Have you ever wondered what speaking two languages does to your brain?
I'm Oliver and welcome back to the Easy English Podcast.
And today we are going to dive in to a fascinating topic.
Today's topic is a big one.
We are talking about bilingual brains.
Bilingual is when you speak more than one language or you speak at least two languages.
And to each of you listening to this podcast, you are in that category.
Even if you are just learning English and at early stages of learning, you're still already bilingual to an extent, to a degree.
Okay.
So if you speak more than one language or are learning English as a second language, your brain is actually wired differently.
So it's different from someone who only speaks one language.
So how does being bilingual or multilingual change your brain?
Does it make you smarter?
Can it change your personality?
And does it help to avoid problems with your brain when you're older?
Problems like dementia or Alzheimer's?
And we will explore all of this today and even more.
So this is a slightly more advanced episode and I will be using some more complicated, difficult vocabulary.
But don't worry, I will pause to explain difficult words as we go.
And if you want more complicated, interesting episodes like this, which take your English to the next level, then check out the Patreon link in the description below, where you can support me and get access to so many more extra bonus podcasts from the last number of months, and a new one every week.
Let's get started.
First we're going to talk about how a bilingual brain is actually physically different from a monolingual brain.
Okay, that is a difficult sentence.
So bilingual brain, so that's a brain that speaks two languages, and a monolingual brain.
So mono means one, Like single, just one, and lingual is about the language, so one language brain.
For example, if you only speak Spanish or you only speak English, then you are monolingual.
If you speak Spanish and English, you are bilingual, just as an example.
Okay, so to start with, did you know that if you speak two languages, your brain constantly juggles?
It balances both languages, even when you're only using one of those languages.
Your brain is always deciding which words to use and which to not use.
Scientists call this language control and it happens automatically.
You don't have to think about it.
It happens completely automatically.
Scientists and researchers used to believe that different languages were stored in different parts of the brain.
And, as a result, when we used one language and not the other, that part of the brain and that language would be turned on, switched on almost like a computer or a phone when it was being used.
But scientific research has shown that this theory is wrong.
It's incorrect.
It is not right.
A multilingual brain, so a brain with multiple languages, processes all of these languages at the same time.
They are all co-activated all of the time at once.
So when your brain processes the language, it's not a specific part of the brain.
It's all over your brain with all of the languages at once.
I think that is crazy.
Because if you're speaking, let's say three languages at once, you are, or sorry, if you can speak three languages, your brain is essentially all the time in your head activating those three languages.
If you're fluent in those languages, that's crazy.
So much work for our brain and our brains, I think, do so much work.
It's very impressive.
And because of this, because our brains are connecting words together and using these languages, if you speak more than one language, you have more connections between words, concepts and memories across different languages.
So it means that you will have more, let's say more, connections in your brain between words and parts of language.
And some of these scientists have done more research which shows that people who speak more than one language, they use certain parts or areas of their brain more often.
And these are often areas of the brain which are connected to problem solving, decision making and multitasking, and even creative tasks as well.
And some of these studies even show that the part of the brain that processes information is stronger in people who speak multiple languages.
Wow, that's pretty cool.
Okay.
So now that we know that bilingual brains work differently, does that mean that bilingual people are actually smarter?
Well, kind of.
It's not that bilingual people have higher IQs so that they're more intelligent, but they do tend to be better at certain types of thinking.
Studies show that bilingual people are better at solving problems, especially when they need to think creatively or find different solutions.
And this is because they're already used to thinking in two different ways, one for each language.
Another big advantage is that bilinguals are often better at understanding different perspectives.
And this is because they switch between languages and they also switch between cultural mindsets that are connected to these languages.
And this makes them more understanding of other people's emotions, supposedly.
I'm not entirely sure how correct a lot of these studies are.
I'm sure the area probably needs a lot more research.
So there we go.
And a fun fact for you, which I read when I was researching this topic, is that some studies even suggest that bilingual children, so children that speak multiple languages, are better at telling lies, at not telling the truth.
And this is because they learn to switch between languages early.
And then, because of that, they are better at switching between different versions of reality, different stories and different ideas of what happened.
That's quite an interesting point and I wonder if it is true.
