Bilingualism: A Self-Improvement Tool For Business & Health

The experts say that there are many activities that people can participate in to enhance their brain power and maybe even help delay dementia, Alzheimer’s, or the everyday forgetfulness that some of us experience already in our 30s. Such activities can range from knitting, to crossword puzzles, to Sudoku. In 2007, Canadian scientists found astonishing evidence that the lifelong use of two languages can help delay the onset of dementia symptoms by four years compared to people who are monolingual. I remember that information being presented to me in the form of propaganda for a language school. I also remember thinking to myself, what if I was older and hadn’t lived a bilingual life through my twenties and into my thirties? Would this piece of information still inspire me to look past the time and effort that is required to learn a new language as an adult and into the classroom? So, I looked into it more, and the answer is yes. Though I have yet to come across sources worth citing (promise to continue to look into this), the overwhelming response seems to be that, yes, learning a new language at any stage in your life may help keep your brain healthy into your golden years. So why not try it? There are so many other reasons besides this one to do so—but this one has to rank number one in my list of ways to stay healthy and self improve or transform. For more on transformation, see Jill’s blog in this week’s Perfromance Tip of the Week.