If your brain is “the only weapon worth possessing,” then
foreign languages are certainly the right kind of ammunition.
Now – on Brain Awareness Week – let’s find out: how does
learning a foreign language affect your brain? 1. The great
unknown: you don’t know your brain President Obama announced a
month ago that he wants to fund a big brain-mapping research
project. It will take ten years at least – but until then, we
will know very little about how brains work. And, to be honest,
we may know very little after the project has run its course.
Every brain is unique, as are the experiences stored in our
memory. So is there hope for science? And is there anything that
a foreign language learner can glean from knowing more about
brains? Hell yeah. Here’s the awesome stuff. 2. Learn a
language, your brain will thank you Language learning can help
your brain grow. It can also slow down the initial symptoms of
Alzheimer’s disease. This is science, and I guess all polyglots
read that already. Here’s something that sc