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What happens in the brain when you learn a language?

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earning a foreign language can increase the size of your brain. This is what Swedish scientists discovered when they used brain scans to monitor what happens when someone learns a second language. The study is part of a growing body of research using brain imaging technologies to better understand the cognitive benefits of language learning. Tools like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electrophysiology, among others, can now tell us not only whether we need knee surgery or have irregularities with our heartbeat, but reveal what is happening in our brains when we hear, understand and produce second languages.

The Swedish MRI study showed that learning a foreign language has a visible effect on the brain. Young adult military recruits with a flair for languages learned Arabic, Russian or Dari intensively, while a control group of medical and cognitive science students also studied hard, but not at languages. MRI scans showed specific parts of the brains of the language students developed in size whereas the brain structures of the control group remained unchanged. Equally interesting was that learners whose brains grew in the hippocampus and areas of the cerebral cortex related to language learning had better language skills than other learners for whom the motor region of the cerebral cortex developed more.

In other words, the areas of the brain that grew were linked to how easy the learners found languages, and brain development varied according to performance. As the researchers noted, while it is not completely clear what changes after three months of intensive language study mean for the long term, brain growth sounds promising.

Looking at functional MRI brain scans can also tell us what parts of the brain are active during a specific learning task. For example, we can see why adult native speakers of a language like Japanese cannot easily hear the difference between the English "r" and "l" sounds (making it difficult for them to distinguish "river" and "liver" for example). Unlike English, Japanese does not distinguish between "r" and "l" as distinct sounds. Instead, a single sound unit (known as a phoneme) represents both sounds.

When presented with English words containing either of these sounds, brain imaging studies show that only a single region of a Japanese speaker's brain is activated, whereas in English speakers, two different areas of activation show up, one for each unique sound.

For Japanese speakers, learning to hear and produce the differences between the two phonemes in English requires a rewiring of certain elements of the brain's circuitry. What can be done? How can we learn these distinctions?

Early language studies based on brain research have shown that Japanese speakers can learn to hear and produce the difference in "r" and "l" by using a software program that greatly exaggerates the aspects of each sound that make it different from the other. When the sounds were modified and extended by the software, participants were more easily able to hear the difference between the sounds. In one study, after only three 20-minute sessions (just a single hour's worth), the volunteers learned to successfully distinguish the sounds, even when the sounds were presented as part of normal speech.

This sort of research might eventually lead to advances in the use of technology for second-language learning. For example, using ultrasound machines like the ones used to show expectant parents the features and movements of their babies in the womb, researchers in articulatory phonetics have been able to explain to language learners how to make sounds by showing them visual images of how their tongue, lips, and jaw should move with their airstream mechanisms and the rise and fall of the soft palate to make these sounds.

Ian Wilson, a researcher working in Japan, has produced some early reports of studies of these technologies that are encouraging. Of course, researchers aren't suggesting that ultrasound equipment be included as part of regular language learning classrooms, but savvy software engineers are beginning to come up with ways to capitalise on this new knowledge by incorporating imaging into cutting edge language learning apps.

Kara Morgan-Short, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, uses electrophysiology to examine the inner workings of the brain. She and her colleagues taught second-language learners to speak an artificial language - a miniature language constructed by linguists to test claims about language learnability in a controlled way.

In their experiment, one group of volunteers learned through explanations of the rules of the language, while a second group learned by being immersed in the language, similar to how we all learn our native languages. While all of their participants learned, it was the immersed learners whose brain processes were most like those of native speakers. Interestingly, up to six months later, when they could not have received any more exposure to the language at home because the language was artificial, these learners still performed well on tests, and their brain processes had become even more native-like.

In a follow-up study, Morgan-Short and her colleagues showed that the learners who demonstrated particular talents at picking up sequences and patterns learned grammar particularly well through immersion. Morgan-Short said: "This brain-based research tells us not only that some adults can learn through immersion, like children, but might enable us to match individual adult learners with the optimal learning contexts for them."

