Get Smarter! What Happens To Your Brain When You Learn a Language

The Extraordinary Benefits of Learning a Language and have a brain.

Learning a language is challenging and it takes a ton of time. Years, usually. If you’ve already started learning a second language, then you know how much effort it takes. At times it can feel like pushing a jeep up a hill.

According to the US Foreign Service Institute, learning even the “easiest” languages can take more than 600 hours before a student is fluent. That’s a lot of time you could’ve been watching Modern Family.

Why study languages? Especially when translators are so good?

Well, there’s actually a lot more that we get from learning a language than just the language. Learning a language can change your brain, your career, and even your love life. Here’s a selection of language learning’s many benefits.

Language learning is difficult

It Makes You Smarter

Scientists have proven the brain benefits of language learning. According to one study from the University of Edinburgh, studying a second language increases intelligence as well as both verbal and reading fluency—even when the language is learned as an adult.

It stimulates attention and concentration areas of the brain. Other research has found that knowing another language boosts memory, critical thinking, and even problem-solving ability.
Languages Help Your Career

Speaking, listening, understanding, and negotiating in another language could boost your resume in a globalized world. A second language can increase your chances of finding good jobs and may help you earn a higher salary.

Traveling and learning other cultures with a second language develops soft skills that employers value.

Your second language could help your career since interpretation and translation occupations are predicted to grow.
Language Learning Protects Your Brain

Learning a language is a great exercise for your brain. Exercise keeps it healthy.

Thanks to neuroplasticity, a second language can functionally and physically reconfigure the structure of our brains. This helps keep it from diminishing with age. In one study, researchers found that being bilingual helps to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, and frontotemporal dementia. The researchers believe that bilingualism can prevent Alzheimer’s illness by 4.5 years.

Nearly 5 million people are affected by Alzheimer’s disease in the U.S., and estimates suggest that this figure could quadruple by 2060. Learning a language can boost brain health and safeguard you. (And don’t worry, you’re never too old to learn a language!)

Learning a Language Makes You More Creative

Bilingualism inspires. The explanation is simple: acquiring a second language puts you in continual contact with other cultures, people, and alternative ways of seeing the world. Thinking differently is part of learning a new language.

A 2012 study found that bilingual children were more creative and problem-solving than monolingual children.

Simply put: a second language inspires you to think in new, innovative ways.
Language Learning Is Sexier

Language learning is for singles and couples looking to spice things up.

71% of 3,000 Americans surveyed in 2017 found bilingual people sexier than monolingual people.

French is the sexiest language, according to the survey.

Languages Aid Travel

Learning a language can help you travel more safely. Even if you are good at Google Translate, not knowing the basics can get you in trouble. Knowing how to welcome strangers and some of the most common phrases to use in an emergency could save your vacation.
Language Learning Helps Your Social Life

Bilinguals can interact with more people in their personal and professional lives.

Picture yourself at a hostel in Budapest. You’ll get way more out of the experience—and be much more likely to make friends—if you can speak Hungarian.

A second language can improve your social life without travel. HelloTalk, HiNative, and Tandem can help you make local friends.

Learning a language improves your native language communication, according to research. Thus, learning a foreign language may improve home life.

Cooking Better

We’ve discussed in other articles how cooking and wine can help you to study a language, and I personally cannot think of a more delicious way to study. Building a language learning program around your interests yields the best outcomes.

Learning recipes in a new language will boost your vocabulary and cooking skills.
A New Language Can Improve Your Love Life

Doing new and challenging things together is a great way to keep a relationship healthy and passionate. And what is more novel and challenging than learning a new language? You will improve your communication skills and grow closer to your companion.

Learning a language is also the perfect reason to plan a romantic getaway to spice things up even more.
Language Learning Teaches You About Other Cultures and Makes You More Empathetic

“As many languages you know, as many times you are a human,” says a Czech adage.

Learning a language isn’t just about the language; it is also connecting to other people and cultures. Discovering new vocabulary puts you in touch with a society’s entire history—its traditions, religions, arts, and more.

Understanding a people’s history increases tolerance and empathy.

It Improves Decision-Making.

Studies show that multilingual people are more rational. These studies also suggest that brain connections formed to find quick answers in second-language communication may improve problem-solving skills.
. It Challenges You

I like that language learning is hard.

Why is being challenged a benefit of language learning? Because it teaches you about yourself—you never know what you´re capable of until you test your own limits.

Learning a language, especially alone, is self-inquiry. What do I want to know? How can I learn? How far have I come?

Language acquisition is amazing and can help us understand ourselves. In the long, language acquisition can make us more confident and fearless in confronting future obstacles.