
For a Better Brain, Learn Another Language - diodorus
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/more-languages-better-brain/381193/?single_page=true
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scobar
It seems that there are many studies that have compared mono and multilingual
people. I wonder if similar studies have been conducted comparing a group of
adults who are complacent with their mental development to a group who've made
a conscious choice to actively pursue a deep understanding of a new subject
that interests them.

I love learning new languages, but I understand that others may not. They
shouldn't be restricted to endure learning another language just to achieve
the cognitive advantages discussed in this article. There must exist other
options that better suit their interests. Even if the newly acquired
knowledge/skill must be relative to communication, there are more ways to
express one's thoughts than written and verbal language.

~~~
etherael
It does indeed sound a lot like the fitness equivalent of the statement "those
who play soccer found to have superior speed and endurance to others".

It's a little funny that the previous statement sounds so naive and odd when
compared with the cognitive equivalent in the article. I take it as evidence
that humans are obsessed with physical performance far more than mental, but
considering what can be achieved with the body vs the mind, the mismatch in
the importance given to the improvement of either is baffling to me.

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viksit
I chanced across the original paper [1] by Dr. Thomas Bak a few days ago
through a BBC article [2]. The section how they measure this is interesting,
for those interested.

Probably applicable to spoken languages as well as computer languages. I find
that having deep dived into lisp out of interest, my functions in other
languages have over time become almost purely functional, with the occasional
side effect - I actually cringe a little bit when a function doesn't return
anything. The result is that my code has become immediately unit testable.
Perhaps the analogy is true?

[1] PDF:
[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.24158/pdf](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.24158/pdf)

[2]
[http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27634990](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27634990)

~~~
agumonkey
My experience with functional programming helped me understand the use of
register machines (aka imperative programming). FP has a better ability to cut
and expose clean abstractions, while register machines conflates things
quickly, making it hard to see if it doesn't fit your brain's inner working.
Being on the other side helped me see these hidden structures (whether or not
I change the way I write C code for instance).

edit: typos, also I believe [https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-
text/sicp/book/node105.ht...](https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-
text/sicp/book/node105.html) is a good example of bridging both worlds.
Mapping a scheme to a register machine. Sussman's videos were a real eye
opener.

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SpaceManNabs
Yes, learning another language has been shown to have cognitive benefits,
especially as seen in dedicated, professional translators or interpreters.
Nonetheless, these facets have been shown to come from practice. Intellectual
rigour is rigour nonetheless, just make it varied. You could say the same
things about learning a new instrument, hobby, or skill.

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sosuke
How about all the languages a programmer 'speaks' does knowing how to code in
a dozen different languages help? I'd like to think so.

I keep flopping between what second language to choose, Spanish, German or
Japanese.

~~~
NhanH
Unless you have a specific goal in mind for learning a new language, I'd
suggest Chinese. The language itself is by far much different than English
(comparing with with all the language you listed above), you will learn about
a much different culture than the West, and a billion speakers is nothing to
scoff at.

~~~
wwweston
Is there really any single Chinese dialect I could hope to learn that would
enable me to communicate with a billion Chinese speakers?

~~~
UrMomReadsHN
No. They are mostly mutually unintelligible.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_language)

~~~
rahimnathwani
Yes, but most Chinese people can speak Mandarin, even if it's not their mother
tongue. So learning Mandarin will indeed enable you to converse with any of a
billion people.

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microcolonel
Anyone notice that they're throwing out known translations for these phrases?
"Love was in the air", or maybe "a premonition of love"(for 恋の予感), "the spirit
of the stairwell" (for l'esprit de l'escalier) is a bit ambiguous, but I'm
sure that in context it would make sense, they're not linguistic constructs,
but cultural ones.

