Will Learning Another Language Make You Smarter?

[@SciShowPsych]

Go to curiositystream.com/psych to start streaming The History of English. Use the promo code ‘psych’ during the sign-up process to get your first 31 days free!

[@MephLeo]

"like, for example, you'll know another language!" Yes! Thank you! This immediate benefit should be quite straight forward for everyone!

[@petitecontrebassiste]

that's what I was thinking. plus it's a lot easier to learn another language as a young child than it is as a teenager or adult, and knowing multiple languages helps you learn another language.

[@jimdim851]

hahahaha i paused the video to look for a comment like that

[@funkysagancat3295]

Well, I would not be watching scishow without being bilingual

[@GigasNEET]

me too

[@user-yc6ny6kh3c]

High-five! Yay What other language do you speak?

[@greninjamin2786]

Me too

[@greninjamin2786]

My main bahasa melayu

[@funkysagancat3295]

@Kisra David I typed "woud" before

[@lolscience1979]

*lets face it: most of us are here because we speak two or more languages, and we wanted some self-fulfillment*

[@kolmkilpkonna]

Yep, and he kept going on and on about the second language. What about seventh?

[@acheerfullittlenerd9000]

@@kolmkilpkonna Damn man what's your secret?

[@micaelgarcia1576]

@@acheerfullittlenerd9000 yeah, I already struggle having 2, how'd ya deal w/7???

[@kolmkilpkonna]

@@micaelgarcia1576 Well, I have learned so many mostly due to my school system. As I am more gifted in sciences and really struggle with languages I don't actually speak all of these...

[@Mylada]

Haha true

[@AlexaAXAG]

If I didn't learn English I wouldn't have learned so many things or be who I am. That's the main advantage...

[@blackcat1642]

i wouldnt be watching this video

[@TheGamingKraken]

same here, but i get the feeling it's diffrent for native english speakers (with english being the global languege and everything)

[@Rulleiz]

@@TheGamingKraken I think the only difference is their motivation towards learning something new. Not the process of learning itself!

[@Sheuto]

@MegaAlpakka Only an ignorant twat would say something like this.

[@kingjames4886]

probably because the world works in english...

[@PaleGhost69]

Will learning _literally anything_ make you smarter?

[@quitotito7563]

🤔

[@jerardogarcia4337]

Watching Rick And Morty increased my IQ by 1000%

[@christelheadington1136]

Well, learning the Kardashian"s favorite make-up tips can lower your IQ.

[@lovesindre]

Well, I guess one could be said to become smarter in the sense that one is learning something new 🤷‍♀️

[@RialuCaos]

Anything that isn't being used will eventually degrade//decay. This also applies to your neurons.

[@frikativos]

When you learn a new language, a door opens. You are able to follow thousends of interesting videos on KZbin in that language.

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

A door that isn't easy to open :P and often slams shut again if you don't keep pushing it haha

[@annajanocka3711]

By just watching videos in English on KZbin I can talk with others on quite good level (b1), while one year ago I couldn't say a word

[@littlesailor1533]

Sometimes you can't express yourself as good as in another language, there are more/better words in other languages sometimes. Or more accurate descriptions.

[@bialynia]

Yup, that's my favourite part :) Every language has that lovely collection of untranslatable words and phrases that are so spot on.

[@badcornflakes6374]

Unless you're William Shakespeare and literally make your own words up, such as "Fullcircle"

[@ipadista]

I think that with any language, vocabulary is crucial. When I first moved to the US for work, the first year was a total pain. I fully understood everybody, but due to limited active vocabulary, the only way to be able to stay in more generic conversations for any longer time, forced me to dumb down myself. For example in my native language I could probably without stooping to think come up with 20 different nuances on the good - bad scale, but when I was talking English, the delay if I had to think too long made me dumb it down to something like; bad, acceptable, good. This was happening in virtually any context outside pure work related conversations, and it was really frustrating coming of as a person unable to express much nuances. Eventually it got better, but it probably took me over half a year to come to a level where I felt I could express more precisely what I felt in real time. This made me very much aware of the importance of vocabulary, so when it was time for using a third language full time, I spent tons of effort building up my vocab, and I got to a good level of general conversations regardless of topic much quicker. In a way I now believe that vocab is crucial if you want to be able to understand concepts in a more nuanced way. So I guess spending your life talking a language that you struggle with, will make you a bit dumber, since if you cant express 50 shades of gray so to say, you also cant really feel them. That's why I feel a bit sorry when I meet immigrants, that after decades, still struggle with the local tongue, it limits you in so many ways beyond just sounding like you struggle with the language.

[@Xaiff]

On the other hand... The feeling when people don't understand some words you say in foreign language and you struggled to translate it into your native tongue... 😂😂😂

[@Xaiff]

@@ipadista Experienced something along that line, and still struggling right now... When I'm having a convo, sometimes I'm unable to respond eventhough I completely understand what the other person has said. I guess it can only be overcome with more practice.

[@BrainsApplied]

What you mention here is so important! *Papers that don't find any significant results often don't get published* because they are seen as "unimportant". However, they are equally important and we can learn from them. This is a huge bias in science!

[@MephLeo]

It's not exactly that they are seen as unimportant. They aren't believed because they are going against the mainstream. That's the actual danger of bias, that bandwagonning actually prevents relevant information from being told. This should not serve as support to forward conspiracy theories and pseudo-science, though. I hear you flat-earthers getting excited. Stop it, you are still pseudo-science and not a fluke due to bias.

[@NotHPotter]

@@MephLeo It's not necessarily going against the mainstream. Oftentimes it is merely considered not worth publishing if it doesn't conclude in a change to what's already known, no matter how important confirming what is already known is to science as a whole.

[@FelipeKana1]

I think SciShow jumped the wagon in this. One side being less publicated does not prove bias. Maybe papers that supported one side really where somehow lacky (in the details), maybe part of their flaws could have caused the similar results. Point being, one thing doesn't means the other.

[@Abraxis86]

It's not a bias in science, It's a bias in our consumption of meta-science.

