Mind your language!

I spent the Christmas holidays with my dear friends in Portugal and enjoyed happy times in the winter sunshine along the Algarve coast. But the point of this story is not to blather on (again) about how lucky I am but rather to say how I regret not yet making the time to learn even a little of the Portuguese language. Each time I visit, I kick myself that I can barely order a cup of coffee - by the way.um galão.  So not only am I ashamed by my discourteous behaviour but I also now realise that I’m missing out on some super brain training.

Having recently been asked to draft a brief article on ‘Third Age Learning’, I happened across some research carried out by the scholar, Anne Merritt, summarising  the benefits of learning a second language – they reach way beyond ordering a beer in a far-flung bar!  Speaking a foreign language improves the functionality of your brain; the ‘juggling’ skills help make for good multi-taskers; speaking two or more languages can stave off Alzheimer’s and dementia; your memory improves; you become more perceptive; decision-making skills improve; you become a more effective communicator in your own native language. Finally, as if you needed any more encouragement, studies show that people beginning in their adult lives can still achieve the same levels of fluency as younger learners, and still reap the same mental benefits.  Wow! By the time I re-visit Portugal this spring, I’m determined to have mastered at least some basic phrases, to keep the brain working hard.