So to me then, after reading a lot of these study summaries and sort of summaries of the research which has been carried out about speaking different languages, it seems like it is a really positive thing.
So there's no real negatives to learning and understanding another language.
But there are a lot of positives for your brain.
It can really help you to think in certain ways and to be better at certain processes, certain tasks and certain ways of working and thinking.
So I think it is a really, really positive thing.
And now that you are also, I assume, learning English, you are developing these skills.
I think in general this probably more applies to once you are fully fluent in the language and your brain uses it with ease.
So it uses it quite easily.
Because for me, with Russian language, for example, I can't say that I am like, super easily fluent in Russian.
I have to think very hard and it takes a lot of energy and processing for me.
So when I'm speaking in English, I don't think that my brain is also activating the Russian.
But maybe it is.
Maybe it is.
I have no idea.
Of course, I can't look at my brain with an MRI scanner or some fancy technology to see.
But I do think that the benefits of learning another language are tremendous. definitely great for our intelligence, for our brains, and really just for personal development too.
And especially when you think of how easy it is for children, very young children, to learn a second language.
This is a great gift that we can give to them.
If you speak a second language and you have a child, It is a great gift that you can give to them to learn quickly and easily at a young age and to get these fantastic benefits from speaking multiple languages.
Okay, so very quickly, before we continue, it is so interesting to me when I look at the data, the statistics about this podcast, that I can see that over 50 of people that listen to this podcast are not following or not subscribed yet.
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Okay, so back to our topic about speaking multiple languages.
Um, and this is a topic that i did talk about a little bit on patreon as well, and that was about how languages can affect your personality, so i'm going to talk about it a little bit here, but if you want a full episode about this topic, you you can go to Patreon and for subscribers, it is in the bonus episodes collection, which you get access to.
So it's an interesting question.
Do you feel like a different person when you speak a different languages or when you speak a different language?
A lot of bilinguals or multilinguals say that they feel and act more confident in one language and in another they are more shy, maybe more hesitant.
We can say as well as shy, not so confident.
Some people also say that they feel more polite in one language and much more direct in another.
And one reason for this is culture.
When you speak a language, you aren't just using words.
You're also using that language's cultural rules.
For example, in English, we tend to say please and thank you a lot.
And if you don't, you might sound quite rude.
So if you're learning English, you probably start to use these words more.
And this, of course, affects how you feel when you speak that language.
But in some other languages Saying please too often might actually sound too formal or even a little strange.
And if you're an English native speaker and you are speaking in a more direct language, you might start to feel different.
You might feel like you're being a little bit rude.
You might feel a little bit more confident, more direct.
So language really, really affects how we feel.
And another factor, another big factor, is body language.
When you switch languages, you might even change the way that you gesture, laugh or even make eye contact.
So changing languages not only affects our words, it might affect our bodies too.
If we think about some languages and cultures, some are much more expressive with their hands and with their bodies.
First that comes to my mind is Italy.
So I think Italians are great.
I love Italy.
I love Italians and I love their language, and they are so expressive with their hands and their bodies, as well as their words.
So, of course, if you're learning Italian and you're speaking Italian, you will probably become more expressive with your body language as you speak it.
And other languages are the opposite.
And English.
I think if you learn English like UK English English is an expressive language, but with our voices.
So how we say things, the tone of our voice, the intonation, how we change the sounds of sentences.
Because UK English is quite indirect.
The importance of how we say things and how our voice sounds is so big.
And I will definitely make a specific episode about this in the future possibly, I think, on the Patreon, about how to use your voice to give different meanings in English.
So it's such an important topic if you're going to be in the UK or visiting the UK and even other English-speaking countries like Canada or Australia or Ireland, for example, too.
So a great, great topic.
But I'm very curious if you are bilingual or multilingual, let me know in the comments.
Do you feel different when you speak your second language?
Do you feel more confident, more shy, more happy or energetic?
Let me know how you feel in different languages.
I really, really am interested.
Okay, so I just want to briefly talk about the Patreon.
So as I mentioned, you can get advanced episodes on the Patreon.
So more fast speech and more difficult vocabulary.
As you can see, there's over 66 posts already, which you get instant access to.
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It is simply to choose how much you think my podcast and project is worth to you.
And just some examples.
So we can see here we've got bonus episodes, a B2 episode with a full transcript about the power of storytelling.
