Free Spanish Lesson 65. Language Learning and the Brain

Vocabulary For Today’s Free Spanish Lesson – Vocabulario para el boletín

hace unas semanas – a few weeks ago

leía – was reading

y el cerebro – and the brain

lo encontré muy interesante – I found it very interesting

el título es – the title is

(un) nuevo estudio – (a) new study

asociado con – associated with

de acuerdo a – according to

dos idiomas – two languages

todas sus vidas – their whole lives

los bilingües – the bilinguals

la habilidad de enfocar – the ability to focus

dijo – said

publicados – published

sugieren – (they) suggest

bilingüe – bilingual

protección – protection

y otras formas de – and other forms of

un vínculo e ntre – a link between

del cerebro – of the brain

evidencia – evidence

ha sido hecho – has been done

los estudios – the studies

dos idiomas – two languages

más creativos – more creative

los niños bilingües – bilingual children

una ventaja económica – an economic advantage

ha mostrado que – has shown that

un idioma a la vez – one language at a time

quedan separados – remain separated

sugiere – suggests

esta habilidad – this ability

los bilingües – bilinguals

involucró – involved

los participantes bilingües – the bilingual participants

ambos idiomas – both languages

en una pantalla de computadora – on a computer screen

puede medir – can measure

adultos bilingües – bilingual adults

pero de acuerdo a este estudio – but according to this study

toda su vida – his whole life

español – Spanish

gastado – worn out

cursos de español – Spanish courses

Hace unas semanas, my wife leía the local paper and found a very interesting article about language learning y el cerebro. The local paper here quoted a story from the “Toronto Globe and Mail” written by “Andre Picard.” Lo encontré muy interesante and wanted to pass it on to you.

El título es:”Bilingual adults may stay sharper longer as they age” (Nuevo estudio links linguistic facility and health of brain.)

Being fluently bilingual may help stave off the forgetfulness and inattention asociado con aging, de acuerdo a un nuevo estudio.

Researchers at York University in Toronto found that older people who had spoken dos idiomas concurrently todas sus vidas fared markedly better on tests that measure cognitive function.

In particular, los bilingües scored highest on measures of so-called fluid intelligence–la habilidad de enfocar one’s attention and to respond to rapidly changing tasks–dijo Ellen Bialystok, a professor of psychology at York.

The findings publicados in the Journal of Psychology and Aging, sugieren that being bilingüe may offer some protección against Alzheimer’s disease y otras formas de dementia.

The research is the latest to make un vínculo entre linguistic facility and the health del cerebro.

It also adds to a growing body of evidencia on the physiological and psychological benefits of bilingualism, though most of that research ha sido hecho on children. Los estudios have shown that children who speak dos idiomas or more tend to be más creativos, better at problem-solving and score better on literacy tests.

Los niños bilingües also tend to have una ventaja económica as they mature because they have better job prospects.

Research ha mostrado que, when niños bilingües process information, both languages remain active, even though they use un idioma a la vez. To ensure that the languages quedan separados, the brain develops mechanisms to allow the speaker to block out instructions from the unwanted language.

Bialystok’s new research sugiere that esta habilidad to compartmentalize and focus carries over the other functions, and that’s why los bilingües remain sharper as they age.

The research involucró a total of 154 bilingual and monolingual adult university graduates living in Toronto and the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Los participantes bilingües all spoke Tamil and English fluently and used ambos idiomas concurrently on a daily basis since childhood.

The subjects underwent a common psychological test known as the Simon task. Using flashing squares en una pantalla de computadora, the test puede medir reaction time in a variety of ways.

On the Simon test, the older adultos bilingües (age 60-88) did far better than their monolingual counterparts.

Moral of the Story: Learning Spanish not only gives you fulfillment, personal enrichment and better job prospects, pero de acuerdo a este estudio, it also will help keep your brain healthy later in life.

I had a grandfather who was an active learner toda su vida; he was an inspiration to me. At age 93, he wanted me to help him continue to learn español. His body was pretty gastado, but his mind was sharp as a tack. He is one of the people who inspired me to develop and create cursos de español that are effective and help others to actually learn to speak and communicate.

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Written by David S. Clark President/Director, U.S. Institute of Languages. Copyright © 1999-2011 US Institute of Languages All rights reserved.

Andrew Makarik

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