Today I would like to ask you to watch this video from the Ted-Ed channel. Do you know more than 1 language? If your answer is yes, then did you know that this may actually result in your brain looking and working differently from your monolingual friends? From this video, you’ll learn how knowing more than 1 language can beneficially impact your brain.
Questions:
What do you think of the video and the topic discussed? Did you know about that before?
How many languages do you know? Which ones?
Would you like to learn any other languages?
Comments
2. I know 3 languages including my mother language, which is Polish. Those two I learned are English and German. I learned both of them since I was in primary school and I also used English during these studies at the first level since I was in the English group.
3. I think for now these two languages are enough for me and I still try to improve my German skills. I use DuoLingo for that, so every day I do some funny exercises. The language that I'd like to learn most is Russian, but I leave it for later when I will have more time. I only learned Cyrillic a bit to be able to read, but I still don't understand much.
I don't really have anything to brag about. I know polish (However it is one of the hardest languages in the world, so I am proud to speak it fluently!) and english. I have been learning german for 6 years and after all those years I couldn’t even ask a cashier in a shop in Austria about food. But it is probably because I just do not like this language and the way it sounds. I have always preferred to focus on english and when it came to german I just wanted to pass the tests and forget.
I would love to learn spanish. Many people told me that this language is actually quite easy and I also love how it sounds. The useful thing about spanish is that it is spoken in so many countries. I could learn one language and visit at least 5 different countries in which I could communicate in spanish. I find it really beautiful and useful. However, I have always been too lazy to start learning and I really regret it sometimes as I have a friend in Peru who would love to help me.
I am from India and there are 22 languages spoken by Indians. But not everybody aware with all of these. Except English I speak Hindi and Gujarati.I understand Marathi, Punjabi and Bangali.on other I know the basics of Polish and Russian language.
To be honest I am really not interested to learn such languages which are not useful but I want to keep going with English and I want to improve my skills on it because somehow I am obsessed with it. What I feel that everyday when I woke up and leave my bad I look for news timelines and I came to with some new wordsand vocabulary and I keep searching the meaning of it,and this thing make me under confidence and I feel like know there is too many words left to know.
Frankly I didn't know about how being bilingual affects the brain, but it makes some sense for me now that I think of it. It helps to exercise the brain from a young age.
2.
I was born in Germany to Polish parents so I was billingual in those languages from my early years, in school English was introduced and later on at university French. So overall 4 languages.
3.
I think that I used to be more in language learning when I was younger and had more time on my hands, so I used to use tools like duolingo and memrise and read books/website and generally consume media in different languages. Right now however
I think I would like to learn Danish because it could be useful in the job I have now.
It was interesting but not surprising for me. ;)
2. How many languages do you know? Which ones?
I know English and now I'm learning French. Bonjour! :) It's a beautiful language and I recommend it for every Paris and baguette lovers! I had started to learn French in high school and then I had a "gap year". In this summer I spent a lot of time to recall French because since October I came back to language course. It was really awkward to participate in this blog at begin because all grammar structures mixed up in my head. After first shock I used to think "bilingual" ;)
3. Would you like to learn any other languages?
Obviously! I had a short adventure with Russian language and in my option it's so sweet and that would be my preferred option. It's similar to Polish language, specially grammar structures and pronunciation so it's easy to start for us. The biggest problem may be Cyrillic which is not so simple but don't worry! Experience and hard-working will be profitable.
And I can definitely understand you on the mixed grammar part. I've had the same when I first started learning Polish. My native language is Russian and from the age of 3 I started learning English so by the time I was a teenager it was like a second language for me, I even preferred to think in English as some sentences and phrases just sounded better in English for me. But after starting learning Polish I've made it a focal point and neglected English for a bit. Now, I try to practice all 3 languages the same amount. But the other thing is that at this point sentences with a mix of all 3 languages have become a norm for me😅 But fortunately my friends still understand me and my family just got used and ignores it😂
As goes for me, from a very young age my parents have put much effort in my language education, so we would speak at home both Polish and English, as well as other languages. English is one the most popular language worldwide, so it open you to a whole perspective of business opportunities, not only in your home country, but anywhere you want. When I was in primary school, my family and I have moved to Italy for a half a year, because of my dad's business oportunity. This way I managed to learn a little bit of Italian, as after we got back I would still practice with my dad. Unfortunetly, most of the words have faded in my memory, but after reading and reminding myself a bit I'm able to run simple errands. When I started middle school, I became fascinated with Japanese culture, and so I started to learn on my own and the continued in the Polish-Japanese high-school. Unfortunelty, I've never been to Japan, and the is not much opportunity to speak Japanese in Poland, so even though I remember quite a lot, I feel like every day all of this knowledge fades bit by bit. At the same time in high school, I found myself being more in touch with Jewish culture in Warsaw, and travelling more and more to Israel. This pushed me into signing up for Hebrew classes. Don't get me wrong, I love learning new languages, but I though that I won't have much opportunity to speak this language at home, so I was a little bit sceptical that I will forget most of it soon. Suprisingly, learning Hebrew has opened completely new doors for me, as I was able to participate and volunteer in many interesting events, and I have met so many wonderful people, because of it. I have know been learning Hebrew for over 5 years, and even though its still not so easy to switch to, as from Polish to English, I find myself often having thoughts or dreams in this language.
