The 4 advantages of speaking several languages

Many of us are well aware of some advantages that the learning new languages. Most of these strengths, however, are related to the application of the language skills that have been acquired during this process.

Advantages of speaking several languages ​​(being polylingual is good!)

Despite this, some scientific studies suggest that a large part of these advantages ofbilingualism could be found beyond the realm of languages. Specifically, it seems that the simple exercise of learning and speaking several languages ​​makes our brains more functional, useful or skilled in some aspects. Here are four reasons why it's good to master more than one language:

1. favors creativity

On the one hand, there is scientific evidence which could indicate that bilingualism positively affects the development of acreative mind. This could be explained because the fact of thinking from two or more ways of codifying our mental representations favors the appearance of a type of non-linear thinking, that is, creative. This kind of "lateral" thinking is characterized by jumping beyond a single cognitive scheme; scheme that allows our perception of the world but also makes it more hermetic and closed in on itself.

2. Improves attentional control

In parallel, in another study it is pointed out that bilingualism helps shape a brain with a greater capacity to pay attention to what is important and inhibit distractions, in the same way that it allows switching with relative ease from one object of attention to another. This can also translate into greater facilities to reach a good level of performance in any voluntary activity, especially if it is carried out in a complex and changing environment. It is possible that this improvement in attention management is due to the continuous exercise of "filtering" that people bilinguals have to do when they can convey an idea with a very wide repertoire of words in several languages.

3. Reduces the symptoms of dementia

Also there is data that guarantee the ability of the bilingual body to delay and appease the symptoms of dementia. While dementia involves the breakdown of brain tissue, having mastered multiple languages ​​creates alternative neural circuits that, in the absence of the connections that have been lost by dementia, they can help maintain a level of adaptation to the outside for longer time.

4. Improves control of executive tasks

Finally, there is evidence about better control over novel tasks that have to be solved through reasoning. Bilinguals have an easier time dealing with problems that can only be solved by applying rules new, that is, to carry out activities that are not familiar enough for our brain to have automated. In this particular study, bilinguals showed higher performance solving mathematical problems with which they were unfamiliar.