Brain imaging research may eventually help us tailor language learning methods to our cognitive abilities, telling us whether we learn best from formal instruction that highlights rules, immersing ourselves in the sounds of a language, or perhaps one followed by the other.

However we learn, this recent brain-based research provides good news. We know that people who speak more than one language fluently have better memories and are more cognitively creative and mentally flexible than monolinguals. Canadian studies suggest that Alzheimer's disease and the onset of dementia are diagnosed later for bilinguals than for monolinguals, meaning that knowing a second language can help us to stay cognitively healthy well into our later years.

Even more encouraging is that bilingual benefits still hold for those of us who do not learn our second languages as children. Edinburgh University researchers point out that "millions of people across the world acquire their second language later in life: in school, university, or work, or through migration or marriage." Their results, with 853 participants, clearly show that knowing another language is advantageous, regardless of when you learn it.

Alison Mackey is professor of linguistics at Georgetown University and Lancaster University.

Further reading:

Do our words influence how we think?

Would you have passed your French GCSE?

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What happens in the brain when you learn a language?

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Scans and neuroscience are helping scientists understand what happens to the brain when you learn a second language

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What is a foreign language worth?

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JOHNSON is a fan of the Freakonomics books and columns. But this week's podcast makes me wonder if the team of Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt aren't overstretching themselves a bit. "Is learning a foreign language really worth it?", asks the headline. A reader writes:
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My oldest daughter is a college freshman, and not only have I paid for her to study Spanish for the last four or more years - they even do it in grade school now! - but her college is requiring her to study EVEN MORE! What on earth is going on? How did it ever get this far? ... Or to put it in economics terms, where is the ROI?

To sum up the podcast's answers, there are pros and cons to language-learning. The pros are that working in a foreign language can make people make better decisions (research Johnson covered here) and that bilingualism helps with executive function in children and dementia in older people (covered here). The cons: one study finds that the earnings bonus for an American who learns a foreign language is just 2%. If you make $30,000 a year, sniffs Mr Dubner, that's just $600.

But for the sake of provocation, Mr Dubner seems to have low-balled this. He should know the power of lifetime earnings and compound interest. First, instead of $30,000, assume a university graduate, who in America is likelier to use a foreign language than someone without university. The average starting salary is almost $45,000. Imagine that our graduate saves her "language bonus". Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe (a statement dubiously attributed to Einstein, but nonetheless worth committing to memory). Assuming just a 1% real salary increase per year and a 2% average real return over 40 years, a 2% language bonus turns into an extra $67,000 (at 2014 value) in your retirement account. Not bad for a few years of "où est la plume de ma tante?"

Second, Albert Saiz, the MIT economist who calculated the 2% premium, found quite different premiums for different languages: just 1.5% for Spanish, 2.3% for French and 3.8% for German. This translates into big differences in the language account: your Spanish is worth $51,000, but French, $77,000, and German, $128,000. Humans are famously bad at weighting the future against the present, but if you dangled even a post-dated $128,000 cheque in front of the average 14-year-old, Goethe and Schiller would be hotter than Facebook.

Why do the languages offer such different returns? It has nothing to do with the inherent qualities of Spanish, of course. The obvious answer is the interplay of supply and demand. This chart reckons that Spanish-speakers account for a bit more of world GDP than German-speakers do. But an important factor is economic openness. Germany is a trade powerhouse, so its language will be more economically valuable for an outsider than the language of a relatively more closed economy.

But in American context (the one Mr Saiz studied), the more important factor is probably supply, not demand, of speakers of a given language. Non-Latino Americans might study Spanish because they hear and see so much of it spoken in their country. But that might be the best reason not to study the language, from a purely economic point of view. A non-native learner of Spanish will have a hard time competing with a fluent native bilingual for a job requiring both languages. Indeed, Mr Saiz found worse returns for Spanish study in states with a larger share of Hispanics. Better to learn a language in high demand, but short supply-one reason, no doubt, ambitious American parents are steering their children towards Mandarin. The drop-off in recent years in the American study of German might be another reason for young people to hit the Bücher.