If you haven't noticed already, I definitely love learning languages. My view is, that by learning a language you're not only able to communicate, but you also learn about a diffrent culture and the way they're thinking. For example in Japanese, you have many forms of honorifcation, depending on who you are speaking to. That shows how honor and respect is deeply engraved in this fascinating culture. In Hebrew for example, we use not only singular and plural, but also dual words and phrases. This really can rack your brain for a while, when learning this language. But coming back to your question, I would love the learn as many languages as I can, as I cannot simply decide which is more beautiful. On the top of my list is learning more Italian, and learning from basics French and Spanish. However, I don't think I will be able to wrap my head around French numeric system. I also like to read, and hopefully someday learn a little bit of Hawaiian and Navajo.
I speak polish, english and a little bit of spanish and russian. And thinking about it, it get's hard to switch dynamically from one to another. In the future I'd like to improve my spanish and who knows, maybe learn new language one day.
I'd love to learn more languages, I don't have an slightest idea which one though. Japanese looks tempting, but so do french. Fortunately, that's problem for future me.
I think it is very interesting video and topic. I always think about what is the main language on my brain and can I fully think on my second native language or third language etc.
I was aware with some facts before but really some them was very new for me.
How many languages do you know? Which ones?
I know Turkish based languages because they are almost similar, russian and English.
Would you like to learn any other languages?
Maybe Polish because it is very challenging for me and it is really hard to pronounce some words and you can never guess the written form of the word. Some of the words can be written on one form but when I am trying to guess another word form it is complettely different but the pronouncition of letters can be same.
Moreover Polish words can contain consonant sequence.
2. I use 4 languages on the daily basis. My native languages are Russian and Ukrainian, also I speak Polish and English.
3. First of all I want to perfect the languages that I already know, especially C#. Also last year I had a semester of Spanish in PJA, would be great to improve it up to C1 level.
I knew that children learn new languages better. I think it is very good to teach us at least two languages from childhood. This develops our brain and also makes life much easier in later years. Especially when performing work duties as well better communication when traveling to other countries. I haven't heard about things like reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease or that a child uses two hemispheres of the brain. Learning foreign languages in old age is more difficult.
2. How many languages do you know? Which ones?
The only language in which I can communicate without any problems is Polish. At school age, I learned Russian, German and English the most. I can speak English best of these three languages. One of the languages that I would like to learn well apart from English is French.
3. Would you like to learn any other languages?
As I wrote in the second question, what I would like most is to learn French. It is a very popular language in many regions of the world. French is difficult, but it will certainly be useful during a visit to many regions of the world, just like English. I am still thinking of learning Japanese. It is a country with amazing history and culture, I would love to visit this country.
2. I only know 2 languages. One, native - Polish. I know the second one as English.
3. I think so, I would like to learn other languages, but my hearing loss bothers me a lot.
I don't know about it, but I think it is realyy fascinating and interesting topic.
2. How many languages do you know? Which ones?
Polish of course, which is my native language, English at quite good level(I hope), and German basics. I am still developing my English skills to reach a high level of fluency in the future.
3. Would you like to learn any other languages?
Yes, I like Spanish, so maybe one day I will try to learn how to speak in this language. I think it is really important to practice language skills. I also want to improve my native language skills, to have a huge word resource. I am also a big fan of Latin. I know few phrases so it is not much, but I am trying to broaden my knowledge every day.
Personally, I consider myself as a bilingual person, I am only fluent in two languages: Polish and English of course. During my school days, I also learned a couple of other languages. The most interesting was learning Latin, which helped me see many similarities between the languages that grew out of it.
If I had more time, I would like to continue learning French or Russian. If I had to choose a completely new language, maybe I would choose German because of career prospects. I've always liked learning foreign languages, so it wouldn't take long to convince me of this idea, as long as it would be useful.
Wow, super interesting movie. I didn't know that the brain works differently in people who speak two languages. I knew that it is easiest to learn foreign languages when you are a child, but I did not realize that it was about the plasticity of the brain, that learning a language was about emotions.
How many languages do you know? Which ones?
I know 3 languages :) Polish - this is of course my mother tongue. I communicate in English, which I have studied from an early age, and I know German, which I started learning in primary school. When I finish my studies, I plan to improve my German, because I haven't used it for a long time.
Would you like to learn any other languages?
Yes, I like learning other languages. I believe that thanks to this we get to know the culture of another country better, we become more tolerant.
Additionally, I believe that learning foreign languages is probably the most practical subject at school. Knowing a foreign language well, you will find a good job very quickly.
2. Ukrainian, Russian (unfortunately), English. These are three languages I consider as fluent for me. I also know Polish :).
3. Yes, I'd like to know French or Israeli Hebrew I guess. They sound like fun and interesting languages for me. And of course I'd like to know Mandarin Chinese. Do you know that you are a very desired employee in the West if you know the language of an enemy haha?
