Why learn another language as a senior?

Learning a second language benefits cognitive abilities like intelligence and memory, while lowering risks of brain aging, dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Knowing a second language can postpone the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s by an impressive 4.5 years.

Brains scans found a noticeable difference in the brain activity of bilinguals. Their brains worked much more efficiently, and utilized a larger area of the brain than monolingual subjects.

Scientists believe that these seniors’ brains have more reserve brainpower which helps them compensate for age-related memory loss later in life.

Interestingly, people who practice just speaking and listening in a different language experience the same protective benefits against dementia as literate bilinguals.

It means you don’t have to practice reading and writing – practicing speaking is enough to receive benefit.

Research shows that the more languages you know, the less likely you are to experience memory loss and cognitive decline.

“Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe