A new large-scale study shows that people who speak two or more languages are less likely to age rapidly. The more languages someone knows, the stronger their defense against the effects of time.
How did scientists find this out?
An international team of researchers examined data from 86,149 individuals aged 51 to 90 across 27 European countries. They discovered that people who speak only one language are nearly twice as likely to experience accelerated aging, while polyglots face that risk about half as often.
But why does knowing multiple languages help people feel and act younger? The team believes multilingualism strengthens cognitive flexibility. Speaking multiple languages helps slow both cognitive and physical decline.
Like other well-known lifestyle factors that promote health, such as social connections and regular physical activity, being multilingual is an effective way to keep the brain sharp and maintain vitality for many years.
Researchers found that people from cultures historically or geographically inclined to learn multiple languages tend to eat healthier and have more active social lives in later years. In contrast, their monolingual peers are less socially active, as reported by IFLScience.
Researchers also found that the protective effect of multilingualism remained significant even when controlling for factors such as age, physical health, environment, and socio-political conditions.
The English-speaking world of monolinguals
That’s good news for much of the world: between 50 and 70 percent of the global population speaks more than one language. But the study’s findings likely leave the English-speaking world on the sidelines, where most people communicate in just one language.
Still, countries with predominantly English-speaking populations — including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland — face a slow-motion demographic time bomb: rapidly aging populations. So, for residents of these countries, learning other languages may matter more than ever.
By the way, this is not the first study linking multilingualism to improved cognitive health in older age.
“Bilingualism and multilingualism are the norm internationally. However, most native English speakers are monolingual: they speak only English. Therefore, these results regarding the positive cognitive and health effects of bilingualism and multilingualism as we age may come as a surprise to them,” commented linguistics professor Stephen May from the School of Indigenous Education at Auckland University.
The findings from the study were published in the journal Nature Aging.
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