Hello everyone, and welcome back to English With Dylan! You’re listening to Episode 5: How Learning a Language Changes Your Brain. I hope you’re having a great day so far, and that this episode will help make it a little bit greater. Before we get started, I just want to remind you not to forget about any further thoughts and questions that you have regarding today’s topic! You can put them all in the comment section on my instagram, @englishwithdylanpod (remember, do your best to comment in English, that way everyone can enjoy the fun!). As I established in the previous episode, before I start with today’s main topic, I would like to answer this week’s Question of The Week!

What was the moment in which you were most thankful for the ability to speak another language?

Now this question really caught my eye. Most of the time, people ask me to list concrete reasons why they should learn a language or how it will benefit them (in fact, the main topic of this episode is all about that!). And, hey, it makes sense, humans are generally pretty logical, and so we are often motivated by logical, sensible reasons to do something. There is absolutely nothing wrong with talking about concrete facts, it’s exactly what I’m going to do later. However, the person who submitted this question instead wanted to hear about a moment in which I felt amazing while speaking another language. This question – and its answer – have nothing to do with logic, they aren’t factual. But so much of the human experience isn’t about fact at all, it’s about feeling, and so that’s why I felt compelled to give an answer.
I’ll start by saying that it is quite literally impossible for me to choose one moment in which I was the most thankful! If I were to designate one single moment out of almost two years, four vacations, and countless new friendships worth of speaking other languages, I feel it would take away from all the other beautiful experiences I’ve had. So instead, I’ll talk about the moment in which I feel I made the most difference in someone’s day by speaking another language, which did, indeed, make me feel incredibly thankful. 

About a year ago, in April of 2022, I was on a plane from Vancouver to Toronto with my mom. I had my headphones in and was fully engaged in my movie, so I took no notice of anything going on around me. My mom did, though, as she had gotten up to go to the bathroom and saw three flight attendants crowded around one row of passengers, looking “quite helpless and confused”, as my mom phrased it. She tapped me on the shoulder and gestured for me to take off my headphones. So I did, and she said, “hey, buddy, I’m pretty sure they’re looking for someone who speaks Spanish!” She pointed towards where the flight attendants had been moments before. Now, though, there was only one. I figured that the others had gone to find a phone that they could use to translate. And I decided that I wasn’t going to let that happen! 

I got up, and saw a flight attendant near the back of the plane, she appeared to be searching for something. I approached her and said, “hey, are you guys looking for someone who speaks Spanish?” Her face lit up! She told me that they were indeed, and immediately ushered me towards the row that the other attendant was still standing beside. The passenger in need turned out to be a Colombian woman, maybe in her 50s, and she appeared to be quite embarrassed. She was on the window seat in her aisle, which meant that for the last five minutes, a group of flight attendants had been leaning over the two other passengers in her row, trying to understand what she needed. The poor woman felt terrible about the fact that she didn’t speak any English! I told her not to worry though, that so many people learn English already and that us North Americans should make a better effort with foreign languages. She laughed and told me she agreed, then she explained to me what she needed. I found it quite comical: all of this commotion just for a bottle of water and some instructions on how to tighten her seat belt (she told me that she gets very nervous in planes and so she likes to have her seatbelt as tight as possible). I translated her needs from Spanish into English for the flight attendants, and then translated the instructions on how to tighten the seat belt from English back to Spanish for the woman, whose name I unfortunately don’t remember. She thanked me very much for my help, so I told her no problem and to enjoy the rest of her flight! 