[@lilaclizard4504]

There's also money & influence & a desire not to upset future funding. This is seen a lot on global warming for example & to some extent probably explains the deniers, because they see an overwhelming amount of the evidence & solutions that clash with their beliefs & way of life. A good example of this is "cow farts" which all people genuinely involved in climate change related policies/research etc know full well has been completely disproven/never existed as a problem to begin with, but to say that the Amazon is creating more methane than all the livestock on the planet SERIOUSLY clashes with the desired beliefs of those who are willing to fund & support climate change & so they just go alone with the "cow fart" rouse, which in turn gives deniers a genuine fact to grab onto & see a conspiracy in everything. Just one example to add to the others here & in the video, but this problems are everywhere in science, which is sad!

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

Whether you ARE smarter or not for speaking more than 1 language, it IS smarter to be able to do so. Its a massive skill. The world is getting smaller, after all.

[@lockedlov9937]

I agree, just the other day a Hispanic couple came to me asking for directions... I think. This experience inspired me to learn Spanish because if I did I would have been able to help them...😔

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

@@lockedlov9937 awww, hope you at least said "lo siento" :) but good for you ^^ good luck!

[@dingo137]

The issue then is - which one? It takes hundreds of hours to learn a language to a reasonable degree of competence, and any one language only helps you in a few places.

[@lockedlov9937]

@@dingo137 Well there are only a few major languages in the world. and there's only small differences between the minor ones. for example how English is to American english and Spanish is to Mexican spanish. There are only minor deviations between them, you could still probably understand if you learn either or.

[@smooth_Koala]

@@dingo137 learn the one that you might find yourself using. This could be based on interest, traveling, job, etc. That's how I think of it anyway

[@zeekjones1]

Learning another language makes you more cultured, because you must learn how the language is formed over the time of people using it. And learning culture makes one less ignorant of others whom are different. The studies of intelligence and smarts are flawed because we, as humans in general, are still learning how brains function, and many arguments are had on the many kinds and definitions of intelligence. So I'd put it simply; being less ignorant of anything, including a language and culture, will increase function and viability, or in this case of point a smarter person.

[@crystalbabcock3647]

GOALS: Learn Japanese to watch anime without subtitles and prevent dementia

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

You know, its funny you say that. As common as that reason is (wanting to watch anime without subtitles), the advice I hear all the time is that its one of the worst reasons to try and learn Japanese. Not only is anime not quite 'proper' Japanese and you shouldn't talk like an anime villain in the street haha but its also a reason that is broken easily. It'd be way too easy to get bored, or not see the point anymore. You should try and learn for the love of it, not as a means to an end, you know?

[@fionafiona1146]

Using subtitles in your target language helps.

[@crystalbabcock3647]

@@satyasyasatyasya5746 I've always been interested in traveling and learning bits of language to get out of the US and see other places. I just correlated something fun with it. You make a great strong point, I didn't consider the subtitles might be off and talking like an anime villain might get me some strange looks^-^💕

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

@@crystalbabcock3647 ANOTHER TIP: Watch a bland but realistic soap opera or documentary in your target language WITHOUT subtitles sometimes. Why? Because you can learn better with *context* and not with just swapping english words for Japanese ones. The *context* is seeing what people are doing and how they feel when they say what they're saying. Just like a child learns. At first, you have no idea what they're saying, right? But after a while, the very common phrases emerge and you can intuit what they 'mean.' Then, you only have to remember what to say when you are in those certain situations rather learning the word or phrase 'plus' its english counterpart. You'll just kinda 'know' and its way faster :D Does that make sense? Like, a silly example would be "nani?!" Lets say you're watching an anime, and DON'T know ANY Japanese. At first, you can't know what "nani" means but, after watching a few people a little shocked at something that has happned, you can kinda tell it means something like "what?!" So then, you now know what to say if you're shocked in Japanese lol You see? :D

[@crystalbabcock3647]

@@satyasyasatyasya5746 yeah that makes sense :) awesome helpful way to learn my friend 👏👏

[@jacobhero1577]

*For example you learn another language* Wow. I did a learn.

[@tatimc6581]

This reminds me of an old pun: What do you call someone, Who speaks two languages: bilingual Who speaks three languages: trilingual Who speaks only one language: American

[@nimbzclowd]

Yeah I wish language was pushed harder in our country. The thing is learning English is very important in the world of business and gets you more opportunities for jobs etc.

[@MephLeo]

Lol!

[@BothHands1]

lol, it's true though. In my home of South Africa, everyone, even the poorest of the poor, speak *at least* 2 languages.

[@tatimc6581]

@@nimbzclowd didn't say it, but i totally understand why americans (USA) dont learn languages, i mean its like the 2nd or 1st richest country, there is not much need for an other language, cause english is pretty much worldwide.

[@electricpants4608]

It's not a pun.

[@ipadista]

First of all, that is a very US perspective. Talking about bilingualism as something exotic that would make you smarter, whilst in the rest of the world, pretty much anybody that has the ability to go through a normal basic school education is at least bilingual (mother tongue + English). In quite a few parts of the world languages are so geographically concentrated, that in your normal life you would meet several languages in your daily life. Or like in Europe, where the equivalence of moving to another state for a job or a new home, usually requires a new language. From an EU perspective, me only knowing 3 at a reasonable level puts me somewhere in the middle compared to my friends. But I certainly agree that learning more languages are important! If nothing else, if you go someplace and only use English you end up in a situation where you are more fluent than the people around you, even if their English is fully usable. Without much practice most non English first tend to have a limited active vocabulary if they haven't spent much time in English speaking situations. Even if they have not to much trouble understanding you, due to lack of practice creating sentences on the go as in a conversation is quite hard and takes a lot of effort, so after a while they tend to let somebody else bother with the foreigner :) And thus conversations beyond mere basics tend to just not happen that much. And its harder to get to know people that well. Learning the local language makes a lot of sense, since everybody around you speaks it, you get non stop practice, so in a pretty short time period you tend to pick up the basics, and once you get the flow or rhythm of that language, increasing your vocabulary goes quicker and quicker. You will also find that expats/foreigners/travelers that can speak local tongue find it much easier to integrate in everyday activities. Finally after a while you will notice that using a different language to express the same emotion or statement will be quite different due to all the cultural and linguistic references you do in that language compared to your native. So yes it definitely broadens your mind, even if it doesn't make you smarter in a measurable way!