And studies like Mr Saiz's can only work with the economy the researchers have at hand to study. But of course changes in educational structures can have dynamic effects on entire economies. A list of the richest countries in the world is dominated by open, trade-driven economies. Oil economies aside, the top ten includes countries where trilingualism is typical, like Luxembourg, Switzerland and Singapore, and small countries like the Scandinavian ones, where English knowledge is excellent.

There are of course many reasons that such countries are rich. But a willingness to learn about export markets, and their languages, is a plausible candidate. One study, led by James Foreman-Peck of Cardiff Business School, has estimated that lack of foreign-language proficiency in Britain costs the economy £48 billion ($80 billion), or 3.5% of GDP, each year. Even if that number is high, the cost of assuming that foreign customers will learn your language, and never bothering to learn theirs, is certainly a lot greater than zero. So if Mr Saiz had run his language-premium study against a parallel-universe America, in which the last half-century had been a golden age of language-learning, he might have found a bigger foreign-language bonus (and a bigger GDP pie to divide) in that more open and export-oriented fantasy America. And of course greater investment in foreign-language teaching would have other dynamic effects: more and better teachers and materials, plus a cultural premium on multilingualism, means more people will actually master a language, rather than wasting several years never getting past la plume de ma tante, as happens in Britain and America.

To be sure, everything has an opportunity cost. An hour spent learning French is an hour spent not learning something else. But it isn't hard to think of school subjects that provide less return-economically, anyway-than a foreign language. What is the return on investment for history, literature or art? Of course schools are intended to do more than create little GDP-producing machines. (And there are also great non-economic benefits to learning a foreign language.) But if it is GDP you're after, the world isn't learning English as fast as some people think. One optimistic estimate is that half the world's people might speak English by 2050. That leaves billions who will not, and billions of others who remain happier (and more willing to spend money) in their own language.

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Johnson: What is a foreign language worth?

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JOHNSON is a fan of the Freakonomics books and columns. But this week's podcast makes me wonder if the team of Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt aren't overstretching themselves a bit. "Is learning a foreign language really worth it?", asks the headline.

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An entertaining article about reasons to learn Spanish in the U.S.

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15 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish

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Census language stats.

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Counts of speakers for 380 languages/language groups with count in each group speaking English less than "very well." Geos: counties, CBSAs, states, nation.

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The future of Spanish in the U.S.

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With more than 37 million speakers, Spanish is by far the most spoken non-English language in the U.S. today among people ages 5 and older. It is also one of the fastest-growing, with the number of speakers up 233% since 1980, when there were 11 million Spanish speakers. (The number of Vietnamese speakers grew faster, up 599% over the same period).

As Spanish use has grown, driven primarily by Hispanic immigration and population growth, it has become a part of many aspects of life in the U.S. For example, Spanish is spoken by more non-Hispanics in U.S. homes than any other non-English language and Spanish language television networks frequently beat their English counterparts in television ratings.

But what's the future of Spanish?

According to a 2011 paper by U.S. Census Bureau Demographers Jennifer Ortman and Hyon B. Shin, the number of Spanish speakers is projected to rise through 2020 to anywhere between 39 million and 43 million, depending on the assumption one makes about immigration. Most of these Spanish speakers will be Hispanic, with Ortman and Shin projecting between 37.5 million and 41 million Hispanic Spanish speakers by 2020.

Ortman and Shin provide two other projections, both of which highlight the changing demographics of the nation's Hispanic population and the rising importance of U.S. births rather than the arrival of new immigrants to Hispanic population growth.

Today, three-fourths of all Hispanics ages 5 and older speak Spanish. However, that share is projected to fall to about two-thirds in 2020. The share of Hispanics that speak Spanish reached 78% in the 2000s.

As the share of Hispanics who speak Spanish falls, the share that speaks only English at home is expected to rise. About a third (34%) of Hispanics will speak only English at home by 2020, up from 25% in 2010, according to Ortman and Shin.

