学进去

If English means endless new words, difficult rules and sometimes strange sound, you are wrong. Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?

According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an improvement in your brain power. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter. This is the area of the brain which processes (处理) information. It is similar to the way that doing lots of exercise helps build muscles (肌肉).

The study also found the younger people learn a second language, the greater the effect is. A team led by Dr. Andrea Mechelli, from University College London, took a group of Britons who only spoke English. They were compared with a group of “early bilinguals” the people who had learned a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners.

Scans showed that grey matter density (密度) in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language. But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller difference.

“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists.

It means that the change itself adds up the ability to learn.

Professor Jones of the University of Wales has researched the link between bilingualism and math skills. “Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible (灵活的),” he said. “You are actually going beyond language and can understand different ideas better.”

The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of two and thirty-four. Reading, writing, and comprehension were all tested. The results showed that the younger they started to learn, the better. “Studying a language means you get an entrance (入口) to another world,” explained the scientists.