It seems that every time somebody writes an article like this, they emphasize
that sort of ill-conceieved reason for learning a language. If they want to
talk about cognitive benefits, they should stick to that.

~~~
falsestprophet
"Staircase wit" is a much better translation than "the spirit of the
stairwell." It has the added virtue of being explainable in English.

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shortsightedsid
I really wonder if these studies can be extended to countries which are
naturally multi-lingual. By that I mean countries where there are more than 1
language spoken. E.g. Switzerland has German, Italian, French and Romansh as
official languages. That means even its more than likely that the average
Swiss will know more than 1 language. Therefore, the question I have is
whether the Swiss have better brains than someone in England who speaks only
English.

~~~
lawl
Most people ignore the other languages. Swiss childern would have to learn one
other language at school, but learning a language in school sucks so bad that
most will not be able to speak anything in it. You don't learn a language by
memorizing vocabulary for exams. You learn it by using it, and that's not
happening.

So, I'd answer this with nope. Source: I'm swiss.

I'd suggest look at people who truly grew up bilingual.

~~~
jeffreyrogers
Don't you at least learn some of the others to a passable extent? (I had a
roommate who was from a French speaking part of Switzerland and he was able to
speak at least passable German with my German friends, so I just assumed this
was common in Switzerland... but maybe he was just an exception?).

~~~
lawl
We should. But at least the german speaking part mostly doesn't. At least in
my personal experience. Of course some people do... But every single meeting I
had in the french part was done in english because my french is non-existant
and so was their german.

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grantlmiller
I would suggest that the author learn the language of rationality... starting
with an analysis of correlation & causation.
[http://lesswrong.com/lw/khd/confound_it_correlation_is_usual...](http://lesswrong.com/lw/khd/confound_it_correlation_is_usually_not_causation/)

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hcarvalhoalves
I guess having twice the vocabulary (or 2x, 3x...) gives you more tools to
think.

Sometimes, when I'm trying to figure out something hard, I think/write in
english (not my native language), and the thoughts seem to develop more
logically (can't explain why though). So I guess it's not just learning, but
using it.

~~~
pcmonk
Thinking more rationally in a foreign language is actually a well
documented[0]. I know I myself have noticed it.

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/25/foreign-language-
de...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/25/foreign-language-decision-
making_n_1453615.html)

~~~
lcedp
From the article:

Ultimately, they concluded, as more countries and people across the world
start to participate in a global economy and, consequentially, begin to learn
foreign languages, _more rational and favorable (read: risky)_ decisions will
be made.

More rational..risky? How so?

~~~
hcarvalhoalves
Avoiding risk is not necessarily rational.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_aversion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_aversion)

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tuke
It is rather amusing that the picture shows a Quebec stop sign with
"Arret/Stop." In France, it would just say "Stop" \- no need for bilingualism
in that case.

~~~
vowelless
Incidentally, when I visited Quebec, _all_ the road signs I encountered were
exclusively in French. As I was driving from Ontario into Quebec, it was like
entering a different country.

~~~
jfim
Note that most of the road signs in Quebec have no text [1], similar to the
ones in the rest of Canada (and unlike the ones in the US, which use a lot
more text). Notable exceptions to those are construction and information
signs, respectively the orange and blue ones, as well as the parking signs.
Obviously, locations are going to be in French.

[1] [http://www.rsr.mtq.gouv.qc.ca/](http://www.rsr.mtq.gouv.qc.ca/)

~~~
pluma
If you think the place names being in French is obvious, you've probably never
been to Belgium. As most places in the country have names in both of the
national languages, many signs with place names on them carry both.

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lukasm
How many languages you know - that many times you are a human.

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igorgue
Usually learning how to do something you do really well (e.g. communicating)
in a different way stimulates the brain.

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ColinWright
Single page:

[http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/more-
langu...](http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/more-languages-
better-brain/381193/?single_page=true)

~~~
dang
Thanks; changed.

~~~
ColinWright
Great - now please can you go change this:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8458371](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8458371)

~~~
dang
At your service. But how did we miss it?! We must institute a process.

~~~
ColinWright
Typo in the title - easy to miss on multiple readings. It would be nice to
have a friction-free way to put things in your "I can fix this quickly" queue.
Q: how to avoid abuse?

Tricky.

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m1117
And I'm going to learn Swift yeey, feeling so validated now!!!