[@kolmkilpkonna]

Totally agree, also from Europe. I had learned 5 foreign languages by the end of high school and just one of them wasn't compulsory. In most areas of this world speaking several languages is the norm and it is so helpful in so many situations. Of course, the ability to pick up languages is very personal. I have always been terrible at it, but many of my friends who had the same education, do speak all of these languages.

[@iota-09]

@@kolmkilpkonnalook out, you're falling in the same trap as hank did, you're generalizing, 3 languages? Sure if you live in a small country, but 5? Lol, in italy most people don't even speak TWO languages (or at least that was the case last time i checked) and yet we get taught both english and french at school. It's not so much a matter of teaching as much as it is of learning. Learning more languages doesn't "make" you more intelligent, however, it "proves" you are more intelligent and understand tbe benefit of more languages while also showing you're capable of leaening them. ...unless your teacher sucks and you have no way of practicing, which is why I've always hated learning languages by grammatical theory.

[@kolmkilpkonna]

@@iota-09 In my country by law you are obligated to start 1st foreign language by 3rd grade and second by 5th grade- so you have to learn at least two. Most schools are more progressive and you will learn 3 or 4 foreign languages if you finish 12 grades and you are likely to start the first foreign language in 1st grade. I personally started Finnish in 1st grade and my nephew (who is now in second grade) started English in first grade. Unfortunately, many lessons are very theoretical with much of the effort on the grammar and almost no real practise. And also if you have no practice after you finish high school it is hard to keep up (probably the main issue also in Italy). I used to be fluent in German but I have not used it in more than 10 years, but surely if I spent some time in Germany or Austria it would come back.

[@iota-09]

@@kolmkilpkonna nah, the main issue in italy is that students don't want to learn and teachers don't help at all, only universities have decent teachers, anything less and a good teacher is considered a mystical creature, they make teaching extremely mechanical and if you don't learn the way they tell you in the time you're given, you're simply fucked, also there's the part were English and french aren't really obligatory in high school(or at least weren't things might have changed in the last decade) English is started in 2nd elementary and french in 1st middle, but in many high schools(like my brother's artistic institute) they drop it(or both) unless you actively ask you want to get taught languages. Though on the other hand some schools teach german, latin, greek and spanish too.(istituto linguistico)

[@wolfy8006]

Knowing English opens up a whole new world. So much data and stuff u could learn, from complicated coding, looking up journals to simple cooking channels on KZbin.

[@jadzzzz]

Honestly my internal voice just ended up being a mangled mess of multiple languages - but it's not a bad thing You see some languages are just better at expressing certain concepts than others, not to mention that access to the language gives you access to the people who speak it, and by extension, their raw and unfiltered body of culture and ideas. Having words for concepts (even if they're not of the same origin) gives you more mental building blocks for your ideas, and having access to different cultures helps you grow. The downside is that sometimes I speak that mixed language out loud when I can't express myself fast enough lol

[@kingpotato7183]

My internal language is what my main language is ex when school starts or I'm going out with friends my internal language becomes Italian but when I go to some place else for summer vacations it reverts back to English so it's a constant flip flop

[@iota-09]

Same, often times i just think in English other times in italian, and most of the time is both at the same time Simply Because my lexicon sucks and can't remember some words in a language but can in the other.

[@Vivi-mp9nn]

i feel you, I‘m german and sometimes I just can’t think of german words and just randomly throw in some english, french or japanese lol

[@catpoke9557]

My sister is already starting to experience this and she isn't even close to fluent yet. Funny thing is, she told me about the internal voice thing just today. What a coincidence? And as for the speaking aspect.. she occasionally replaces an English noun with a German one on accident, not really anything beyond that.. but I still love poking fun at her for it

[@jadzzzz]

@@catpoke9557 Adorable :') I assume it's because German is very descriptive, so the nouns for things actually make sense for what they are, and it makes her brain go for that.

[@norma8686]

The hard part of knowing more than one language is finding someone to use that language with or find some other way to keep that language "alive" in your brain. I'm talking from experience, the language that you don't practice dies, with very little practice fluency goes down by half in about 10-15 years. Getting it back is hard work. I speak 3 languages, italian, lithuanian and english. Lithuanian used to be the language I spoke best, now 15 years with little practice and I struggle to express my ideas.

[@MephLeo]

Try an app called Tandem.

[@funkysagancat3295]

Just try harder to use your new languages, English is my second and I use it every day to consume science content on the internet

[@MephLeo]

@@funkysagancat3295 Try harder isn't a good tip in this situation. Finding someone to practice English is easy peasy lemon squeezy. Finding someone to practice Japanese, not so much. Finding someone to practice Swahili or Esperanto is an absolute nightmare.

[@funkysagancat3295]

@@MephLeo I'm sorry I think that "try actively" is a better way to state that. I'm trying to learn japanese and using the japanese wikipedia is a great way to "keep it alive" in my brain

[@funkysagancat3295]

@@MephLeo The wikipedia in my language and in English are totally fine but using it in japanese or even translating content for them is something that you can always do, reading the news in the new languange too is another non-brainer to practice

[@blomakranz]

Bilingualism is so 20th century, 21st century is all about the quadlinguaism

[@YCCCm7]

By 2100, we're predicted to have mastered octlinguaism. I perform octlingus, to bring someone to linguaism.

[@GiantsGraveGaming]

Got it already, but sadly, i won't get a price for it...

[@kingpotato7183]

I'm a tri lingual :(

[@etnies777]

Polyglot...

[@custos3249]

Pffft. How pedestrian. The future is in cunnilinguaism.

[@TeraTiger]

As somebody with a BA in TESOL, I see a LOT of crazy claims about bilingualism (good and bad). Thank you for addressing the huge advantage that many people seem to overlook: you can communicate with a TON of new people when you know more than one language! I have many friends that I never would have met if I didn’t know French, ASL, or Mandarin. It opens up entirely new worlds of possibilities for learning and growing as a social human being.