The story continued, though, after we landed in Toronto. As we waited for our baggage, I noticed the woman staring at her phone, and then looking around, as if searching for something. She seemed stressed. I approached her and said, “sabes a dónde ir?” (do you know where to go?) and she laughed and told me that no, she had absolutely no idea. I looked at her ticket and realized that, being unfamiliar with the airport in Toronto, I had no idea where to send her either! However, I then realized that I do speak English, which meant that I was able to find and speak with someone who could send her in the right direction. Perfect. I told her to follow me towards the customer service desk on the other side of the baggage claim area. There were three or four people in line in front of us, so we had time to make small talk (small talk is defined as “polite conversation about unimportant or uncontroversial matters”). In that particular situation, being that we were two travelers who met on the plane, the small talk started with me asking her what she had been doing in Vancouver (I already knew from looking at her plane ticket that she was heading home to Colombia on her next flight). She told me that she had a daughter who lived in Victoria, British Columbia, and so she had been visiting her. She then explained that it had been a stressful and sad trip for her. Her husband, who did speak English, had passed away only two months earlier, and so it was incredibly sad for her to travel to Canada. She told me that there were so many moments in which she wished that she had her husband by her side to help her out. My heart absolutely shattered for this poor woman, and I told her that I was very sorry for her loss. I also began to feel even more thankful for the fact that I was able to help her out. Eventually, we reached the front of the line, and I translated the instructions from the airport employee. It turned out that she only had to walk through two doors, go up some stairs, and then turn left! Now, for me, it’s always been a very curious thing to say goodbye to someone that I know I’ll never see again, even if I’m not particularly close with them. It’s not like this woman and I were friends: we had only met two hours prior, and we really only had two good conversations. And yet, we had played quite an important role in each other’s days: I made sure her travels went smoothly, and her story was a good reminder to me to never stop appreciating my friends and loved ones and the ways that they make my life better. She was incredibly thankful for the way that I’d helped her, I noticed that she had some tears in her eyes as she gave me a hug. She then said a few words that I’ll never forget: “eres mi ángel, Dylan.” (you are my angel). Considering the story that she had told me about her late husband, those words hit me very hard, and only in that moment did I realize the impact that I had had on her day. 

The whole time, I was just doing what I felt was right. I didn’t think it was particularly special at all, because it wasn’t: there was a person in need that I was equipped to help, so I helped them. It’s the most basic level of human compassion. But the thing is, sometimes what seems so incredibly normal and basic and just the polite thing to do can actually mean the world to someone, depending on the circumstances. My interaction with that woman reinforced that idea in my head, and for that reason I am so thankful that I was fluent enough in Spanish to meet and talk to her. 

Whew, that was a long answer of the week! I hope you enjoyed hearing that story. I know you’re all patiently waiting, so let’s get right into it: How Learning a Language Changes your Brain.

I’m going to address this topic in two parts. Firstly, I will talk briefly about the proven physical changes that the human brain undergoes when learning a language (because yes, if you didn’t know, the actual physical structure of your brain CHANGES! Isn’t that awesome???).. And finally, I will tell you about a few changes that I, personally, have noticed and experienced since I started learning foreign languages. It’s true, I have genuinely noticed differences in my mind, my thought processes, and even in my behaviour! (Again, isn’t that awesome?)

So, let’s get started. To me, it is incredibly fascinating that our brains actually physically change as we learn and master another language. But what is it that actually changes and grows? Well, to answer that, we first have to learn what makes up the brain. There are several ways to divide up the brain, but one of the simplest is to divide it into its two different kinds of tissue: grey matter and white matter. Now, I am no neuroscientist, so I won’t try to give a super complex and in depth definition of these two structures, just know that I am simplifying it quite a bit here! Feel free to research more about this topic after the episode for more complete definitions. But essentially, grey matter is mostly made up of the cell bodies of neurons, while white matter is mostly made up of  something called axons, which are extensions of nerve cells. A very dumbed down, simple way to put it would be that grey matter is responsible for processing information (“information” can be anything, from our senses like sight and hearing, all the way to actual information that we learn, at school for example). The grey matter includes regions of the brain that are involved in muscle control, emotions, speech, self-control, decision making, memory, attention, language processing, and more. White matter, on the other hand, is mostly responsible for connecting different regions of the brain, for transmitting information as quickly as possible from one area to the other. Understood? Grey matter for processing, white matter for connecting the whole thing together and transmitting messages from one region to the next.

