Why I'm learning languages and why I think it matters.
As an adult learning a language, undoubtedly one of the first questions asked of you is "Why?". Usually with the presumption that you're moving to a place where that is the official language, travel or because you need it for work.
I'm not doing it for any of those reasons.
Also, I'll point out, since one of the languages I'm learning is Japanese; I'm not learning it to read manga or listen to anime.
All of those, in my opinion, are perfectly valid reasons. And while none of them are my primary reason, they are all great secondary reasons. I really don't see myself moving to Japan, or France or even Quebec. But, I have family in Quebec and Japan is my dream vacation destination. So, any learning will potentially add value in the future. Who knows when a job might come up where that gives me the edge. Not mention, it just opens more doors. And I do enjoy anime and I have been enjoying reading manga in Japanese.
The reasons I've stuck with language learning boil down to a realization I had possibly after I even started on Japanese. And that is that adults are lazy. I'm lazy. I've been incredibly lazy since finishing school. Not in the classical sense. I work every day. And certainly, I even feel as though I work "hard". But, I work in one field solving the same sorts of problems day in and day out. It's a rare day indeed that work makes me think to myself "I felt stupid today", or "I really learned a lot today".
When we finish school and enter the workforce, we specialize. Like mad. We specialize at work. And we specialize at home. We are creatures of habit and we learn to make our lives simpler by creating a following patterns or finding ways to make the things in our lives fit into well defined molds. We make it easier and easier to become lazier and lazier.
I had started learning many things along the way, and usually gave up on them. Guitar in school. Mead making. Beer making. If I looked long enough I could probably find a long string of failed ambitions. Or perhaps half-failed is more adequate. I can still make mead and beer and play guitar. I just never got past the beginning phase.
And if I'm allowed to be a jerk about it. I see the same in just about everyone around me.
And then I read some news about language learning and Alzheimer's disease. Apparently, at the moment, one of the strongest "treatments" which can delay onset by as much as a year or two, is learning another language. The theory being that a multi-lingual person has more connections in their brain and thus is takes the disease longer to erode the brain to the point where symptoms start showing.
Between these 2 things I had finally found a cause worth fighting for. Defeating my own laziness and potentially delaying the onset of an incredibly terrible disease.
Personally, I think truly learning ANYTHING new should help in fighting Alzheimer's based on these conclusions. But language is special, in that it is both broad and deep. In fact, it is intimidatingly so. Languages touches everything you know. Language can create new connections between every single word and thought.
The studies seemed to imply that learning a second language as a child may have a stronger benefit than learning as an adult. But, the study didn't point to a major difference and I think the study is thus partly flawed.
People who are born into bilingual families or cultures learn to become fluent in many ways which are unheard of for later learners. They tend to learn FAR more vocabulary. A FAR greater mastery of grammar. Proper pronunciation. Better ability to decode native language audio. And probably a great deal more.
When I think about the gap in language proficiency between the AVERAGE person who is bilingual since childhood and the AVERAGE person who learns as an adult... it isn't surprising that a gap exists in the benefits between the two. But what IS surprising is how small that gap is when it comes to Alzheimer's research.
Most adults learn for the sorts of reasons I mentioned earlier. And that doesn't really demand fluency. In fact, VERY far from it.
You see, forcing yourself to learn something as complex as a language changes your brain chemistry. I suspect that continuing to have these changes later in life may account for why, despite the HUGE gaps in average abilities, that the difference in impact on Alzheimer's is SOOO small, even though such a length of delay is many times larger than anything else we can accomplish with science right now.
In other words, learning a second language is the single biggest thing you can do my a long shot to stave off mental decline. If it is SO critical, and SO important, then that gap in proficiency should have been more pronounced in the study.
And similarly, if a study were done between children who learned a second language as a child, and those who attained fluency as an adult... I think it is possible that we could actually see the benefit being higher in the late learners.
But MAN am I off topic now.
I'm learning languages BECAUSE it is the hardest thing I've done since I graduated. It makes me feel like an idiot on a near daily basis. It is humbling. Enlightening. 面白くて楽しいですが簡単じゃないよ. I want to be better than I was. I don't want to view my ambitions as goals, but as things I keep learning for life. And if I can potentially buy myself a few extra years of clarity along the way... 結構がいい.
