Languages & the Brain

Many parents feel it would be nice for their child to learn another language, but how important is it? The articles below explain a substantial body of research showing widespread benefits of early bilingualism on brain development.

Information compiled from research studies:

Why Bilinguals are Smarter
New York Times, March 17, 2012

Center for Applied Linguistics, www.cal.org/earlylang

Does Bilingualism Help Children Learn to Read?
Early Advantage

Why it’s Smart to be Bilingual
The Daily Beast: Newsweek, August 7, 2011

The Bilingual Advantage: Second Language Increases Cognitive Ability
Scientific American Mind, July 21, 2011

Being bilingual may boost your brain power
National Public Radio, April 4, 2011

Students as Linguists and Ambassadors
Asia Society, January 28, 2011

National Imperative for Language Learning
Education Week, January 25, 2011

Science Grows on Acquiring New Language
Education Week, October 22, 2010

International Program Catches on at US Schools
New York Times, July 2, 2010

Languages smarten up your brain
The Guardian Weekly, January 25, 2010

Study on the Contribution of Multilingualism to Creativity
European Commission, July 16, 2009

Unraveling how children become bilingual so easily
Associated Press, July 21, 2009

How Asian teachers polish each lesson to perfection.
Recommended to the TIS community by Head of School Alfonso Orsini in July 2009. Published in American Educator, Spring 1991

Summer camp programs foster multicultural awareness
Pilar Arias, December 10, 2007

Cognitive Benefits of Learning Language
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Fall 2007

More children learn more than one language
USA Today, January 10, 2007

The Impact of Bilingualism on Overall Language Development and Academic Success
Brainy-child.com

Dartmouth researchers find a neural signature of bilingualism
Science Daily, October 30, 2006

Giving the gift of a language
Reprinted by The Literacy Trust from The Guardian, April 15, 2006

Bilingualism, Biliteracy, and Learning to Read: Interactions Among Languages and Writing Systems
Ellen Bialystok, Gigi Luk, and Ernest Kwan, York University, 2005

Why Learn Japanese?
“Japan has the 2nd largest economy on earth. There are over 120 million Japanese people and even though they study English for 6 years in public schools many Japanese people cannot speak English.”
Home School Japanese, 2005

Ways of learning to speak in tongues
“Stephanie Wolfschütz, a university student in Vienna, believes that the best way to learn a foreign language is to stop speaking your own.”
International Herald Tribune, September 26, 2005

Being bilingual boosts brain power
WebMD, October 13, 2004

Being bilingual protects brain
“Being fluent in two languages may help keep the brain sharper for longer, a study suggests.”
BBC News, June 15, 2004

Foreign-language fluency a plus for US workers
“Spanish, Chinese top employment experts’ recommendation list”
Columbia Daily Tribune, January 13, 2004