[@jerry3790]

One study found that people learning a language are 10 times more likely to be shot at some point, but the effect went away after accounting for duolingo users.

[@acheerfullittlenerd9000]

Nice one

[@SunflowerSpotlight]

Too true! Ha! (¡Ayúdame! El Búho tiene mi familia!)

[@caller145]

Golden xD

[@tenseikenzx-3559]

I know a bunch of programming languages... Does that count lol?

[@quitotito7563]

Yes

[@DogDogGodFog]

I don't know any programming languages, not a tech person. But I do know two human languages; Polish and English.

[@MephLeo]

It will actually put you in good terms with our future machine overlords.

[@mathismarshall8242]

Were you raised speaking them or have you learned them later on? I learned C# in a bilingual preschool

[@6alecapristrudel]

@@mathismarshall8242 At my preschool we also learned C and the rest of the musical notes :)

[@CRC866]

Oh man, you broke my heart! I'm so hyped by that boost-brain thing so I will pretend I didn't watch your video and thinking I'm a smart guy...

[@Nihilnovus]

I wouldn’t say that but it does help knowing more than one

[@RSAgility]

That makes no sense. If you learn something that helps in life you have literally become smarter.

[@turtle4llama]

"How English became a linguistic super power" Colonialism. It's just colonialism.

[@x2x3456]

As someone who has learnt three languages (Spanish at home, and French as an adult), I would say knowing more more than one language is mixed. On the bad side, as a child English was my second language and was below average for much of my kid life (I eventually caught up at the teen stage). On the good side, there are so many cool benefits to knowing extra languages but relating to cognitive ones I would say that when I learnt french (as an adult), I felt my memory significantly improved and also improved my understanding of English.

[@danielpieterse8264]

Hmm, one big thing that learning a language does, is it gives you a new way of thinking. Different languages work differently, they carry with them different ideals, cultures, math systems, logical systems, etc. I'd say at the very least it gives you another perspective or reference frame to draw from. (Like considering more people groups - and how they do it - when trying to solve problems). Language is at the very base of what it is to be human. It is literally the thing we use to learn and communicate. It is like our base operating system. Having more of them gives you more to communicate and solve problems with. I don't know but being bilingual is one of the things I appreciate most in my life. My 2 (sorta long) cents

[@acheerfullittlenerd9000]

One benefit of learning a foreign language is it's helped me realize many things about my own language and even my own accent. When you start to internalize that vocabulary and grammar rules truly are artificial, you start noticing interesting patterns

[@BradenBogdan]

Having learned French as my second language throughout my school days, I noticed patterns between words. With this in mind and comparing similar languages such as Spanish or even Latin, I found I was achieving a better understanding of these similarities. As I am a curious by nature, I applied this to ideas in facts and figures that made sense to me. So what I am saying basically is that having a second language made it easier for me to apply what I found similar to expand my knowledge! All in all, I believe it's true. 🇨🇦

[@claudiopolonia7854]

you will notice more patterns if you study German

[@AntimatePcCustom]

As a dane. Knowing only danish is an almost impossible way of living. The best research is in english. Best movies. Best games. And so on. Not to mention at work. Knowing english is a huge advantage with lots of coworkes across boarders.

[@sabinajoh]

I kinda want to speak both Swedish and English to my future child, so they will have an easier time in school. (And be able to understand english)

[@mongislort6440]

I learned English when I was 6yo, through video games. You can try giving them one.

[@galli0]

A couple of friends of mine are speaking Norwegian(dad), Dutch(mum) and English(most of their conversations, tho the mum is learning Norwegian as thats where they live) with their daughter and its going swimmingly, I think its always good to teach from a really early age. Myself I'm Norwegian, and my parents split when I was around 6 and mum got a new boyfriend/future husband when I was 7-ish, who is English-Danish and I've been told later that I was angry for 3-4 months straight because I didn't understand Danish and I didn't understand English (and ofc angry because my dad wasnt around anymore but thats another matter)I would completely refuse to speak with him and was a tiny ball of rage, but all of a sudden after those few months I suddenly answered back in perfect English, even having picked up his accent (Ipswitch) and I've only lost that trace of accent in the past years after I moved out..

[@ssdsd5394]

That would be good for them I think.

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

Be careful. Most children will learn English in school or from media anyway. Don't leave out Swedish!!

[@kingpotato7183]

@@galli0 accents are constantly changing, when I first spoke in Italian I had an accent of a guy that didn't completely spoke it very well but now I've been told that I have a mix calabrian and napoleon accent because my best friends are from those regions.

[@MissGenie0607]

Language can shape the way you think. Knowing different languages changes the way I see things some times. It's also interesting to see the patterns in different languages and how some words exist in one language but doesn't in another. I don't understand why anyone would ever reject learning a new language and even HATING others for knowing more than one language.

[@jugzster]

Thanks for clarifying the biases and lack of concrete evidence. Lots of people immediately accept news that conform to their desires.

[@Krish_krish]

I was so shocked when I heard that people believed the story about "Bilingualism causes lower grades", but when I heard it's mainly in the U.S. I wasn't surprised

[@AverchenkoMiroslav]

I watch Sci-Show and Eons as often as I'm able to, in order to keep my ESL listening skills on point, and of course, learn new specilized vocabulary and all the other neat things you so kindly teach.

[@christelheadington1136]

Guess it boils down to what you define as "smarter".

[@slappy8941]

"Smart" generally encompasses the abilities of learning, creative thinking, and problem-solving.

[@badcornflakes6374]

Following Jesus's example makes me smart

[@frostyclamori7927]

"You live a new life for every language you speak. If you know only one language, you live only once."

[@bass1bone]

I have heard knowing a second language described as being almost like having a second soul.

[@9Tensai9]

I've always tought that learning another language "unlocks" a "new person" within yourself. You have your "mexican-self" your "english-self" your "japanese-self" and so on since I've noticed that there is a point when you are learning a language that your mannerisms and even voice changes. I had this french teacher that was really rude with the English, really polite with french and childish with Spanish (besides his voice became high pitched and cute for some reason). He was a master in all of those languages but whenever he changed the language he was speaking he would change, not like a different person but a variation of the base one. I find quite interesting cuz I see that everywhere, even on myself.