We get every week a easy English vocabulary of the week section where I teach you vocabulary and there's some exercises to help learn them and a short story too.
You also get, of course, the normal podcast episodes with a full text transcript and a higher quality audio as well.
And let me see here.
You get some content from my everyday life too.
So some videos in Ireland and in the UK.
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Thank you and let's get back to the end.
Okay, so a very short section, but I think it's important to add in because when I've been reading about this topic and preparing for this episode, I can see information about a really big benefit of speaking multiple languages.
And for learning English on top of your regular language, And this is quite amazing if the research continues to show this.
And it's that, did you know that speaking two languages can actually delay?
So make something happen later.
So it can delay dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
So these are diseases that affect memory, they affect the brain and are usually associated with getting older with age.
But there are a lot of studies, and a few very new studies, which show that bilingual people tend to develop dementia four to five years later than monolinguals.
So people that speak one language.
And why is this?
Um, so it seems to be that because switching between languages is like a mental workout for your brain.
Your brain is exercising, it is working much harder than if you were only speaking the one language language.
The more you exercise your brain, the stronger it stays as you get older.
So if you are feeling frustrated with learning english, Remember these points.
You're not just learning a language, you're actually improving your brain health too.
You're training your mind to be faster, to be more flexible, to be more creative, and you might even be helping your brain stay young forever.
Which, well, maybe not forever, for longer.
I don't know why I said forever.
So help your brain to stay young for longer, which is a huge benefit.
Absolutely.
And I think anything that is working your brain out and developing your brain is worthwhile.
It is positive.
It is good for you.
It's excellent, in my opinion.
So do keep it up.
Keep on working on your English.
Keep on developing your brain.
And you'll be healthier and happier for it.
Another point I was thinking about as I've been recording this with my own experience is often how our brains, especially when we're learning a language, can start to dream in another language.
I've had this experience quite a lot over the years when I've been learning Russian.
I remember at university when I was spending a lot of time studying.
And I was constantly reading Russian vocabulary, Russian text, listening to Russian audio.
And it was a real mental workout for my brain.
And it got tires.
And I would find that when I went to bed at night time...
I was having dreams with Russian language and sometimes my brain would have characters or people within my dreams which would be speaking or who would be speaking Russian to me.
And in my dreams, especially the more stressful ones, I would not understand what they are saying and I would get quite stressed out by this.
And then in other dreams I would have some positive, great dreams where I would find that I am speaking in the language and making sense of, And so maybe this is a way that our brain is working things out in different languages and processing these languages.
So I'm curious if any of you have dreams in English.
It's quite a cool experience, I think, to have dreams in another language.
So we have covered a lot today in this episode and I've talked a lot about the benefits of speaking multiple languages, of being bilingual or multilingual, and there are probably, to be honest, so many more benefits for our brains out there that I haven't covered.
And, Of course, there are a million more benefits to speaking English or a second language that aren't to do with the brain, like making friends jobs, education.
But today we were really focusing on our brain health, how our brains work and how our bodies and brains can benefit from being bilingual.
But do feel free to let me know any other benefits you also experience.
Some key words from today's episode.
So some vocabulary, potentially, that you might have learned.
It could be new for you.
So we had, remember, bilingual and monolingual.
So bilingual brains speak two languages or more, at least two.
And monolingual is one language.
So one mono.
Mono means one language.
And monolingual brains, a brain that can speak one language.
Multilingual means more than one, so it can be two or three or four languages even, or even more if you are almost like a superhero with your languages.
So, to recap what we've covered today, bilingual brains work differently and they are better at problem solving and multitasking.
We've also covered that learning another language doesn't necessarily make you smarter, but it does improve your brain in certain areas like creativity and problem solving.
We have looked at personality so how many bilinguals or multilinguals say that they feel like a different person in each language and how the culture of different languages can affect how we speak, so the words that we use and how we feel.
And finally, we've looked at how speaking two languages can help your brain stay healthy as you get older and some of the benefits of that.
So if you're learning English right now with me here in this podcast, keep going.
You're not just improving your language skills, you are upgrading your brain.
If you've listened this far and you've supported this far.
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And I hope you have an amazing rest of your day wherever you are.
Goodbye.