2. As I’ve already said, I know three languages. My first and, at the same time, native language is Polish. In the kindergarten I started to learn English and then, in primary school I started to learn Spanish, learning of which I continued in high school.
3. I would like to learn French. As I know two of the most spoken languages in the world I would like to learn one which maybe isn’t that commonly used but for me sounds beautiful. I also love French movies and I would like to have an opportunity to understand them without subtitles.
1. What do you think of the video and the topic discussed? Did you know about that before?
This topic is very interesting because I know some multilingual people and people who weren’t able to learn a second language at all. I think that older people have a problem with learning English as fast and efficient as kids because they don’t learn like them.
Little kids start to simultaneously learn two languages when the parents speak to them. They hear it all the time. They are drowning in a different language. While some older people try to learn with textbooks. It is a complete non-sense for me. For me, the best way to learn a new language is to hear it! All the time! And the need to use it and understand it. Also, when you are older you can learn the accent! I know the teacher who specializes in learning people speaking with different accents.
I used to have English classes my whole childhood. It went slow and not efficient. The huge turning point for me was when I wanted to watch some American TV show but there were no subtitles. I remember I wanted to watch it so bad. After one season something in my brain clicked and my understanding of english started to feel natural. Still, I don’t understand everything and especially I have problems with movies stylized for 18th century or older (I don’t understand well Old English).
2.How many languages do you know? Which ones?
I speak Polish as my first language. The second language that I use is of course English. I use it every day while surfing the Internet, reading books, watching tv series and of course work. During high-school, I used to learn French. I’ve never felt the need to actually learn it. When I need I can read something in it but that’s all.
3.Would you like to learn any other languages?
YES! But without the real need I probably never will. For me, it’s just another skill that people sometimes put too much pressure on.
I think that knowing French and Finnish would be cool.
I think the video and the topic were interesting and thank you for sharing it with us. I didn't know that being bilingual has all this positive impact on the brain. But I knew that learning more languages had some kind of benefit to your imagination and creativity but I wasn't sure what.
How many languages do you know? Which ones?
I had a chance to learn many languages which are Kinyarwanda my mother tongue, French because I did most of my studies in French, English, Swahili and now I'm trying to learn Polish which is not going so well, I found Polish hard to learn.
Would you like to learn any other languages?
Yes, I would like to learn Spanish and Portuguese I don't know when I will start but for now, I'm trying Polish but it is not going smoothly as I wish but with time I will get better.
What do you think of the video and the topic discussed? Did you know about that before?
It is not surprising to me that it is easiest for us to learn languages when we are children. Then our brains absorb it the most, and it's worth taking advantage of. We should skillfully raise our children in the future to take advantage of the effect of fast learning. Equally, I am not surprised that children born from a multicultural family where parents are of different nationalities have a greater ability to learn new languages. In a way, it could be gene-based
How many languages do you know? Which ones?
Apart from my native Polish, I know English well. I had the opportunity to learn other languages, Russian and French. Unfortunately, the form of teaching these languages in my previous schools left much to be desired. As a result, I can't say much or write in French. I can speak a little more in Russian, but that's because it is simpler and more similar to my native Polish.
Would you like to learn any other languages?
I think I would like to learn a new language one day, but it is at a different stage in my life, after my studies. I really like the Spanish language and I hope that I will have the opportunity to learn it one day and test my skills by talking to local people in Spain. The most important thing is not to be afraid to speak, the locals will understand that we are from another country and will not laugh at us or mock us.
I did not know about this, but it seems to be logical.
Additionally, the more we know, the easier it will be for us to learn languages. So if we already know 2 languages, another third one will be much easier to learn than the second one. Maybe this is the secret of people who can speak a dozen languages. I'm a bit jealous of it, but I'm trying to work on it myself all the time, so who knows, maybe in a dozen or so years I will know a lot of languages myself...
2. How many languages do you know? Which ones?
I know only two languages which are of course my native Polish and additionally English. I used to learn German at school, but I was bad at it, so now I don't remember anything about it. Now I think I would have done better, because the more languages you know, the easier it is to live and travel.
3. Would you like to learn any other languages?
Best popular to be able to communicate with a large amount of humanity. It must be great that wherever you go, you can get along without any problems.
The video was interesting to listen to. It mentions different parts of brain which I don’t know precisely, so good to know. Info I have heard before is that different parts of brain are responsible for different activities\functions (left side is considered ‘logical’, while right side is ‘emotional’). I also heard that to prevent Alzheimer’s you have to exercise your brain more, so it makes sense that learning a new language counts. It was also known to me that children can easier learn new languages than adults and video explained me why it is so. I also discovered different types of bilinguals.
2. How many languages do you know? Which ones?
My native language can be considered Russian since my family speaks it. Then my national language is Ukrainian, which I can fluently speak from school and living in western part of Ukraine. I can also consider myself fluent in both Polish and English.
3. Would you like to learn any other languages?
I can’t promise I am planning on it, but I would love to learn French. A part of my relatives lives in France, I have been there several times, can call myself the biggest fan of French cuisine, croissants and wine included, so it would be nice to pay my honors to this nice nation and learn French one day