It turns out that learning a foreign language, even as an adult, is proven to have a positive effect on both of these different kinds of structures, but especially in the grey matter. In a study done in 2012, participants underwent an intensive course in German, and had images taken of their brain at the beginning of the process. When imaging was done again five months later, an increase in the size and amount of grey matter was evident, regardless of how proficient the participant had actually become in German. Another study done in 2012 by a scientist named Johan Mårtensson found that after three months of intense study, participants had increased cortical thickness (that is to say, the thickness of the cortex, which is associated with general intelligence and good functioning of the brain). Interestingly, in that particular study, a control group was also made to spend the same amount of time studying other difficult subjects such as medicine. The control group, however, did not experience this same increase in cortical thickness. Isn’t that fascinating? What it means is that there is something in particular about learning a new language (even as an adult!!!) that causes notable structural changes to the brain, structural changes that are associated with an increase in overall intelligence, which can mean anything from the time it takes to process information to the physical health and durability of our brains. In my opinion, the fact that this same effect isn’t even found in learning about something as difficult as medicine highlights just how special it is to learn another language. And these are not long periods of time guys. It is genuinely possible to change the very structures of our brains in as little as three months by studying a second language. While it’s true that the students in these studies were undergoing “intense” language courses, other studies have also been done which demonstrate that something as simple as university level Spanish classes had a positive impact on the function of neurons in the brain. In addition, other studies have shown that being bilingual “improves the integrity” of the white matter in your brain, which is essentially a fancy way of saying that it gets more durable, more reliable, more functional. So what does all of this mean? Well, to put it quite simply, in order for something in your body to grow, new cells must be created. When it comes to the brain, the more cells the better, because it is in fact a decline in the amount of neurons in the brain that causes “cognitive decline” as a person ages. So firstly, by studying and becoming fluent in another language, you are physically creating new neurons in your brain, you are increasing the actual size of your brain, thereby making it stronger, healthier, more resistant to the aging process, and higher functioning (more on that later, in my personal anecdotes). But that’s not all: at the same time, as your white matter increases, you are actually also improving your brain’s ability to transmit information between these neurons. So not only does your brain get stronger, it also gets faster! It is quite literally like going to the gym for your brain. I don’t know about you guys, but the fact that we can literally improve the function of our brains is absolutely incredible to me! We often assume that the brain we’re given is the brain that we’ve got (at least, that’s what I used to believe) but that is not the case at all. Indeed, learning a language is one of the most unique, effective, and beneficial ways to literally “get smarter”. 

All of this is absolutely fantastic, it’s great to know that our brains are becoming healthier and functioning better! But what about long term positive effects? Well, arguably one of the most unfortunate things that the human brain can experience is called dementia. Dementia is a general term (not linked to any specific disease, though most commonly caused by Alzheimer’s) for a loss of memory and other thinking abilities that is severe enough to interfere in one’s day to day life. And you bet, there are many studies out there that prove that bilingualism has an effect on the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Note that the study was done on bilinguals: that is, to be specific, people who are “fluent” in two languages. That’s not even to say that the participants spoke both of their languages every day, or even that often. It simply means that, if needed, the participants are able to fluently converse in two languages. What that means for you is that you don’t need to be afraid if you don’t have a way to incorporate English into your everyday life! Just make sure that you use it as often as possible, and when you don’t have the chance to speak it, try and keep it fresh in your mind by listening or reading! Anyways, in 2020, three researchers did a huge analysis of 20 different studies related to bilingualism and its effects on dementia, and published their findings in the scientific journal, “Psychonomic Bulletin and Review.” What they found was that, indeed, being bilingual had a consistent and obvious positive effect, specifically on the onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms. Though they were not able to find evidence to suggest that being bilingual totally prevents Alzheimer’s, there is sound evidence to show that the start of symptoms is delayed in bilinguals for up to five years, on average. Other studies find numbers as high as seven or even ten years of resistance to the beginning of the disease (of course, keep in mind that this is only for those who are destined to get Alzheimer’s in the first place, not everyone will – regardless of whether they learn other languages or not – but everyone does experience some form of cognitive decline). To me, these findings are absolutely incredible. For context, about 13% of people between the ages of 75 and 84 have some form of Alzheimer’s. That means that, statistically speaking, more than one out of every ten people that listen to this podcast would theoretically have at least a mild stage of Alzheimer’s by that point in their life. Imagine that that one ends up being you. Now, consider the fact that learning English gives you, on average, five more years without Alzheimer’s. That’s an extra five entire years of life without dealing with this awful disease. It could be the difference between starting to have symptoms at 75 and 80, or at 80 and 85, or at 85 and 90, or even more. There are ways to fix problems in the stomach, diseases of the liver and the kidney, even heart attacks. But you only have one brain, and when real damage is done to your cognitive ability, it is incredibly difficult – and in many cases, impossible – to fix it. So to me, it seems like the best thing that we can do to take care of our most important organ is build up resistance, to build a strong brain, so that we can enjoy the incredible gift of a fully functioning brain for as long as humanly possible. That’s certainly my goal!

