“use this video and make guided notes The benefits of a bilingual brain - Mia Nacamulli Transcript View lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-speaking-multiple-languages-benefits-the-brain-mianacamulli 00:06 Hablas espaol? Parlez-vous franais? 00:12 If you answered, "s," "oui," or "" and you're watching this in English, 00:18 chances are you belong to the world's bilingual and multilingual majority. 00:23 And besides having an easier time traveling 00:25 or watching movies without subtitles, 00:27 knowing two or more languages means that your brain 00:29 may actually look and work differently than those of your monolingual friends. 00:34 So what does it really mean to know a language? 00:38 Language ability is typically measured in two active parts, speaking and writing, 00:43 and two passive parts, listening and reading. 00:46 While a balanced bilingual has near equal 00:49 abilities across the board in two languages, 00:52 most bilinguals around the world know and use their languages 00:55 in varying proportions. 00:57 And depending on their situation and how they acquired each language, 01:01 they can be classified into three general types. 01:04 For example, let's take Gabriella, 01:07 whose family immigrates to the US from Peru when she's two-years old. 01:12 As a compound bilingual, 01:13 Gabriella develops two linguistic codes simultaneously, 01:18 with a single set of concepts, 01:20 learning both English and Spanish 01:22 as she begins to process the world around her. 01:25 Her teenage brother, on the other hand, might be a coordinate bilingual, 01:29 working with two sets of concepts, 01:31 learning English in school, 01:33 while continuing to speak Spanish at home and with friends. 01:36 Finally, Gabriella's parents are likely to be subordinate bilinguals 01:41 who learn a secondary language 01:43 by filtering it through their primary language. 01:46 Because all types of bilingual people can become fully proficient in a language 01:50 regardless of accent or pronunciation, 01:52 the difference may not be apparent to a casual observer. 01:55 But recent advances in brain imaging technology 01:58 have given neurolinguists a glimpse 02:00 into how specific aspects of language learning affect the bilingual brain. 02:05 It's well known that the brain's left hemisphere is more dominant 02:09 and analytical in logical processes, 02:11 while the right hemisphere is more active in emotional and social ones, 02:16 though this is a matter of degree, not an absolute split. 02:20 The fact that language involves both types of functions 02:22 while lateralization develops gradually with age, 02:25 has lead to the critical period hypothesis. 02:28 According to this theory, 02:30 children learn languages more easily 02:32 because the plasticity of their developing brains 02:35 lets them use both hemispheres in language acquisition, 02:38 while in most adults, language is lateralized to one hemisphere, 02:42 usually the left. 02:44 If this is true, learning a language in childhood 02:47 may give you a more holistic grasp of its social and emotional contexts. 02:52 Conversely, recent research showed 02:54 that people who learned a second language in adulthood 02:57 exhibit less emotional bias and a more rational approach 03:01 when confronting problems in the second language 03:03 than in their native one. 03:05 But regardless of when you acquire additional languages, 03:08 being multilingual gives your brain some remarkable advantages. 03:12 Some of these are even visible, 03:13 such as higher density of the grey matter 03:16 that contains most of your brain's neurons and synapses, 03:19 and more activity in certain regions when engaging a second language. 03:23 The heightened workout a bilingual brain receives throughout its life 03:26 can also help delay the onset of diseases, like Alzheimer's and dementia 03:31 by as much as five years. 03:33 The idea of major cognitive benefits to bilingualism 03:35 may seem intuitive now, 03:37 but it would have surprised earlier experts. 03:40 Before the 1960s, bilingualism was considered a handicap 03:44 that slowed a child's development 03:45 by forcing them to spend too much energy distinguishing between languages, 03:50 a view based largely on flawed studies. 03:54 And while a more recent study did show 03:56 that reaction times and errors increase for some bilingual students 03:59 in cross-language tests, 04:01 it also showed that the effort and attention needed 04:03 to switch between languages triggered more activity in, 04:06 and potentially strengthened, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. 04:11 This is the part of the brain that plays a large role 04:14 in executive function, problem solving, switching between tasks, 04:18 and focusing while filtering out irrelevant information. 04:22 So, while bilingualism may not necessarily make you smarter, 04:26 it does make your brain more healthy, complex and actively engaged, 04:30 and even if you didn't have the good fortune 04:33 of learning a second language as a child, 04:35 it's never too late to do yourself a favor 04:37 and make the linguistic leap from, "Hello," 04:40 to, "Hola," "Bonjour" or "s" 04:43 because when it comes to our brains a little exercise can go a long way. 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