Learning a second language has some surprising benefits. While most of us are aware of the obvious employment and travel benefits of having a second or even third language under our belt, learning another language also provides untold cognitive benefits.
Nicki Baird from Melbourne’s Centre for Adult Education (CAE) Languages Centre of Excellence says learning another language doesn’t just help you with new language skills – it can help your brain do better at other things also.
- Brainpower boost: learning another language trains your brain to deal with new levels of complexity and absorb new patterns.
- Improved memory: using your brain to learn a new language can improve your memory — it’s like a workout for your brain!
- It helps with multitasking: if you can jump from one language to another, chances are you can type, talk on the phone and eat your lunch at the same time.
- It could delay dementia: a range of studies on dementia have found people who are bilingual or multilingual developed dementia later than those who only speak one language.
- Improves your first language: yes, you heard right, learning a second language can actually improve your native tongue!
Nicki says while learning a language boosts your brainpower, it also contributes to your wellbeing – helping you experience other cultures, make new friends and contributing to a sense of personal achievement that is unrelated to your paid employment.
So, what are you waiting for? Get cracking on boosting your brain power and learning another language. From language essentials classes for travellers to full language courses, our qualified teachers have classes for beginners to experts.
CAE teach more than 20 different languages, so whether you want to learn Hindi, Chinese, Arabic, Swedish, French, Russian or another language – it’s likely we teach it!