressive to me sadly I only speak one language but I am working hard to learn Spanish with dualingo who is today's sponsor more on them later but what if I told you being bilingual or even becoming bilingual at an older age isn't just impressive but a brain changing superpower that could not only increase your mental abilities but also slow the Aging of your brain and potentially even prevent disease let's start with a simple example what do you

see chances are you see a rabbit or a duck a lot of people are actually able to see both but not at the same time your brain actually has to switch back and forth between the two these are called ambiguous figures and it turns out children that grow up bilingual can switch back and forth between the figures much faster likely because their brains are more Adept at switching back and forth between languages but learning a second language can also improve your memory studies on both children and adults into their 80s found that bilinguals almost always

outperform monolinguals with working memory tasks like being able to remember more pictures objects or numbers in fact one study that looked at elderly bilinguals between 60 to 80 years old found that those who learned a second language later in life actually had an even greater Advantage with memory tasks highlighting that it's never too late to start even more significant this same study found that bilingualism can minimize or or delay natural memory degradation often caused by aging which is huge and we'll dive into that more a little later apart from memory a second language can actually

improve your problem solving skills take a look at row A and B and tell me as quickly as possible if the very middle arrows in each row are pointing in the same or opposite directions bilinguals are able to make this decision and react more quickly now what word is this and what color is this pretty easy now I'm going to rapidly switch between asking you for either the written word or the color and you say which it is as fast as possible what word is this what color is this word word color color color word

even into old age bilinguals demonstrate much faster reaction times brain scans even show that the interior singulate cortex which is often associated with attention decision- making and impulse control is more efficient in bilingual making them better at suppressing irrelevant information and focusing on a given task speaking of focus if I start to talk to you by insert some distracting sounds and noises in the background so that it's a little harder to hear or understand me bilinguals are actually better at tuning out this noise and ultimately suppressing the irrelevant information but the benefits of bilingualism only

get more shocking and you can start your journey towards them with today's sponsor dualingo who I'm super happy is supporting this video because I'm a huge fan and a user myself self learning a new language is extremely daunting but dualingo has cracked the code by making the experience like a game so it doesn't feel like a chore and helps you make it a routine which is the number one factor to becoming bilingual I've been using dualingo to learn Spanish my longest streak is 115 days in a row which I know is probably nothing to some

of you but I'm super proud of it and I'm currently working through section three learning how to describe activities oh love that sound the competitive leaderboards keep me coming back like right now I'm in the pearl league and I do not want to drop out and I also love when I get to team up with Greg or other friends and complete challenges together but don't be deceived by the fun design dualingo uses research-backed teaching methods that have been tested for decades and It prepares you for real conversations with Reading Writing listening and speaking practice after

4 to 6 weeks using dualingo eight out of 10 Learners can start a conversation you can learn five semesters worth of language instruction in five sections on du lingo I love the lesson length too cuz it allows you to learn on the go anywhere anytime it's honestly been a game Cher for me in terms of keeping up the habit and getting me closer to the many benefits of bilingualism so a huge thanks again to dualingo for supporting this episode and our Channel and now back to more of the amazing benefits of learning another language want

to be more creative one study took 150 people and tested their performance performance on creativity they used standard written exercises to evaluate each individual's ability to create solutions to Unique problems while encouraging them to use their imagination and while monolinguals typically had an advantage with verbal exercises due to having more first language vocabulary bilinguals were more creative with nonverbal Solutions likely because they perceived the world from a wide range of perspectives which may promote novel and creative ways of problem solving and many other Studies have found similar results showing that by lingualism and creativity are

positively correlated regardless of age race or gender bilinguals are better at both Divergent thinking and convergent thinking and show stronger cognitive inhibition and cognitive flexibility this Creative Advantage has even been shown in fields such as math where bilingualism seems to affect flexibility in problem solving and promotes a more robust development of creative thinking now if you've ever worried that teaching young kids multiple languages can slow them down most research actually shows the opposite while some language Milestones may show delay the child is doing double the work after all ultimately learning a second language helps children

to better understand the grammar of their first language and does not negatively impact their first language proficiency not only that but second language Learners also show advantages when it comes to learning math and understanding mathematical Concepts they even show enhanced spelling and Superior reading comprehension in fact immersion program students have matched or better academic achievement compared to their monolingual peers overall but perhaps one of the most profound discoveries in recent years is that bilingualism may actually delay the onet of Alzheimer's disease a form of dementia that involves memory loss and other cognitive disabilities in fact

Studies have found that Alzheimer's onset is around four to 5 years later in bilingual patients compared to monolinguals regardless of sex lifestyle education or occupation but even for those who won't end up suffering from dementia you can still expect your brain to slow as you age from brain atrophy and the loss of synaptic connections but learning a second language can play an important role in this too some scientists are now suggesting we promote language learning programs for older populations because it engages brain networks that overlap with regions negatively affected by aging this touches on a

concept known as cognitive reserves the idea that over our life we develop this reserve of thinking abilities the bigger that reserve the more aging or disease it takes to break down our capacity in other words if you build lots of neuronal Connections in your brain through your life losing some from aging won't impact you as severely or as soon bilingual people have even been shown to recover better after a stroke of course learning anything new can impact resilience or cognitive Reserve but language learning seems to be particularly special in this regard at the end of

the day not only does learning another language connect you with other cultures improve your economic outcomes and let you see the world with a different perspective it's an incredible way way to actually stimulate and challenge your brain with a ton of real benefits that will last a lifetime if you want to add me on dualingo as a friend my username is at ASAP science Mitch where we can tackle learning another language together I hope to call myself fluent in Spanish one day if not more languages I'm curious where you're at in your second or third

or fourth language Journey feel free to leave a comment below on your experience with language learning in dual lingo and we'll see you ASAP for some more science peace