[@brucefrizzell4221]

There are many peoples on this Earth . What they do is important . Important enough to go to the trouble of learning their languages and learning their literature . Translations into English are but a pale imitation of the power of the original works . I hope Scishow will start providing more subtitles because it increases the number of humans who can understand their content . It also helps people who are learning other languages . Today is the Perfect day to start learning German .

[@gustavoguedes3619]

I'm from Brazil and I would never ever get a thing on this video if I didn't know at least a little English. Maybe learn a different language doesn't make you smarter at the moment but it makes your mind wider for sure

[@johnelliottart]

From my personal experience, learning Spanish helped me speak my native language (English) better. I began to understand language at its core. I never became fluent but I understood how language functioned. I never really thought about how we use “a” if the noun starts with a consonant or “an” if the noun starts with a vowel. It’s little things like that that I naturally learned from hearing English and goes beyond simply knowing another language that I think is important even if you don’t reach fluency.

[@iota-09]

Doesn't help if you learn your second language the same way you learned your mother language.

[@johnelliottart]

iota-09 That's true. Nobody sits a child down and says, "Look. This is how language works." Having things like conjugation explained to me helped me see English differently than what I'd picked up from hearing it all my life.

[@GiantsGraveGaming]

Isn't knowing a second language cool enough?

[@thedrunkmonkshow]

I appreciate all the nuance in this video to not seem too skewed or biased with language learning but damn all that...LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE!! When I started learning Japanese I was totally blown away at how many words we borrow from that language and vice versa with how it has adopted not only English terms but words from other languages like Spanish. Pan means bread in Japanese just like it does in Spanish. I was also mind blown at how Japanese uses the same vowel enunciations as Spanish. There's a wealth of knowledge, job opportunities, and enlightenment you can get from other languages that isn't always easily accessible in English or is correctly translated. When I see idiots from my country here in America demand that everyone make an effort to learn English it always makes me cringe and feel embarrassed. If you're American then YOU need to make the effort to learn and catch up with the rest of the world. Rant over ;)

[@mikaelrusin1596]

I think there is a subtle gain in terms of based of what language you learn and how you learn it. Learning languages requires understanding of composition - and structure. Some, more so than others. In that sense - I expect it to reinforce the aspects of which require compositional reasoning and memory.

[@RondellKB]

Thanks a lot for this video. I have noticed that most videos and articles on the subject always favour the positive results so this video was a welcomed take on the topic. Personally, I believed in the benefits particularly because of seeing so many articles/videos affirming them, but knowing now that the studies both for and against the benefits are practically equal changes things significantly.

[@TheRocketman136]

Yep. Things turned out so I had quite few people in my environment(aka family & close friends) who were closely related to learning languages, even professionaly. From what I saw, it doesn't make you smarter in usual meaning, but memory gains are real. Seriously, if you're intense and persistent about it, chances are you'll have an amazing memory even in older age. In addition to knowing several languages.

[@Rupi1234ful]

You know what they say: "Spanish or vanish"

[@NewMessage]

English, French.. I swing both ways, baby...

[@Hexalyse]

And I'm currently adding Russian to this (but my Spanish is getting lost in the void).

[@leexinru8137]

what about four? Hallelujah.

[@3ckitani]

When you live in a non-English speaking country but they teach you English at school, making you a natural bilingual

[@realBeltalowda]

The biggest benefit to learning new languages is the fact that some ideas cannot be expressed in some languages and in this way learning new languages gives you the tools to think and express yourself in ways that you simply couldn't before. This is true of spoken languages as well as computer programming languages.

[@matthewharris-levesque5809]

Every culture has a slightly different view on the world. The language of each culture reflects those differences. Haven't you ever heard the phrase "It can't quite be translated" ? Or heard a cultural saying that stumped you - until you were taught how it became a saying for that community? Speaking - thinking - in a different language expands your viewpoint, enriches your perspective, by adding that new dimension of another culture to your internal monologue. Being able to think in more dimensions makes you a more creative observer... potentially a more creative problem solver. Smarter? Might not be the right word. More versatile in your thoughts. Try it. I challenge you :P

[@eseguerito2629]

Some more undeniable benefits: 1. If you live in an area where there is a large percentage of people who speak your second language, you have something very practical to put on your resume (assuming the job involves communicating directly with clients/customers). 2. Twice as much music that you can actually understand intuitively. Bonus points if it opens the door to a wildly different pool of genres. 3. If you start forgetting words from dementia or Alzheimer’s, you might still retain the word in one of the two languages. 4. Intuitively understanding some foreign cinema in the second language 5. If the two languages share a parent language (like Spanish and a lot of English), you can sometimes intuitively decipher the meaning of new words (or close to it) because they share a root with a word you’re already familiar with in the other language. For example “mortal” in English and “muerte” in Spanish both deriving from the Latin “mortuus”, meaning death. This comes a lot in handy if you study any kind of scientific field that will be filled with Greek and Latin roots. 6. Being fluent in a second language gives you a tiny bit of marginal knowledge of other languages that are closely related to it. For example, though an Italian speaker may not understand a Spanish speaker, they can reasonably decipher Spanish it if it’s in writing. 7. If the language is associated with a delicious cuisine, you’ll have an easier time at restaurants. 8. If you like to travel, you have a much much wider list of destinations where one of your languages are spoken natively.