The story of the Spanish language in the U.S. is still unfolding. Whether it follows the same pattern of decline in use as other non-English languages, such as Italian, German or Polish, remains to be seen. ( The number of Italian, German and Polish speakers in the U.S. declined 55.2%, 32.7% and 25.9% between 1980 and 2010, even though the number of Americans who trace their ancestry to Germany, Poland or Italy grew over the same period.)

Nonetheless, the path that Spanish takes could be different. A 2012 Pew Research Hispanic Trends Project report showed 95% of Hispanic adults-including those born in the U.S.-said it is important that future generations of Hispanic speak Spanish. And today's young Hispanics are more likely than their parents to say they hear messages about the importance of speaking Spanish. But among Hispanics, use of English when consuming news media, television entertainment, music or speaking it is on the rise.

Topics: Hispanic/Latino Demographics, Hispanic/Latino Identity, Language

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What is the future of Spanish in the United States?

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With more than 37 million speakers, Spanish is by far the most spoken non-English language in the U.S. today among people ages 5 and older. It is also one of the fastest-growing, with the number of speakers up 233% since 1980, when there were 11 million Spanish speakers.

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Spanish spoken in homes.

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A record 37.6 million persons ages 5 years and older speak Spanish at home, according to an analysis of the 2011 American Community Survey by the Pew Research Center.

Spanish is, by far, the most spoken non-English language in the U.S. The next most spoken non-English languages are Chinese (with 2.8 million speakers), Hindi, Urdu or other Indic languages (2.2 million), French or French Creole (2.1 million), and Tagalog (1.7 million).

The number of Spanish speakers in the U.S. has grown rapidly in recent decades, reflecting the arrival of new immigrants from Latin America and growth in the nation's Hispanic population. Today 34.8 million Hispanics ages 5 and older speak Spanish at home.

However, not all Spanish speakers are Hispanic. According to our analysis, some 2.8 million non-Hispanics speak Spanish at home today. That places Spanish at the top of the list of non-English languages spoken by non-Hispanics along with Chinese and ahead of all other languages.

(The U.S. Census Bureau measure of non-English language use captures how many people say a language other than English is spoken in the home but does not capture how well or how often the language is spoken).

Who are the 2.8 million non-Hispanics who speak Spanish at home? Some 59% trace their ancestry to non-Spanish European countries such as Germany, Ireland, England and Italy. An additional 12% say they are of African American descent. Nonetheless, about one-in-five (18%) non-Hispanic Spanish speakers trace their heritage to a Spanish-speaking country. By comparison, among the non-Hispanic U.S. population ages 5 and older, about two-thirds (64%) trace their ancestry to non-Spanish European countries, 13% say their ancestry is African American and 1% trace their heritage to a Spanish-speaking country.

Nine-in-ten (89%) of non-Hispanic Spanish speakers were born in the U.S., a share similar to that for all non-Hispanics ages 5 and older (91%).

The racial composition of non-Hispanic Spanish speakers mirrors that of the U.S. non-Hispanic population. Overall, three-quarters (77%) of non-Hispanics who speak Spanish at home are white, 14% are black, and 9% say they belong to some other racial group. Among the non-Hispanic U.S. population ages five years and older, 76% are white, 14% are black, and 9% are some other race.

Many non-Hispanic Spanish speakers reside in a household where at least one other member is Hispanic. Overall, 26% of non-Hispanic Spanish speakers live in these types of households. By comparison, just 3% of all non-Hispanics ages 5 and older live in such households.

Three-in-ten (28%) non-Hispanics Spanish speakers who are married live with a Hispanic spouse. By comparison, only 2% of non-Hispanics are living with a Hispanic spouse.

When it comes to English proficiency, eight-in-ten (80%) non-Hispanics who speak Spanish at home say they speak English "very well", 11% say they speak English "well", and 9% say they speak English "not well" or do not speak English. This compares with 96% of all non-Hispanics 5 years and older who speak English only or speak it "very well", 2% who speak English "well", and 2% who speak English "not well" or do not speak English.

