The internet is abuzz with news of a new study published in the journal Neurology that indicates that bilingualism can delay the effects of dementia (including Alzheimer's). While other researchers have certainly drawn the same conclusion in the past, this study has the largest sample size and is certainly worth reading about! But if you're more interested in how learning a second language will impact your child's brain NOW, here are a few more fun facts about the bilingual brain and language development from some of our favorite articles around the web:
- Children who learn multiple languages may make grammatical errors at first, but it won't last! Just as monolingual children sometimes make errors as they begin to learn the structure of a language ("I go'ed" vs. "I went"), so do bilingual or multilingual children. It's all a part of the language learning process.
- Socio-economic status has a greater effect on vocabulary than bilingualism. Some parents fear that adding a second language to the mix will stunt their child's development in their first language, but more and more evidence indicates that multilingualism is an insignificant indicator of how a child's vocabulary will develop. Read more at the New York Times.
- On the other hand, speaking a second language helps delay dementia regardless of education level. This new study demonstrates that even illiterate participants reaped the benefits of bilingualism, experiencing the same 5-year delay in symptoms as more formally educated participants.