Learning to speak one or more new languages can slow biological ageing and protect the brain against age-related cognitive decline.
So says new research reported in Nature Ageing, by scientists at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the Basque Center On Cognition, Brain and Language in San Sebastian and the Latin American Brain Health Institute in Santiago, Chile.
“Our results provide strong evidence that multilingualism functions as a protective factor for healthy ageing,” said Agustín Ibáñez, professor of global brain health at TCD, who co-led the research.
“The protective effect was cumulative – the more languages people spoke, the greater their protection against ageing-related decline,” said Prof Ibáñez.
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The international team of scientists analysed data from 86,149 adults aged 51 to 90 living in 27 European countries.
Ageing clock
A “bio-behavioural ageing clock” method was used to compare the participants’ predicted biological age, based on health, cognition, education and lifestyle factors, with their actual chronological age.
It was found that people from countries where multilingualism was common were 2.17 times less likely to experience accelerated ageing compared with those living where monolingualism held sway.
This evidence indicates that language learning and its use activates and engages the brain networks related to attention, memory, decision-making and social interaction, said Prof Ibáñez.
This study improves on previous research investigating the link between multilingualism and ageing, which were limited by the use of smaller clinical samples, as well as patients that already had signs of cognitive impairment.
The analysis, in this study, of a far larger, healthy population enabled the scientists to show the benefits of multilingualism went farther than simply delaying dementia or mild cognitive impairment.
The scientists examined the behavioural age gap – the difference between predicted biological age and actual age – between thousands of individual study participants.
They found that multilingual individuals consistently exhibited slower ageing, even after the linguistic, social, physical and sociopolitical factors were taken into account.
“The more languages people speak, the greater their protection against ageing-related decline,” said Dr Lucia Amoruso of the Basque Centre On Cognition, Brain and Language.
“Multilingualism is an accessible, low-cost tool for promoting healthy ageing across populations, complementing other modifiable factors such as creativity and education,” added Dr Hernán Hernández of the Latin American Brain Health Institute in Chile.
The study found no evidence that the protective effect of multilingualism depended on the language learned.
The researchers didn’t look at whether language learning by app, or its conversational use, were more protective against ageing, but they did note that social use of a new language was more likely to provide greater benefits than passive exposure or memory drills.
“Language is not just words, but a dynamic, cognitive and social activity,” said Prof Ibáñez. “Using multiple languages in daily communication requires constant switching, contextual adaptation and emotional engagement – all of which activate distributed brain systems that support attention, memory and emotion regulation.”
In light of this study’s findings, the scientists recommend that language learning is incorporated into public health plans to enhance cognitive resilience and reduce the burden of ageing.
[ Sí, oui, ja! You can learn a language late in lifeOpens in new window ]
In Ireland, it could lead to renewed efforts to promote the Irish language, not just for cultural reasons, but for its health benefits.