Topics: Hispanic/Latino Demographics, Language

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Spanish is the most spoken non-English language in U.S. homes, even among non-Hispanics

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A record 37.6 million persons ages 5 years and older speak Spanish at home, according to an analysis of the 2011 American Community Survey by the Pew Research Center. Spanish is, by far, the most spoken non-English language in the U.S.

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A good start when looking for reasons to learn the language.

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History of the Spanish Language | Reasons to Learn Spanish

Out of all of the other languages, why is it important to study Spanish? Why not go for Russian, French or Italian as they appear to so useful these days, particularly if you are a US citizen. However, due to the increasing number of Latin Americans, the ability to converse in a language that is extensively used could be a priceless advantage.

More schools are becoming bilingual, with the Spanish language being emphasized. There are also some locations around the country, for instance Miami, where there are more Spanish speakers living there than native English speakers. The Spanish language is among the most widely used worldwide, though the exact position is hard to determine, as so many people who speak Spanish also speak another language.

The majority of the Latin American countries, particularly in the South and Central America, speak Spanish with an increasing number of individuals living in the US. That is nearly a whole hemisphere filled with the Spanish language! There is also Spain, obviously, and while their Spanish may be somewhat different from the Spanish in the Latin America, it is still Spanish, and learning one makes the other much easier to pick up.

The unfortunate issue is that native speakers of English find it very easy to be lazy. Tourism is geared up for English speakers, and English is the most spoken language in the world, making it difficult to muster up the motivation to learn a new language. However, being bilingual can really up your job prospects, for one thing. It can also provide you with a chance to live and work in the country which may be an unavailable option otherwise. It provides an alternative option for work and home, and with the many countries today that are able to speak Spanish, it provides a lot of people with several opportunities.

Statistics of Spanish

In the worldwide statistics, Spanish ranks in as the third most spoken language, subsequent to Mandarin Chinese and English and positions as second, with regards to the number of native speakers. At the end of the 19th century, there were 60 million individuals who spoke Spanish. In the present day, there are nearly 500 million individuals around the world who can speak Spanish.

Spanish is the native language of about 388 million individuals in 21 countries, including in Mexico, USA, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela and Peru. It is extensively used also in locations where this language is unofficial but very popular. Hispanic customers are the speediest growing market section in North America. Their residents in US have increased by 60 percent in just a decade. This language is the second most used in international communication and is one of the official languages of the UN along with its associates.

Economic Markers

There are 29 million US occupants over five years old who speak Spanish at home. That is about one of every ten US occupants, a vast customer and trade market. The world is turning multilingual, with Spanish, Arabic and Chinese seemingly becoming the main languages of future. Nobody is conscious of the changing tides of trade more than those that are working in global markets. Thus, foreign language proficiency is an important advantage for job hunters as there are an increasing number of businesses trading internationally, and more jobs in the future are opening up to enable trade on this level.

Cultural Markers

Latin culture carries on influencing globally with matters like on architecture, literature and art. Who is not familiar with Cervantes 'Don Quijote de la Macha', which is the second most translated book subsequent to the Bible? Who has not learned about the most expensive painting that was ever sold which was painted by Picasso?

Santiago Calatrava is the Spanish architect that continues to make his mark throughout the world, with modern and up to date projects in Germany, Ireland, Sweden and the Olympic campus in Athens, as well as the site of world trade centre found in New York. The Spanish language authors such as Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez go on leading the global best seller lists as well as gaining international critical praise.

Better Comprehension of English

The majority of the English language has a Latin origin, most of them originating by the way of French. Since Spanish is a Latin language as well, you will see when studying Spanish that you will have better comprehension of your native lexicon. Likewise, English and Spanish share Indo-European origins; this is the reason why their grammar is alike. There is probably no other efficient method to understanding English than by learning the grammar of another language, for the comprehension will force you reflect on how a particular language is structured. It is not odd, for instance, to acquire understanding of English tenses, moods and verbs by studying how these are to be applied in Spanish.