[@ViniSocramSaint]

Guess it does make us smarter. Different languages depend on the cultures that speak them and the rules that govern the logic people use to reffer to stuff. Learning a new language is like learning a new way of thinking, a new world. Since the way we measure intelligence is by counting how many and which patterns we can identify (roughly speaking), knowing or hearing about new ways patterns can present themselves makes us able to identify way more. Also, having a contrast in our perspective of the world by being able to see it from a nother angle let us see many things we couldn't from just one point of view. It's like finding out a thing by simply knowing other 2. As example, comparing my mother language Portuguese and my step-mother language English, someone that speaks anglo-saxon tongues can't imagine how a "female word", which ends in a way usually expected of "male words", can be spoken in a "masculine undertone" due to being related to a male person, while the undertone itself is "female" but for a reason completely unrelated to the "female word", as because the context of the phrase is related to a female speaker. And a person that speaks romance tongues can't imagine how to make sense of a phrase that consists of just an object and a verb in which the verb, while being the same as the object, is also the adjective of the object as if describing what it is doing an what it is at the same time, and with any conective and relative words at all it still correlates to each other, making sense. So, yeah. It helps a lot. Don't help on grammar though

[@Jemalacane0]

Even if it wouldn't make me smarter, becoming in fluent in German would make me *happier* .

[@Vivi-mp9nn]

Gammareign why hahah is bringts ja ned grad

[@artisticgm4647]

I’ll say this from a personal perspective: I am a native speaker in Portuguese and I have a very vast vocabulary. Later in my life I learnt Spanish and I recently moved to Canada. I learnt English by myself and I could refine my abilities in the language by coming here . I’m currently learning French by the Public School system and I’ve noticed that I have a substantially better performance than my classmates in any given area of knowledge/problem solving/ artistic expression. So I strongly recommend learning a language, it gets far easier with time, it’s fun and it opens doors to the unimaginable. Cheers!

[@GiantsGraveGaming]

Yeah, but youre one person, not enough to confirm a theory :D

[@leagueaddict8357]

a benefit of learning a different language is that there might be words or sentences in that language that are better for expressing how you feel that dont exist in your first language or are simply more accurate with their definitions

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

*Me:* Day dreaming of speaking another language... *Also me:* subscribed to many language (often polyglot) YT channels... *Also also me:* FML... can't even speak 2, and here's Mr Lingual McLanguageson speaking 10/20/30 >

[@angelic8632002]

Pretty sure a broad range of experiences *does* improve cognitive functions, and language is a very good way to facilitate that indirectly.

[@tafellappen8551]

As someone who grew up monolingual and is at a somewhat lower intermediate level in a second language (and improving!), learning a second language in and of itself is so rewarding. The feeling of simply falling in love with a language and even just the feeling of “oh my god, i understand this now. And i didnt before!” is worth every second of effort.

[@morezco]

Perspective is one very interesting perk that being bilingual provides, that’s my subjective experience, at least. Languages tend to structure thought processes in quite different ways, and to think about any subject in multiple languages often gives me ideas that I’d not be able to come up with otherwise

[@Sophia-tk2qp]

I haven't been able to find much information on it, but I'd really like to learn more about the difference between people who grew up bilingual vs learned a 2nd language after childhood

[@AyeGee721]

English and Maori (Polynesian) are my native languages, however learning a lot from my Finnish wife and how much they swear on a daily basis like its normal taught me a lot.

[@akshaychandrashekaran2267]

Being bilingual just makes my idiocy understandable to more people.

[@mehraneh1554]

lol

[@MxSirel]

I went to an international school and one interesting observation from most of my maths and science teachers was that, while everyone there had to learn at least a second language, the class that didn't have their own language section & thus had to actually study everything in their second language consistently outperformed the parallel class who did most things in their first language.

[@Swenthorian]

In language acquisition class in college (I majored in Linguistics), we were taught that school performance for bilingual children tends to be lower in early elementary school, but they eventually catch up and generally exceed the monolinguals. We also learned that bilingual children figure out that words are arbitrary months before monolingual children, which makes sense.

[@iota-09]

What do you mean specifically by "arbitrary"?

[@jordannelwey613]

Spanish was my first language. Then when I got to kindergarten, i figured out how to speak English. Now English is my primary because of school and stuff and i speak Spanglish at home. For people who don't know what Spanglish is, it is just Spanish and English put together like when you speaking a sentence that is part English and part Spanish

[@grimble4564]

I grew up bilingual and I can't say it made my grades better (oopsie), but it sure as hell made learning new dialects and languages wayyyy easier. Hell, it literally made my English better just because my other language is German and I could compare vocabulary and understand where certain words came from at a really young age. Then I took Latin and now there isn't a western European word I can't pronounce. Seriously believing that only knowing one language is better than two is the most staunchly ethnocentric thing I've ever heard.

[@YoshMaster]

Having access to two or more entire cultures is the main advantage of being bilingual! I get to experience so many more songs and movies and books etc!

[@Maverick_Mad_Moiselle]

I'm a native french speaker and love to learn languages. I also suffer of a treatment resistant sleep disorder + a thought disorder (gets worse with sleep deprivation, obviously, but like, much worse). My cognitive functions were assessed, they aren't great, obviously. Difficulty initiating tasks, slow thinking, poor mental flexibility, shorter short term memory. I'm good at planning though, it seems. I keep learning mostly because I enjoy it but I also actively learn as a way to keep my brain healthy and help me with my communication issues. A hope that being able to understand several ways to express something in several languages will reduce my struggle expressing myself and understanding. By active learning, I mean courses and exercises. I can't say if it has benefited me in these ways. My thought disorder has gotten worse over the years for mental health reasons. I have noticed that I actually often struggle to express myself as a consequence of being bilingual. And the more I practice a language, the worse I become at others. :/ I'm learning german and toki pona, previously had tried to learn russian and mandarin but I gave up on those. I'm very serious about german though progress is slow, it is steady, I enjoy it and I haven't missed a day of practice in almost a year (every day) and started more than a year ago. I have a clear and reasonable objective, to reach B1 proficiency. My past experience with english allows me to be fully aware of the process and it also helps a lot for learning german.

[@beskamir5977]

Several weeks ago I had to write a potential research proposal where I used the "language makes you smarter" argument as a reason for why my research could be useful. Basically I compared spoken dialects to artificial languages such as programming, music, etc and suggested that we should examine the structural effects that learning an artificial language such as programming has on the brain. If anyone wants to steal this idea please by all means go ahead, I'm probably gonna pursue a career in computer graphics or game development anyway. Neuroscience is basically just a hobby to me when compared with my interests in computer science.

