The process of learning languages has been revolutionized by the marvelous invention of the internet. Its speed and accessibility allows us to learn languages with just a simple swipe of the finger.
Today, we see adolescents who connect with others from all corners of the globe within seconds, partly because of improved communication and language teaching apps such as Duolingo. Time Magazine says: “Duolingo may hold the secret to the future of education.”
Today’s technology has enabled many teens to learn words and phrases from foreign languages in Japanese, Turkish, German, Spanish etc. A surprising study was made recently about the evolution of today’s teens’ brains. Dr. Nina Kraus and her colleagues at Northwestern University demonstrated that bilinguals and trilinguals have more cognitive flexibility and are more creative and clever than their monolingual counterparts.
Another study was made by the International Journal of Bilingualism that showed that multilinguals have an advantage with problem-solving skills as well. Out of 121 students that were tested, 75 percent of bilinguals showed better results in solving mental math problems, and reproducing colour block patterns.
An astonishing example of a polyglot is a 17 year-old who speaks 20 different languages, that he learned by himself at home, using the internet. Timothy Doner, the American prodigy, started learning languages as a hobby, but soon languages became his passion and he found himself getting closer to people from other countries through the medium of communication.
He became more aware of countries’ politics, heritage, food, traditions, clothing etc and more accepting of their diverse backgrounds. Doner gained extraordinary fluency in Farsi and Arabic, which are known to be quite difficult to learn.
So, what does this mean for all of us? Why can’t we all learn new languages just like Doner? The UAE, for instance, is a country where 106 nationalities live together; that’s about half the globe’s nationalities! The benefits of taking up a foreign language can help you understand and appreciate people who live around you who are from other parts of the world.
A study made by several futurist-sociologists in UCLA have showed that the process of learning a new language increases the hormone of happiness (Dopamine) in your brain, because of the pride you’ll feel after mastering a new skill.
I believe we should always motivate youth to learn and speak a second or third language. This could be an important key to shape them into global citizens who have more confidence, and much wider horizons.
Lastly, Nelson Mandela once, rightly, said: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to a man in his language, that goes to his heart.” Language is the tool to discover another, broader vision of life, and to discover previously unknown souls of human race.