Understanding your Fellow Citizens

Not long ago, Spanish-speaking occupants of the US were restrained in the Mexican Border States, New York and Florida. But now, it is different, because in less than 100 km. from Canadian border, you will observe that there are now Spanish-speaking individuals. Learning this language has certainly established its usefulness in terms with communicating with other people in US who cannot speak English. If you are working in the US and with a person who does not speak English, the odds are with you that they will speak Spanish.

Practicality when Travelling

Certainly, it is possible for you to travel to Spain, Mexico and Ecuatorial Guinea with no need to speaking Spanish. However, learning the language of a culture before you visit is half of the excitement. When you are able to speak Spanish, especially when going to areas where people have this as their mother tongue, you will be able to get along with them easily. Your travel experiences will be more memorable and one that most tourists would much prefer. Why go to a country to speak your own language? Why not engage fully in the local culture?

Understanding other Cultures

While a lot of people think that they are unable to learn several languages except for their original language, those that have learned a language know that learning a language will assist you in understanding how other individuals think. When you are able to read Spanish or Latin American writings, you will certainly gain understanding on how these individuals feel or think, in a viewpoint that is different from your own. Spanish provides you also with a wealth of literature, traditional and modern.

Study Spanish in Preparation for Overseas Openings

A number of schools and universities abroad offer study opportunities for the Spanish language. Diverse kinds of programs are now available to select from and these differ in duration for as short as a week or a semester or to a full year. Frequently, as short as a semester or a year of previous language study is all you need to meet the criteria to join an exchange program.

Without taking the initial procedure of signing up for language class, you might miss the chance of going on one of the most enthralling adventures. What could be more admirable than being able to acquire new language skills that you can actually put to use in among the numerous Spanish-speaking countries all over the world? Not to mention that exchange programs can provide you with the chance to apply the Spanish skill that you now have, but can also enhance your language capabilities. Continuous exposure to culture and language is considered to be the solution to real language mastery and will definitely assist you in becoming fluent.

Studying other Languages

If you are able to learn Spanish, you will have a jump start in understanding other Latin based languages like Italian and French. This will assist you in learning German and Russian, since these have Indo-European origins as well and have some traits that exist in Spanish and not in English. It will be surprising if this language will help you understand Japanese and other non Indo-European language, through intensive learning of the syntax of a language can provide you with reference tips for studying others. It can also provide you with some excellent study methods for languages.

Spanish is Uncomplicated to Learn

Spanish is among the most uncomplicated languages that you can learn. Most of its lexis is alike with English and the written Spanish is roughly entirely phonetic. Take a look at almost any kind of Spanish word, and if you have the basics of pronunciation down, you will be able to know exactly how it is spoken. While mastering Spanish grammar can be challenging, basic grammar is direct enough that you can have meaningful conversations after only a few lessons.

Employment Breaks

If you are living in the US and work in among the assisting professions such as education and medicine, you will be able to seek opportunities through your learning of Spanish. Wherever you are residing, if you are working for any particular profession that engages international trade, tourism or communications, you can seek similar opportunities where you can apply your latest language skills.

Learning Spanish is Enjoyable

When you take pleasure in conversing, reading or mastering challenges, you will discover all of these when you decide to learn Spanish. For a lot of individuals, there is something intrinsically enjoyable in successfully conversing in another kind of language. Even though studying a language is something that takes a lot of effort and exertion, every bit of hard work will pay off when you are able to apply your skills.

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History of the Spanish Language | Reasons to Learn Spanish Out of all of the other languages, why is it important to study Spanish? Why not go for Russian, French or Italian as they appear to so useful these days, particularly if you are a US citizen.

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A short article with some statistics.

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It is advisable to learn about Spanish language Statistics. It will encourage one to learn Spanish language. This section shows the main statistics.