It is necessary to begin studying foreign languages from the age of 10
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Specialists have long proven that learning foreign languages stimulates the work of the brain. The latest research of specialists in this field has shown that the optimal age for the beginning of language learning is 10 years. At this age, children are most likely to perceive information, actively use foreign languages, while the structure of white matter is getting better.
The use of two languages at the same time is quite a strong stimulation for the work of the brain, and this is a powerful factor that will help prevent senile dementia in the future.
Experts came to such conclusions after scanning the brains of twenty people who started learning a foreign language at about the age of ten (the study was conducted when the participants were 30 years old). Also, experts created a control group, which included 25 people.
During the scan, scientists noted an interesting feature that in the areas of the brain that are responsible for the study of languages, positive structural changes have appeared. In addition, this study confirms earlier findings that people who have started to learn foreign languages in childhood have a more developed brain.
Also, earlier studies have shown that if a child is no longer interested in images already familiar to him and he strives for new ones, then at preschool age such children develop better and show good results. Studies have shown that if the child was quickly bored with images that parents showed, then in the future they had good thinking abilities, as well as more developed speech.
The specialists wanted to check whether the children who speak good bilingual fluency from early childhood are different. All the experts were divided into two groups, first the color image of the bear was first shown, and the second one - the wolf, then they were changed in places, i.e. For the first group the image of the wolf became new, and for the second - the image of the bear. As it turned out, children who knew two languages quickly got used to images and switched attention to new ones, in comparison with children speaking only one language.
As experts noted, during the research with young children it is quite problematic to collect data. The visual method of memorization is quite good, since it takes several minutes, but it is quite possible to predict how the child's thinking will evolve at a later age.
It is quite difficult to study a foreign language for an adult, but for children such tasks are much easier. In addition, studies have shown that the study of the language at an early age is extremely useful for the cognitive abilities of man and the prevention of senile dementia.
Also, specialists found out that communication with children should be started as soon as possible. For example, in one study, the researchers found that mothers who responded to babbling their eight-month-old children contributed to their development. About a year and three months, these children pronounced more sounds, words and used more gestures, compared with peers whose mothers did not communicate with their children.
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