The bottom line is that, no matter who you are, learning a new language is going to strengthen your brain in ways that even studying medicine cannot do. Something else to consider is that all of the studies that I was able to find while doing research for this episode considered either adults who began learning a second language, or people who have been bilingual since birth. I wasn’t able to find any literature about how these effects multiply when one learns a third, a fourth, a fifth language, etc! If it is proven that all of these incredible things happen to your brain just by learning one language, just imagine what might happen if we take on several new languages! I do hope that studies are done on this specific topic, and if anyone listening to this episode is able to find one, I’d love to know about it!

Wow, that was a lot of complex, scientific vocabulary! I’m proud of you for making it through that! Don’t worry, it’s going to get easier from here: I’m now going to share my personal experience with the positive effects of multilingualism on the brain.

So, just for context and as a reminder, I am naturally entirely monolingual. I was raised by English speaking parents in an English speaking household in an English speaking city, and so English is the only language that I knew how to speak right up until I was 16 years old. In May of 2021 I started seriously learning French (after having studied the basics at school), followed by Spanish in August of that same year, and then Italian in February of 2022. One thing to note is that I did not wait to become fully “fluent” in one language before starting the other. I still learned and improved a lot in French after starting Spanish. Truth be told, I have never stopped learning in any of the languages that I have started, and never will! I would say that I now speak all three of these languages “fluently” – that is to say, I can have a conversation about pretty much any topic in any of those three languages. My Spanish and Italian are notably stronger than my French due to the fact that I use them a lot more in my day to day life with friends, but my French is still there (I know this for sure, as I recently spent five days in Montréal speaking French all the time)! In addition to these 3, my Portuguese is decent. I started learning in about December of 2022 and, although I haven’t had the chance to study it as consistently and intensively as I’d like, I am capable of having basic conversations. My Portuguese comprehension is quite good thanks to my knowledge of other Latin based languages, but my speaking still needs a lot of work! I have also started learning German, but I definitely have not learned enough of it for it to have any sort of effect on my brain. To be conservative (as most of my Portuguese knowledge is based on the fact that I know Spanish) let’s just call it four languages in total: my natural English, plus French, Spanish, and Italian. So what kind of effects have I felt, what kind of changes have I experienced, in the process of going from monolingual to multilingual?

For starters, the only remotely “negative” thing (it’s not negative at all, really, just weird!) that I’ve ever experienced was when I was in Spain in April of 2022. Near the end of my time there, I remember I called my parents just to catch up with them. I discovered that, after 8 days straight of speaking only Spanish, it was actually surprisingly difficult to speak English! Not “difficult” in the sense that I wasn’t capable, or that I’d forgotten it, obviously not. But I noticed that I had to put much more effort in than usual, at least for the first few minutes of the call. I have to say, it was an incredibly weird sensation! I never imagined that I’d ever have to put effort into speaking English, but at the beginning of that conversation there was a noticeable level of “searching for the right words” which I had never experienced in my native language. To be honest, though, I actually find that quite cool! It meant that my brain had totally and completely switched to Spanish for the duration of that trip. So, again, it’s not really negative, but I suppose it’s the only “weird” thing that has ever happened to me. 

