While in Canada 15 years ago, Padma Sachidanand realised her fondness for the French language. “My cousin used to speak French, and the cadence of the language influenced me,” says the 67-year-old homemaker from Bengaluru.
She reignited her desire to learn the language after she relocated to Bengaluru, and two years ago, she started learning French. Recently, she also began teaching French online. Now Sachidanand is broadening her language horizons by learning Marathi.
Like Sachidanand, Kerala native Raghavan Panicker, 89, is a linguaphile. He picked up an interest in Sanskrit at a gathering of like-minded people, and then, as his interest piqued, took up learning the language formally at 72.
“I continue to learn nuances of Sanskrit as I still don’t consider myself a master of the language,” says the now Bengaluru resident.
According to science, Sachidanand and Panicker have much to gain from their language learning interests – from a brain health perspective.
1. A nudge to the brain reserve
The advantages of being bilingual or multilingual when young are more visible as they age. Dr Emmanuel A Stamatakis, Division of Anaesthesia, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke’s Hospital Hills Road, Cambridge, UK, explains that learning a new language improves brain reserve.
Brain reserve is the brain’s extra tissue (grey matter) that imparts resilience against neurodegenerative conditions like dementia.
Learning a new language opens alternative routes in the brain or forms new neural connections. This is possible due to neuroplasticity – the ability of the brain to rewire and prune existing pathways in the brain. Neuroplasticity, in turn, promotes brain reserve.
2. Planning and executing maestro
“The best-studied benefits seem to be that bilingual [or multilinguist] people can have improved executive function,” says researcher Dr Michael Ullman from the Departments of Neuroscience and Neurology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA. Executive function is the ability that allows us to strategise, organise, and focus to complete tasks.
In a study, Dr Ullman’s team found that learning more than one language contributes to more grey matter forming in the brain’s frontal lobe. This increased grey matter in the frontal lobes is associated with improved executive function. Along with executive function, this brain part is responsible for learning, memory, recall, thinking and reasoning. Better executive function can also help in managing multiple tasks.
3. Building bridges
Within our brains, information is interpreted and processed in different regions, before being seamlessly assembled to generate a complete picture. And all this happens in a fraction of a second!
Different brain regions need to coordinate for this processing to happen. Much of this work depends on the integrity of the nerve connections. The nerve cells crosstalk by transferring electrical signals and mediating between brain regions.
A fatty layer called myelin wraps the axonal part of neurons akin to an electric wire insulation, which ensures signals travel long distances without losing their strength. Bundles of these white axons form the white matter, which helps coordinate signals.
Dr Ullman’s study showed that learning more than one language improves the quality of the white matter, thereby aiding the efficient coordination of different brain regions.
4. Memory recall
Learning multiple languages also improves working memory capacity, as a 2017 study showed. Working memory is a type of short-term memory that enables us to complete a task at any point in time and to make a quick decision with the little information available.
Dr Ullman’s team also observed that bilingualism or multilingualism strengthens procedural memory, a long-term memory that helps us perform a task involving skills or recalling steps needed to complete them.
Learning more than one language does not have an immediate effect. But over time, the structural changes in our brain contribute to resilience against ageing and help us live an active life.
