Washington, Nov 02: Here`s an advice for parents! Pester your kid to learn at least two to three languages, for a new study says that it could be beneficial for the toddler`s mental health later in life.
An international team, led by researchers at Tel Aviv University, has carried out the study and found that knowing multiple languages protects the children`s brain against the effects of ageing in old age.
According to the researchers, a person who speaks more languages is likely to be more clear-minded at an older age -- in effect, "exercising" his or her brain more than those who are monolingual.
And, this is because languages create new links in the brain, contributing to this strengthening effect.
Lead researcher Dr Gitit Kave said, “There is no sure-fire recipe for avoiding the pitfalls of mental ageing. But using a second or third language may help prolong the good years."
The researchers have based their findings on a survey taken in 1989 on people between the ages of 75 and 95.
Each person was asked how many languages he or she knew, what his or her mother tongue was, and which language he or she spoke best. The researchers compared bilingual speakers to tri- and multi-lingual speakers.
Analysing the results, they found the more languages a person spoke, the better his or her cognitive state was. In fact, a person`s level of education was also strongly associated with cognitive state but the number of languages contributed to the prediction of cognitive fitness beyond the effect of education alone.
"We found that more languages were most significantly correlated with cognitive state in those people who had no education at all," Dr Kave said.
The study has been published in the `Psychology and Ageing` journal.
Bureau Report