And now, onto the positives!

Let’s talk about memory. I mentioned it briefly while talking about grey matter, but I wanted to elaborate on it and give my personal experience. I would say that I naturally have a “good” memory. Then again, I sometimes ask myself if it’s a natural good memory, or if it’s because I’ve been memorizing lines for scenes in tv shows since I was like 10 years old. Probably a bit of both. The point is, before I ever learned languages, I already had what I would call a pretty good memory. I rarely studied at school (although Canadian high school is quite easy, as I talked about in Episode 3) and I’m sort of known in my family as the one who remembers very specific moments and events from many many years ago. This shows that I had both a good short-term memory and a good long-term memory. Since I started learning languages, I have noticed SIGNIFICANT improvements in both kinds of memory. As an example, before I became multilingual, I had a set routine for memorizing my lines. I would read through the whole scene once or twice, and then I would go through it again, line by line. I would say the first two lines to myself, then go back to the start. Then I’d go to the third line, then go back to the start, etc etc etc. Essentially, although I was pretty quick at memorizing, I needed a lot of repetition in order for the words to “sink in”. These days, however, I’ve noticed that I often have scenes completely memorized after only reading them once or twice! I no longer have to use this routine/strategy. I simply read the lines in the order that they come (no going back to the start) and then when I’ve finished reading I recite them to myself without looking at the page. Now, I don’t always get it 100% perfect after one read, it’s not like I’ve developed a photographic memory. But overall, the time that it takes me to memorize lines has gone way down, and the accuracy with which I recite them has gone way up. This would be an example of improvement in my short-term memory. Another example of improved short-term memory that I’ve personally experienced is that my ability to recall and visualize things that I’ve seen has improved. I’ve noticed that, more and more since I became multilingual, I’ve started having these moments every now and then where I perfectly recall something that I saw a few hours ago, or a day ago, something like that. It’s almost like my “mind’s eye” has gotten clearer: I can better visualize and recreate things that I’ve seen. For example, yesterday I was talking to my friend about the upcoming game between Real Madrid and Barcelona (I am currently writing this episode on Thursday, March 2, so the game is today! Hala Madrid!). He asked me what time the game would start, and for a second I didn’t remember. But then I thought back to a few days ago: I was at a restaurant watching another football game between Newcastle and Manchester United. Beside the big screen, there was a smaller screen which displayed the upcoming games that the restaurant would be showing on their tv. I was able to visualize this little screen in my mind’s eye, and I realized that, at one point during my time at the restaurant, I had looked at the screen and it said “Real Madrid v Barcelona, Thursday, 3:00 PM EST”. So I was able to tell my friend that it would start at 3:00! In a nutshell (essentially/basically), my ability to recall things that I’ve seen, and specific details about them, has improved a lot. Instead of just remembering the fact of the matter (that I learned that the game would start at 3:00), these days I actually find myself looking at the image in my head to recall details about it. Little moments like this have happened to me more and more over the last year and a bit. In addition to my short-term memory, I have also noticed that things that I learn are now much more likely to “stick” – that is, to stay with me – permanently, compared to before I learned any foreign languages. I’ve actually noticed this a lot as I have started learning German. I’m a little over a month into my German process, but recently I went about a week and a half without studying, due to the fact that I had a little vacation and then I got busy when I returned to Toronto. Last night, however, I logged back into Babbel to continue my lessons, and I realized that I miraculously hadn’t forgotten a single thing. Even the more recent stuff that I had only just started learning before my week and a half without studying, such as the accusative case, seemed to be firmly planted in my mind. The activity that I was doing on Babbel was just one where it gave me the word in English, and then I had to type it in German. It’s true that I had to think hard about a few of the more complicated words and verbs that I had learned, but at the end of the day I was always able to find the answer in my mind. It felt really awesome, to say the least! 