[@andreoka]

Even if learning another language doesn't directly improve your cognitive capacities there's still no pros to choosing not to learn one, especially when you have the option to, and that same principle applies to anything, there's no cons in learning, you can do it anywhere, anytime and with the internet nowadays mostly for free.

[@Cellardoor_]

The benefits of bilingualism (or tri, quad, etc.) are really only as beneficial as the education and opportunities an individual is given.

[@friedchickenUSA]

think about it if the media says its good, itll promote language learning, regardless of the reality behind their hype. itll also give a general confidence boost to whoever already speaks multiple languages or is learning a new one.

[@mariaherrera-lc8jx]

I think if the social component tied to the reasons a person knows multiple languages was more of a focus, the research would be clearer. (Basically, I think you have more impediments if you geographically had moved more, and also depending on the parents involvement in the child's education. )

[@uss_04]

The fact that science is all about discovery and new knowledge, and the truth is that what we know always changing. And its frustrating when people lose trust in “consensus based on research” and just go with the consensus based on what memes are most liked.

[@symbolxchannel]

I don't think we need scientific research to figure out that being bilingual can only be beneficial... Especially on the intellectual side! Being bilingual helps you access more diverse information and can help you understand semantic concepts that doesn't exists in your native language.

[@stephenvoncrven4319]

by my little experience with bilinguals, i can confirm they appeared "faster" in reasoning (switching hypothesis, concepts, jumping between subjects) BUT as i ended up to tell to one "yeah your brain is faster, but if you are stupid, you gonna end up saying stupid things faster". i'm not born bilingual but i'm more or less am now and switching between languages "feels" as my reasoning is a bit more speedy, but not smarter (sadly).

[@PolinaLee94]

Knowning more than 1 language makes you think about things as a concept. You also usually learn at least a big bit of some new culture and/or counrty. It also let's you get much richer data pool.

[@0xBADFECE5]

Something comes to mind about ideas which require several words to poorly describe in one language being one simple elegant phrase in another. Different cultures evolved to find many similar things and a few different things important to them, and have therefore created words to capture the essence of those things. For example, Chinese has a lot of four-character idioms, few of which translate well into English. It's nice to know more languages because it opens up your brain to ideas which previously didn't exist in your vocabulary.

[@marygebbie6611]

Nooo don't tell me that! I've been using the "bilingualism is good for your brain" article in my EFL lessons for the past 3 years D:

[@dragoola69x]

I don't need that watch it to know but learning a different language opens your mind up to possibility of you learning new ideas but just learning a different language doesn't make you a smarter person it does change your brain your neurosynaptic processes in which enabled you to learn and be smarter but it doesn't really make you a smarter person

[@shannonlu3295]

Idk about the neurological aspect but learning languages is certainly a lot of fun! It's like unlocking a new side to your worldview, you won't fully understand a culture till you get to see the raw everyday conversations between natives.

[@subblety0130]

Que buen video! Gracias hank

[@Ermude10]

Something that I find very interesting is that our ways of thinking are very much affected by how we formulate those thoughts to ourselves with words. I'm fluent in three languages, and I've noticed that I tend to think and express myself slightly differently depending on what language I use.

[@catpoke9557]

I definitely think it's improving me in one area, which is basically the "You know another language" area, except kind of applied to my native language. I am a lot more able to process what the words I say actually MEAN beyond the connotations of the phrases, and the automatic ability to know where to put words like "The." I am more able to understand the actual definition of these words, and more properly place them in a sentence. I'm still not GOOD at grammar, I won't lie haha, but I definitely think it's improving my understanding of my own language and improving my ability to communicate. It's also expanding my.. ears?? I am able to hear the actual noises in foreign languages better than I was when I only knew English, because I now understand how different some noises can sound while still sounding so similar to ours, and I am also better at pronouncing foreign words (Usually) because I understand one important thing when it comes to things that need to be romanized: Usually, standard romanizations are going to want to be consistent so that you know which letter correlates to which noise. Usually, the A letter isn't going to be like in "Apple" sometimes and "Apparently" other times, it's only going to be one of those. This helps me to figure things out. Even in languages that aren't romanized, they tend to be more phonetically consistent than English anyways, so you can usually assume that, aside from dipthongs and such, the letters' corresponding noises will be pretty consistent. Also, learning another language, even just knowing the basics of a single language (Which is where I am atm) has made it easier for me to pick up on sentences and words and sentence structures in other languages too, without someone actually telling me how it works. Basically I sometimes can pick up on something how a baby would, which is with no guidance whatsoever beyond listening. Essentially, learning just the verrryyy basics, as in, I can make a few small sentences in one language, has improved my understanding of language in general, communication, and my ability to pick up on and pronounce foreign words and just peoples' accents. I would say this definitely counts towards improving intelligence in some ways, even if those ways it improves you is just more things involving language. After all, who ever said that understanding language and grammar isn't a part of intelligence?

[@shivampanchal3688]

Thank you Scishow!

[@lilaclizard4504]

There's an additional factor you missed out too, children who have difficulty with language are raised to be mono-ligual as a way of dealing with their lower intelligence & inability to cope with 2 languages (former pre-school teacher here, this was the strategy we encouraged in those cases). On the other hand, children who need further stimulation are often encouraged to learn a second language & in locations like pre-schools, there will commonly be bi-lingual staff who will read stories & talk with children who want to in a second language, so there's also going to be a natural bias of smarter people being the ones more likely to be bi-lingual, therefore distorting results

[@emilyplunkett6034]

It doesn't matter if learning another language helps your brain, learning a second language is huge in helping financial stability. A six month refresher course in French to reinforce what I previously learned in high school didn't make me fluent, but it sure gave me enough to actually obtain at least a bilingualism-preferred, unionized retail position; and its giving me the confidence to begin applying for jobs I really want. I learned all of this well into my 30's; when learning languages can be a bit of a laborious process, and hindsight says I definitely should have stuck with it past grade 9. But teaching kids this early enough (while they're still little sponges and can absorb new knowledge far quicker than I can at this point) to get a good basis of their chosen second language before they graduate in this day and age might be the best key to some level of future stability.

