June 30, 2011
“It is possible at any age to discover a lifelong desire you never knew you had. "-- Robert Brault
Did you ever want to learn a new language or brush up on one you used to know just for the fun of it? There might be a better reason than entertainment or personal enrichment to do just that.
The other day I was reading a magazine story that proclaimed a provocative idea: "stave off Alzheimer's, learn a second language."
Indeed, new research is showing that one can benefit at any age from learning a new language. A quick web search provided numerous articles that backed that up the theory that bilingual brains may delay mental aging.
Ellen Bailystok, a psychologist at York University in Toronto, says that studies are now revealing that advantages of bilingualism persist into old age, even as the brain's sharpness naturally declines. She suggests that bilingualism is "protecting older adults, even as Alzheimer's is beginning to affect cognitive function."
She adds that even if you don't learn a second language until after middle age, it can still help stave off dementia.
Outsmart Alzheimer's? Could it be that easy, I wonder.
Apparently, the idea is so appealing that folks over the age of 50 are stampeding to learn a foreign language.
On top of this trend themselves, my brother and sister-in-law called me recently to say they were ordering a French language software program. They thought it would be fun to learn and besides they are retired and have a lot of time on their hands these days. If it staves off dementia, then all the better, they said.
I think I need to catch up.
Sure, like most baby boomers, I took a foreign language course in high school and can still read a little French, but I couldn't remember how to roll my 'r's if my life depended on it.
Deciding I should give my brain the exercise it needs, I chose to start afresh with a new language rather than brushing up on my forgotten French.
I chose Italian, but I'm not ordering any software. I know a little Italian from the movies.
Besides, Italian sounds easy to me, and I am already familiar with a few words and phrases: pizza, spaghetti, lasagne, risotto, panini.
Agreed, this is not exactly conjugating verbs, but I am betting, just like me, that you can follow this conversation in Italian that follows just fine, whether you think you can or not.
"Caio! Parli italiano?"
"Non capisco! il mio italiano e orribile."
"Come dite 'please' in italiano?"
" Prego? Non ne ho idea! Scusami!"
"Non c'e problema!"
"Grazie."
"Arrivederci!"
"Caio!"
There, we've exercised our brains for one day. We got this boomers.