Aside from pure memory, I have also noticed a huge increase in my ability to concentrate, or more specifically, avoid being distracted. I have become something of an expert at blocking out distractions such as loud noises, bright lights, moving things, etc. This makes a lot of sense, when you think about it. At the beginning of every new language, when you first start trying to have basic conversations, your brain is constantly working to suppress your native language and use only the (limited) vocabulary that you have of another language. Have you ever experienced mental fatigue after attempting to speak a foreign language for an extended period of time? If so, you’ll know that it is, in every sense of the word, a full on workout for your brain! Part of this is because of how hard you have to concentrate on not using your native language. In the same way, let’s say that I was memorizing some lines, but there was a police car parked outside of my building with the sirens blaring. I feel pretty confident that it wouldn’t have any effect on my ability to memorize the lines, because I am now very well practiced in directing all my focus towards one single thought process, one stimulus, and ignoring all the rest. Are sirens still annoying? Yes. Would I prefer to learn my lines in peace? Absolutely! But would I be more effective if it was quiet around me? To be honest, I don’t think it makes that much of a difference anymore. Since I became multilingual, I have felt much more confident in my ability to single out one thing and direct all of my attention towards it. 

The last thing that I want to mention is actually less of a cognitive benefit, but more of a realization that I have had since I started speaking other languages. One day, I was speaking Italian with a friend of mine, and I noticed how much I had gotten used to saying “cioè” and “tipo”, which are both different ways to say “like”, depending on the context in. On one hand, this was a good thing, because it makes me sound more native, more natural when speaking Italian, as that’s the way that young people talk. On the other hand, though, I didn’t like how much I was relying on these “filler words”. I wanted to expand my vocabulary and sound more eloquent in Italian. And then the thought occurred to me: why am I so worried about sounding “eloquent” in Italian, but not my first language, English? The thought actually made me laugh, because when you look at it like that, it makes no sense! I was concerned about mastering another language before I had even made sure that I sounded good in my own native tongue! From then on, I started paying attention to the way that I speak English, as well as the way that my friends and family speak. In truth, it was shocking to me just how poorly some people speak their own native language, myself included! When I really started paying attention, I realized that not only do I say the word “like” WAY too much, but I have also grown accustomed to making a few grammatical errors! For example, I noticed that myself and a few others in my life often said things such as, “there’s a lot of people”/”There’s a lot of things”. People and Things are both plural nouns, and so the correct sentences would actually be “there are a lot of people, there are a lot of things”. Frighteningly, the list of common grammatical errors that we make in English goes on and on. Luckily, I have realized this, and I now make an effort every single time that I speak English to avoid things such as “like” and “um” from my regular vocabulary. Furthermore, I make sure to check my grammar while I’m speaking (and while I’m writing these episodes)! Overall, I am now giving a lot more importance to the way that I sound in my own language, and I know that over time this is going to turn me into a much more eloquent speaker, something that I, personally, value greatly and that I believe to be an excellent skill for anyone to have. 

Ultimately, there is an abundance of evidence that demonstrates that learning just one foreign language has a very positive, noticeable effect on the physical structure of your brain, simultaneously rendering it healthier and more resistant to disease, and you smarter overall through an increase in grey matter. As you continue on your journey of learning foreign languages, you can expect to have a better memory, better ability to focus, and you might even speak more eloquently in  your own native language! 

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this episode of English With Dylan! If there were just one episode that I could do to inspire someone to learn a foreign language, it would probably be this one! So, I hope you feel inspired. If you have any further thoughts or questions, I’d love to hear about it in the comments on my instagram, @englishwithdylanpod. Let’s get the discussion going! If you’re listening on a program such as Spotify or Google Podcasts, I would really appreciate it if you left a rating/comment, it helps a lot with the growth of the podcast. 

That’s all for this week! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and until next time!