You may be surprised to know that before the 1960s, researchers thought children learning other languages lead to them being handicapped: bilingual children reacted slower in some language tests leading to the conclusion that it wasn’t helpful for them to learn two languages. These days we know differently, and if you want a fit and healthy brain then learning a second language has several benefits for you, not least of all improved job prospects!

But hang on a moment, why were the kids thought to be “slow”? Your brain’s gray matter contains everything which controls your muscles, senses, memory, and speech. Newer studies show that those slow reaction times and errors on language tests really reflect that the effort of switching between languages is beefing up the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex which controls problem solving, switching tasks and concentration.

Now don’t get ahead of yourself, learning another language doesn’t make you smarter, but it exercises your brain and makes it healthier. If you are using another language on a daily basis then you can expect it to actually change the physical structure of your brain! Scientists have observed how the neurons and synapses in the brain’s grey matter become denser and concurrently that spurs more activity in other parts of the brain. Then there’s the white matter which ages better in a bilingual brain than in a monolingual brain. It can help delay Alzheimer’s and dementia by as much as four or five years.

If you are the parent of a young person who is bilingual then you might like to know they can also become stronger in other areas of the brain: not just the analytical and logical sides, but the emotional and social sides as well. The idea is that children are learning languages when their brains are more flexible (they become more fixed as they age) and so the two hemispheres of the brain work more closely together and seem to understand the nuances of languages more completely. This makes them more emotionally intelligent. Which is definitely not a handicap.

So, how to make it happen? Put one foot in front of the other and start learning! You could get a group of work colleagues together and take advantage of a scheme which Glossolalia is running. They are partly funded by the Social Security (Foundation Tripartita) meaning the cost per person is only 13€ per hour (with a minimum of 4 hours per day per person). You can learn English, German, Spanish, or Russian very quickly with their unique methods. Get in touch with them at www.glossoalia.com