でもねあなたの人生はあなたの物です
よろしくお願いします
I'm not doing it for any of those reasons.
Also, I'll point out, since one of the languages I'm learning is Japanese; I'm not learning it to read manga or listen to anime.
All of those, in my opinion, are perfectly valid reasons. And while none of them are my primary reason, they are all great secondary reasons. I really don't see myself moving to Japan, or France or even Quebec. But, I have family in Quebec and Japan is my dream vacation destination. So, any learning will potentially add value in the future. Who knows when a job might come up where that gives me the edge. Not mention, it just opens more doors. And I do enjoy anime and I have been enjoying reading manga in Japanese.
The reasons I've stuck with language learning boil down to a realization I had possibly after I even started on Japanese. And that is that adults are lazy. I'm lazy. I've been incredibly lazy since finishing school. Not in the classical sense. I work every day. And certainly, I even feel as though I work "hard". But, I work in one field solving the same sorts of problems day in and day out. It's a rare day indeed that work makes me think to myself "I felt stupid today", or "I really learned a lot today".
When we finish school and enter the workforce, we specialize. Like mad. We specialize at work. And we specialize at home. We are creatures of habit and we learn to make our lives simpler by creating a following patterns or finding ways to make the things in our lives fit into well defined molds. We make it easier and easier to become lazier and lazier.
I had started learning many things along the way, and usually gave up on them. Guitar in school. Mead making. Beer making. If I looked long enough I could probably find a long string of failed ambitions. Or perhaps half-failed is more adequate. I can still make mead and beer and play guitar. I just never got past the beginning phase.
And if I'm allowed to be a jerk about it. I see the same in just about everyone around me.
And then I read some news about language learning and Alzheimer's disease. Apparently, at the moment, one of the strongest "treatments" which can delay onset by as much as a year or two, is learning another language. The theory being that a multi-lingual person has more connections in their brain and thus is takes the disease longer to erode the brain to the point where symptoms start showing.
Between these 2 things I had finally found a cause worth fighting for. Defeating my own laziness and potentially delaying the onset of an incredibly terrible disease.
Personally, I think truly learning ANYTHING new should help in fighting Alzheimer's based on these conclusions. But language is special, in that it is both broad and deep. In fact, it is intimidatingly so. Languages touches everything you know. Language can create new connections between every single word and thought.
The studies seemed to imply that learning a second language as a child may have a stronger benefit than learning as an adult. But, the study didn't point to a major difference and I think the study is thus partly flawed.
People who are born into bilingual families or cultures learn to become fluent in many ways which are unheard of for later learners. They tend to learn FAR more vocabulary. A FAR greater mastery of grammar. Proper pronunciation. Better ability to decode native language audio. And probably a great deal more.
When I think about the gap in language proficiency between the AVERAGE person who is bilingual since childhood and the AVERAGE person who learns as an adult... it isn't surprising that a gap exists in the benefits between the two. But what IS surprising is how small that gap is when it comes to Alzheimer's research.
Most adults learn for the sorts of reasons I mentioned earlier. And that doesn't really demand fluency. In fact, VERY far from it.
You see, forcing yourself to learn something as complex as a language changes your brain chemistry. I suspect that continuing to have these changes later in life may account for why, despite the HUGE gaps in average abilities, that the difference in impact on Alzheimer's is SOOO small, even though such a length of delay is many times larger than anything else we can accomplish with science right now.
In other words, learning a second language is the single biggest thing you can do my a long shot to stave off mental decline. If it is SO critical, and SO important, then that gap in proficiency should have been more pronounced in the study.
And similarly, if a study were done between children who learned a second language as a child, and those who attained fluency as an adult... I think it is possible that we could actually see the benefit being higher in the late learners.
But MAN am I off topic now.
I'm learning languages BECAUSE it is the hardest thing I've done since I graduated. It makes me feel like an idiot on a near daily basis. It is humbling. Enlightening. 面白くて楽しいですが簡単じゃないよ. I want to be better than I was. I don't want to view my ambitions as goals, but as things I keep learning for life. And if I can potentially buy myself a few extra years of clarity along the way... 結構がいい.
でもねあなたの人生はあなたの物です
よろしくお願いします
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