Learning languages does your brain good! Posted by Adir on Mar 30, 2012 in Learning
Hello, everybody!
Today we have another post from our friend from Brazil, Alessandro Brandão, who runs Fórum de Idiomas, one of Brazil’s leading languages blogs. In his post “Os benefícios do estudo de idiomas para o cérebro” he talks about cognitive synesthesia. Let’s check it out!
I was always fascinated by studies on how the brain works. When I was a teenager I used to read over and over again the SuperInteressante’s reports about Ivan Izquierdo‘s researches, a pionner in the study of neurobiology and learning memory.
Last Friday, March 16th, I was very happy to see that neuroscience was the topic of Brazilian podcast NerdCast. Among other interesting topics, the guest André Souza, a doctorate student in cognitive psychology, spoke about the advantages of speaking another language.
The part that caught my attention was when the talked about cognitive synesthesia. It’s an “ugly” phrase but it’s easy to understand. We tend to think that the perception of something can influence in the understanding of something completely different. It’s like when we turn down the volume of our car stereo when we’re trying to find an address. Has this ever happened to you?
Here’s what André said about people who speak more than one language, related to cognitive synesthesia:
… people who speak more than one language have a greater attention contro. So they are able to change among tasks more easily without stopping the other task, without having to turn down the volume of the radio to look for an address…
This happens due to constant training:
… when someone speaks two languages, or more, they have to constantly inhit a system and put another into evidence. If they’re speaking English and want to speak Spanish, they need to focus on the knowledge of English, to speak it…
Besides all these benefits, studying languages is still a very good brain workout. A good reference book is Tony Buzan’s Use Your Head.
Do you speak more than one language? Do you agree with the ideas above?
Read the original text in Portuguese by clicking here.
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About the Author: Adir
English / Spanish teacher and translator for over 20 years. I have been blogging since 2007 and I am also a professional singer in my spare time.
Comments:
Jose:
This is a very interesting topic. I had never thought about the fact that being able to switch easily from one activity to another would be an advantage for languages learners. But it makes sense.
What I had thought is that learning another language (when being an adult) may help improve your inteligence (at least to certain degree). It makes sense as well since it seems to me that it requires you to use your brain in a different way/s than usual, making your brain capability improve.
And as you say, since it is also a matter of attention, it sharpens it too, I think.
Everything we work on improves, one way or another!