language psychology Tag

FINALLY here's some news we all wanted to hear! Alcohol really can make you better at learning a foreign language. I mean, it really does make sense. Have you ever experienced being in a Parisian restaurant, attempting to practice your French, only to be stared down by a snooty waiter? All of the sudden, your tongue turns to mush and café and caca...

According to an article in The Independent, research shows that the benefits of being bilingual start at an incredibly young age, as young as six months to be exact. Researchers from the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences worked collaboritevly with surrounding hospitals to take an in-depth look at the effects of bilingual exposure at a particularly...

In an article just published by Robert Lee Hotz in the Wall Street Journal (link below), diverse findings are shared that prove more benefits for speaking an additional language. I will highlight the five main points: 1. Speaking more than one language might change the physical structure of the brain in a favorable way. 2. Bilingual speakers can hear sounds that monolingual...

Raising a Bilingual Child As I am now a new parent (see pic!), I am ready to put the following research-proven theories to work: 1. Children can learn multiple languages at the same time. The human brain is wired in such a way that a child can learn multiple languages and not realize he is learning them. The learning truly comes "for...

Learning a second language can be an incredibly psychological endeavor.  For every person, this experience will be different but we have all certainly experienced some of the doubt, panic and fear that come with the task of really speaking in a second language. In Second Language Acquisition (the scientific field that studies such things), an important term regarding psychology is "individual...

In a recent story in the New York Times (link below), the benefits of bilingualism were spelled out in a very comprehensive way. The benefits are now scientifically traceable from infancy to old age. The article is not written in an overly scientific register but here are some Plain English translations of what you will find there (a link to the...