[@artificialidiot1654]

The whole world should use only one language, doing this will have so many advantages, everyone can talk with each other from every countries, there will be no need for learning more languages.

[@dancorvalan3205]

I would say learning a new language also allows you to experience a different way of thinking.

[@BothHands1]

Bilingualism isn't going to make you better at math, but it will keep your communication skills in shape as you age. My grandma recently had fluid buildup in her brain that compressed her entire frontal lobe, but the damage stopped right at Broca's area, which was so densely packed with strong healthy white/grey matter. She's bilingual, and spends at least 6 hours a day reading in both English and Afrikaans. I think the key is that you must actually use both languages on a daily basis, and think critically/discuss complex topics in both languages. Aside from Broca's area, Wernicke's area of her brain was even more densely packed with neurons, exponentially more than any other parts that could be seen on the CT. At least for old people, bilingualism can keep the parts of the brain responsible for communication healthy. After having the fluid drained, she's spry as ever for a 90 year old.

[@funkysagancat3295]

That's anecdotal evidence but ok

[@alguem5996]

I've learned English with an American accent. Now I'm trying to get a Bitish accent and I've found that getting a British accent is pretty difficult (even if the sounds for As, Ts and Os are pretty similar to the sounds of the same letters of my 1st language). And also: I can say, from personal experience, that learning a new language did not made me any smarter.

[@ROHAN-ur3jy]

I can speak 3 language Hindi, Marathi, english/ from India.

[@adrikasingh1427]

Sameee From Mumbai

[@ROHAN-ur3jy]

@@adrikasingh1427 Jai PUBG

[@thebubbler2832]

Cool

[@ROHAN-ur3jy]

😄 thanks

[@ROHAN-ur3jy]

@@thebubbler2832 😃

[@CarolineCarnivorous]

I'm working on learning a 9th language, and that's just for fun! I find languages fascinating, and since I started out trilingual, it has always been easy for me to just look at words in other languages and compare them to languages I already know to figure out what they mean.

[@MrBomasBalloons]

Bilingualism did not prevent my grandmother from getting dementia. But something strange happened in her language center. My grandmother's first language was Slovak, which she spoke until the age of 6, when she came to the US. From then on, she spoke almost exclusively English. So, by the time I knew her, she hadn't spoken it in many many years. When I would ask her how to say something in Slovak, she struggled to remember words and phrases… the language was mostly lost to her. But when she started to suffer from dementia, she would sometimes speak in Slovak without even realizing it. She might not remember who I was, but she would suddenly be fluent in a language she had mostly forgotten long ago. The lost language would return to her.

[@LuisAldamiz]

The main advantage I've seen claimed again and again is that it destructures your way of thinking, it makes you more open minded, because you have to confront other grammars (like for instance the adjective does not always goes before the noun, in many languages goes behind or whatever). In my experience that's true: people who are fluent only in one language are more square-minded and tend to expect everything to be a specific way, their local or family way.

[@kurtcobain7095]

I’m happy that I was learned to speak Zulu from my mom and dad and Swedish and English in Sweden. I love languages and I’m happy that I know 3 languages and that I’m almost fluent in all 3 of them. Even though bilingualism doesn’t make you smarter it’s a great asset in life especially if you’re looking for a job.

[@samwisethesoulless9734]

I'm one of the many cases of a "narutal bilingual" due to how I grew up. long story short, my parents moved to Spain from the UK around 27 years or so ago, and I was born there in a local town. At home I learnt english from them, while outside I learnt spanish like any little one would. Curiously enough, both of my parents have very decent degrees in english, and both can teach english as a second language (also known as a TESOL) and my mum can actually teach spanish as a first language. Anyway, I was blessed to grow up with two fantastic languages that I would not trade for anything, though they have their quirks... See, my english lacks any accent. It literally is recieved pronunciation, as my parents both taught me so and being them, correted me the whole time(I got a little annoyed at one point by this, during my early teens, though now that I am 22 I just roll with it and adapt). My spanish however took a very different route. I got the accent, way of talking and the coloquialisms 'n all, which I personally am fascinated by as I love accents and while I'm not good at them, I will always try to imitate them! Some annecdotes for you: My dad is pretty much a language fan! He can of course use both english and spanish in a really high level(he has in numerous ocasions corrected the spaniards themselves, though he has asked me maybe once or twice for the ocasional tip, not that he really needs that lol) can pretty much speak basic protuguese(around B1-B2 level) and is also learning french with my mum. I'm the only one of the bunch who can "talk like a spaniard"! :P(basically, home advantage) When I'm reading scientific names(another short one, I'm doing an animal management course in the UK) I tend to "spanishise" them. I cannot think of any more facts so I'll prolly write some later

[@beamworthy4134]

I started learning mandarin 11 years ago and have a degree in tesol. It makes my memory better, like i remember what i was going to say better and when i go off in tangents or someone else does but especially myself, i can go back to qhat i was saying in the original tangent, or go back to the orginal story and do all that better. I also analyze each word and grammar choice in both languages kore closely and have a thing to compare the linguistics of english to, so that generally i am more careful in what i say. But im also just interested in language and linguistics anyways, have a natural passion in some way like this and am self-taught. Also chinese requires contrary to most modern theories, rote language learning, im sure this particularly impacted me as a language learner of that language, where if i had learned any other language with an alphabet, i would have done far, would have had to do far less rote memorization and would not have 7,000 flashcards of that language. It just sucks not knowing a character, really hard to read when you dont know what it is, software and tech is better now, but its still hard.

[@mansourzanaty691]

Learning English made me able to understand this video - made in English - that talks about the benefits of bilingualism, so this is a benefit speaking of it's own. Research and studies aside, there is no doubt that speaking an additional language to your mother tongue language puts you ahead of millions of people in several walks of life.

[@YeenMage]

In the Philippines, we are largely biligual, or trilingual for Filipino-Chinese such as myself, plus Ecclesiastical Latin and Koine Greek as liturgical languages. Interestingly, I can think of two or three different things/topics independently as long as I talk to myself inside of my head in different languages.