Another Advantage of Being Bilingual
Wed, March 2, 2011 at 03:00AM A couple of months ago I wrote about a study from Toronto scientists that showed that lifelong bilingualism appeared to be linked to a later onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The theory was that using a second language helps provide compensatory skills or capacity allowing people to delay appearance of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. Now the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at its February meeting held a symposium on multilingualism at which one of the Toronto researchers (Professor Byalistok) presented new results from their studies.
The latest report covers 450 Alzheimer’s patients, of whom half were bilingual, the rest unilingual. As in the first study, the bilingual patients were diagnosed between 4 and 5 years later than the unilingual patients. The physical effects of the disease in the brain were found to be more advanced in the bilinguals' brains, even though their mental ability was roughly the same, Bialystok said. “Apparently, the bilinguals' brains are somehow compensating”, she said. "Even though the 'machine' is more broken, they can function at the same level as a monolingual with less disease."
Professor Bialistok’s report didn’t add much to our earlier knowledge, but it emphasizes the possible benefit of bilingualism – as long as the second language is kept in an active state somewhere in the brain. The clinical benefits of multilingualism may, however, be merely an expression of the known fact that the course of Alzheimer’s varies between well-educated and less educated persons; in the former, a relatively mild course ends suddenly in rapid deterioration, whereas in the latter, decline is continuous but more gradual. Anyway, I don’t think starting to learn a new language if you’re over 75 is going to help much . . .
Reader Comments (1)
Woo that's good to hear anyway do you need to be fluent on your second language just to be said that your a bilingual? I know a little Spanish but not good enough am I also covered with the said study? Thanks!