I am married to a wonderful Greek lady, and I've been trying to learn Greek, but it's a challenging language. Our 11-year-old daughter is taking Greek lessons from a lady in Athens on Zoom, and I have been listening in on their lessons. I guess it has something to do with old dogs and new tricks!
Now I am more motivated to try to learn more spanish, if for no other reason that many of the healthcare people speak it. That could be another factor in your influences/risks.
Fascinating, and really it makes sense. While I learned some French and German in HS and early college, I didn’t pursue it. These days, I am always amazed at how MTL staff in the local shops switch back and forth so easily among languages. I’m hoping there might be other, similar brain effects related to, eg, reading mind-stretching essays like this one, even in my diminished MNL state😎.
I am in CA visiting my Mom (now 97) and took her up to La Jolla a couple days ago to look at the King Tides and eat at one of her favorite old-time lunch spots, The French Gourmet. I always think of you when in the area—you have definitely landed in a bit of paradise!
What an amazing study! I learned French in school but was not fluent. Decades later I realized I needed to learn Spanish to research a historical novel. I started as an auditor in a college class that shifted online for the pandemic, and although it was hard, my memory improved, even beyond Spanish. My teacher recommended podcasts like Radio Ambulante and finding a
conversational partner on Mixxer (https://www.language-exchanges.org/ works like a free dating app for language conversational practice). My Galician partner and I had weekly 2 hour bilingual conversations on Skype for 5 years until we both became proficient in our 50s. It’s never too late to start! The only downside is I now accidentally speak Spanish when I try to speak French.
I wonder about the geographic and cultural factors here. In Europe, you have to be a bit dense to remain monolingual (imagine that English was spoken in Ohio, French in Indiana, Spanish in Illinois, and German in New York. Continue this idea throughout the USA and you have a polyglot culture for anybody curious and smart enough to travel an hour in any direction. If you aren't motivated for adventure or are too shy to cope with having a foreign accent, maybe that's a mark of substandard brain-power not captured by IQ tests. That brings to mind a pleasant-looking waitress who, when asked to box our lunch, asked me with a straight face, "Do you want the au jus?" I kept a straight face at this faux pas because I felt sorry for her ("Au Jus" literally means "With the juice" so adding "the" to that phrase makes no sense at all). Eh bien...
one possible confounder could be social connections. loneliness kills. but i'm not sure how to measure that and if learning and using other languages improves socializing well there you have it.
I would love to be MTL! I have tried, but seem to have no facility for language. I’m curious as to whether attempting this - however poor the outcome might be - would still enhance cognitive functioning as I age. I continue to work in a high level job (I’m 68), in part because it helps me stay sharp.
Hoping/wondering if there is a similar effect for musicians, as it is sort of a second language. My father, native Norwegian, moved here as a young adult having learned English in school, became a fluent English speaker while continuing to converse with family in Norway throughout his life. Did not prevent developing Alzheimer's in his mid-70's, sadly.
I was introduced to Spanish (HS), French (college), German (military) and Italian (travel) but I never got the hang of any of them. I retired 3 years ago and decided to tackle Spanish again. I have a teacher in Colombia (Zoom) and not only have we become friends but she has helped me improve dramatically. I have ME/CFS so brain fog is a daily part of my life but despite some entertaining errors, I actually can hold conversations with native Spanish speakers now. This study is the icing on the pastel!
I am married to a wonderful Greek lady, and I've been trying to learn Greek, but it's a challenging language. Our 11-year-old daughter is taking Greek lessons from a lady in Athens on Zoom, and I have been listening in on their lessons. I guess it has something to do with old dogs and new tricks!
Now I am more motivated to try to learn more spanish, if for no other reason that many of the healthcare people speak it. That could be another factor in your influences/risks.
Fascinating, and really it makes sense. While I learned some French and German in HS and early college, I didn’t pursue it. These days, I am always amazed at how MTL staff in the local shops switch back and forth so easily among languages. I’m hoping there might be other, similar brain effects related to, eg, reading mind-stretching essays like this one, even in my diminished MNL state😎.
I am in CA visiting my Mom (now 97) and took her up to La Jolla a couple days ago to look at the King Tides and eat at one of her favorite old-time lunch spots, The French Gourmet. I always think of you when in the area—you have definitely landed in a bit of paradise!
Yess, very lucky to live here! Thanks.
What an amazing study! I learned French in school but was not fluent. Decades later I realized I needed to learn Spanish to research a historical novel. I started as an auditor in a college class that shifted online for the pandemic, and although it was hard, my memory improved, even beyond Spanish. My teacher recommended podcasts like Radio Ambulante and finding a
conversational partner on Mixxer (https://www.language-exchanges.org/ works like a free dating app for language conversational practice). My Galician partner and I had weekly 2 hour bilingual conversations on Skype for 5 years until we both became proficient in our 50s. It’s never too late to start! The only downside is I now accidentally speak Spanish when I try to speak French.
I wonder about the geographic and cultural factors here. In Europe, you have to be a bit dense to remain monolingual (imagine that English was spoken in Ohio, French in Indiana, Spanish in Illinois, and German in New York. Continue this idea throughout the USA and you have a polyglot culture for anybody curious and smart enough to travel an hour in any direction. If you aren't motivated for adventure or are too shy to cope with having a foreign accent, maybe that's a mark of substandard brain-power not captured by IQ tests. That brings to mind a pleasant-looking waitress who, when asked to box our lunch, asked me with a straight face, "Do you want the au jus?" I kept a straight face at this faux pas because I felt sorry for her ("Au Jus" literally means "With the juice" so adding "the" to that phrase makes no sense at all). Eh bien...
one possible confounder could be social connections. loneliness kills. but i'm not sure how to measure that and if learning and using other languages improves socializing well there you have it.
Duolingo has a great basic free program for many languages! I
do a German version every day! It’s fun using it and they make part of the program interactive! I highly recommend it!
I would love to be MTL! I have tried, but seem to have no facility for language. I’m curious as to whether attempting this - however poor the outcome might be - would still enhance cognitive functioning as I age. I continue to work in a high level job (I’m 68), in part because it helps me stay sharp.
Hoping/wondering if there is a similar effect for musicians, as it is sort of a second language. My father, native Norwegian, moved here as a young adult having learned English in school, became a fluent English speaker while continuing to converse with family in Norway throughout his life. Did not prevent developing Alzheimer's in his mid-70's, sadly.
I was introduced to Spanish (HS), French (college), German (military) and Italian (travel) but I never got the hang of any of them. I retired 3 years ago and decided to tackle Spanish again. I have a teacher in Colombia (Zoom) and not only have we become friends but she has helped me improve dramatically. I have ME/CFS so brain fog is a daily part of my life but despite some entertaining errors, I actually can hold conversations with native Spanish speakers now. This study is the icing on the pastel!