Our brain benefits from constant and simultaneous learning of several languages, just as our American School has envisioned it, but why? The answer doesn't seem to be that simple, but it is: In the art of negotiating strategies for life in society, what better tool is there than the exhaustive study of various languages? These help in the recognition of linguistic signs, their meanings and their very negotiation in social interaction, through the active use of these various language systems with all their abilities in evolutionary processes, with which they become largely responsible for the scope from a pacifying stage in the resolution of conflicts in fields of knowledge and sociology, as a model of evolving diversity and inclusion.
Languages are the futuristic vision that is opposed to globalized society, since instead of favoring a language with a universalizing objective, the preservation of these, their study and dissemination, makes them respect differences, broadening the vision of the world, paying homage to its cultures, with an inclusive viewpoint.
In another approach, a more scientific one, multilingual brains produce more gray matter and favor their plasticity. White matter, likewise, with myelinating substances, positively influence the formation of neural networks, which are better preserved in elderly when someone is bilingual, delaying the possible appearance of dementia.
In conclusion, with reference to the scientific aspects of the brain, cognitive, attentional, and memory processes are favored with multilingual learning, as well as performance levels in multitasking. On the other hand, bilingual people who have suffered strokes have shown a higher and faster rate of recovery, which is why, learning other languages can protect our brain.
To sum up, regardless of our own social strata, there’s no better example to diversity and inclusion than being committed to learning a new language, not only because of the ecumenical leap you are taking to fill cultural gaps, but for our own brain to keep up with a positive tool that contributes for it to be younger than we might look in the outside.
By Miss Odilia Pérez,
E.L.A. Teacher
