Those who are fortunate enough to speak two languages, rather than just one have obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But now scientists point out that the advantages of bilingualism are even better than being able to speak with a wider range of individuals. Their research indicates that being bilingual makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on the brain, improving skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia as these people get older.
This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century. Researchers, educators and policy makers had long considered a second language to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child’s academic and intellectual development. It turns out that they were not wrong about the interference: there is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when they are using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other. But this interference isn’t so much a handicap as a wonderful blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.
The bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infancy to old age and in the it's never too late category, there is reason to believe that it may also apply to those who learn a second language later in life.
No one can doubt the power of communication. But who would have imagined that the words we hear and the sentences we speak might be leaving such a deep imprint?