"A recent large-scale study showed that speaking more than one language can protect the brain for age-related changes. Although the study did not directly examine brain mechanisms, scientists have long theorized that managing multiple languages develop extra language centers, engages the brain's executive system, and may even be associated with larger hippocampus volume. I grew up in Japan, soEnglish (what I currently use daily) is my second language."
"Perhaps these findings should make me a bit happy, but there are downsides to being bilingual. I have not fully mastered English, and I am now forgetting some of my Japanese. My Japanese friend tells me that my Japanese sounds a bit strange. I often now struggle to find the right words in both languages. Especially, when I try to think and speak, my speech becomes halting, full of pauses."
"Language and Thought One of the founding figures of structuralism, linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, argued that words and language are not as neutral or objective as we assume. Language is a system of symbols, and its meaning is culturally shaped. In English, the word sheep refers to the animal, whereas in French, the word mouton includes both the live animal and its meat. (English uses a separate word, mutton, for the meat)."
Bilingualism can protect the aging brain, possibly through extra language centers, engagement of executive function, and larger hippocampal volume. Bilingual experience often causes incomplete mastery of each language and progressive forgetting, producing word-finding difficulties and halting speech with pauses. Language functions as a culturally shaped symbol system that influences perception, categorization, and identity. Fluent speech can reflect inherited or borrowed ideas, whereas genuine thinking often generates pauses and hesitation. Speech hesitation can signal authenticity, originality, and deep cognitive processing. Embracing hesitations reduces pressure for effortless eloquence and supports honest communication.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]