” With this quote from Manfred Spitzer , Dr. Matt Davis , leader of the Speech and Language Group of the Knowledge and Brain Sciences Unit of the University of Cambridge synthesized the usefulness of his work during the first presentation of his conference in which he spoke of the benefits of learning more than one language, which began last Monday in Salamanca organized by Cambridge English , in an event that took place in the auditorium of the Palacio de Anaya.
Davis is a pioneer in the use of MRI or magnetic resonance imaging in its application to education, and has carried out a long series of investigations to find out how our brain reacts when it learns another language…. Or two. Although there are many things that are still outside the scope of his research – as he explains to our team , he does not know exactly what happens when a child learns three languages from infancy , as can happen with some spanish children, although he suspects that they may have the same ease that the children of the bilingual, believe that there are certain truths that have been sufficiently demonstrated to be able to affirm them with resounding and others whose intuition will probably lead them to endorse in some study.
It is interesting to learn a language that the art and gymnastics classes are given in that language
For example, that language determines the way we perceive the world, even at very subtle levels (the number of colors we can perceive), or that bilinguals probably store knowledge about these languages in the same region of the brain, which it would cause a greater communication between both. A general advice for learning the language : since we learn the language linked to the objects of the world and our feelings, perhaps it would be interesting to acquire the language in subjects related to movement and action.
What is beyond any doubt is that bilinguals have a greater number of advantages than those who know only one language . But what are these and how does gray matter work when we learn?
1. Bilinguals have bigger brains
The size is not what matters, but the reality is that the lower left parietal lobe, which is the one related to the knowledge of a second language, is larger in bilingual people. Another piece of information: the sooner we start to learn this language (especially if we do it in childhood), the more we will stimulate this region of the brain.
2. The language is best learned by young brains
Davis cites interesting research by James Flege , who studied language skills among American immigrants, to explain how age is essential when acquiring a new language. He realized that the older the exiles were when they reached their destination country, the worse they learned the language. A peculiarity of this aspect is that, as pointed out in a study carried out in 2004 by Patricia Kuhl , the youngest children only learn from their direct relationship with the language, and not through the media. This means that radio and television hardly produce any benefits. It is a process similar to that carried out by songbirds.
3. The meaning of words is stored in motor systems
Certain words activate similar areas in the brain (the motor and premotor cortex) to those that are stimulated when we perform physical activities, such as moving the tongue, arms and legs. This is what happens with verbs like “run”, “catch” or “lick”, which imply action. Research carried out by Hauk, Johnsrude and Pulvermuller in 2004 showed that our language and our body are more closely linked than we usually think. To speak is to move.
4. Learning continues long after class leaves
Do you remember that motherly phrase that said that to learn you have to rest well? She was quite right. According to research carried out by Davis herself, proper rest was essential for a group of students to incorporate the words they had learned the day before into their language. In other words, although your body rests, your brain does not rest during sleep: it is known as polysomnography.
5. The difference between learning the mother tongue and the second language
The brain behaves very differently in learning a second language than in the first, if we learn them at different times in our lives. When learning our first language, we tend to easily use the grammar rules, although in many cases, we are not able to explain them since they are explicit. In the second, grammatical knowledge is explicit, as we usually learn another language, and we need to know its rules beforehand. However, if we learn both languages at the same time, the same brain area will relate both languages and put them in contact to generate more complex schemes.
6. Why are false friends so difficult for us?
Davis proposes a peculiar experiment. In it, we read the word “green” painted green, the word “blue” painted blue, the word “yellow” painted yellow … And then the word “blue” painted green, or the word “yellow” painted in blue, something that causes confusion in the audience. We are receiving contradictory information, and something similar happens with false friends or those words that resemble one of our language but mean something completely different. Words shared in a language are processed faster (“idea” in Spanish and English), and false friends, much slower, since there is a competition in which one of the meanings of the signifier ends up winning the heading over the other.
7. Bilingualism against Alzheimer’s
Knowing two languages is important for both children and adults. Although at first learning two languages can slow down learning, in the long run it forms an important brain reserve, especially useful in combating cognitive degeneration. Davis recalls that bilingualism can delay Alzheimer’s disease by four years.
8. Taking tests improves learning
One of the most frequent debates in the educational community is the one that asks whether it is preferable to study again and again or to take exams, which in this case would not only serve as an evaluation tool, but also as a learning tool. So Davis carried out different experiments: in one, the children studied over and over again and repeated the exams, in another they examined only what they had failed in, in another the whole subject … What would be the surprise of the author that the students they learned more by doing tests on everything, both what they had hit and what they had failed.
