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Business News/ Opinion / The benefits of babble
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The benefits of babble

It is now clear that knowing more than one language alters brain networks and sets you up for life

Photo: iStockphotoPremium
Photo: iStockphoto

Since she was a baby, my daughter has been exposed to Kannada, Marathi, English, Sindhi, Hindi and (a little) Konkani. Since both her parents speak English, she is fluent. Her Kannada is limited, but she gets by—people speak it around her, I do too, but no one else speaks it at home. She sings Hindi songs (courtesy her mother, who can, in almost encyclopaedic fashion, latch on to any Bollywood tune from the 1950s and 1960s), recognizes Marathi songs (sung by one grandmother) and knows some Sindhi ditties (courtesy the other grandmother).

Language is one of modern India’s biggest dilemmas. Should children learn their mother tongue(s) first or English first? Should mother tongues and English go side by side? In a nation of more than 780 languages, according to the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, such confusion is understandable. Among parents who know English—and may or may not have different mother tongues—it is the language children end up adopting as their first language.

Nevertheless, new research—the latest in a string of such studies—reveals that the minds and brains of bilinguals change as they use and learn language. Many of these changes are positive, Judith Kroll, a cognitive scientist, said while presenting a paper last week at an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

“Recent studies reveal the remarkable ways in which bilingualism changes the brain networks that enable skilled cognition, support fluent language performance and facilitate new learning," said Kroll, distinguished professor, psychology, linguistics and women’s studies at Penn State University.

Previous research about being bilingual has explored how it may rewire the brain—which by frequently activating both languages is exercised and doesn’t need to work as hard when asked to really think—and offers advantages in attention and cognitive control, can change brain function, even boosting areas not involved with language, and ward off signs of dementia.

The scientific archives are littered with papers that study various aspects of bilingual children: they can distinguish an unfamiliar language; they know their grammar by seven months; they can switch tasks faster than monolinguals—and are more likely to stutter.

One 2014 study showed both monolingual and bilingual infants learn a new word best from someone with a similar language background. “While 1.5-year-old babies are powerful word learners, they can have difficulty learning similar-sounding words (for instance, “coat" and “goat")," said a media release from SAGE, an international publisher. “A string of previous studies had found unexplained differences in monolingual and bilingual children’s ability to learn these types of similar-sounding words, sometimes suggesting a bilingual advantage, and other times suggesting a bilingual delay."

Of course, not all bilinguals are the same, and the changes in the brain depend on the languages we learn, how we learn them and how they are used.

“What we know from recent research is that at every level of language processing—from words to grammar to speech—we see the presence of cross-language interaction and competition," Kroll said at the AAAS conference. “Sometimes, we see these cross-language interactions in behaviour, but sometimes we only see them in brain data."

She confirmed early research that the consequences of bilingualism are not limited to language: They rewire brain networks with implications for a variety of cognitive actions.

Bilingualism gives children much more than two languages, says the website of Bilingualism Matters, a University of Edinburgh centre promoting bilingualism and bilingual learning. “Children exposed to different languages become more aware of different cultures, other people and other points of view. But they also tend to be better than monolinguals at multitasking and focusing attention."

I have no scientific evidence to offer, but I could not but have benefited from five decades of multilingual exposure. I speak English, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi and a smattering of Konkani. I like to think I am very sensitive to other cultures, points of view, and I am reasonably good at multitasking.

When I arrived in the US in 1992 to do an MA, I spent a lot of time under an old oak tree, finding enough time and mental space to study, work a night job, cook and enjoy the great outdoors, while my American friends complained about “stress", the first time I heard the word.

Recently, I read about a 2013 study that said those who have spoken two languages since childhood are faster than single-language speakers at switching from one task to another. Indeed, related studies suggest multilingualism is a brain stimulant across a lifetime, and gives you the ability to adjust to unexpected situations. In scientific parlance, this is called “cognitive flexibility", according to the 2013 paper in the Journal of Neuroscience. Science also tells us that the benefits of bilingualism are evident even if people learn one or more languages later in life. Excuse me while I brush up on my Spanish.

Samar Halarnkar is editor of Indiaspend.org, a data-driven, public- interest journalism, non-profit organization. He also writes the column Our Daily Bread in Mint Lounge.

Comments are welcome at frontiermail@livemint.com To read Samar Halarnkar’s previous columns, go to www.livemint.com/frontiermail

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Published: 18 Feb 2016, 11:00 PM IST
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