As Easy As Breathing

The other day Jim and I were walking in front of a couple of women who were chatting in Flemish. Talking so fast there was no way to eavesdrop. I said "I can't imagine ever being able to speak Flemish like that." and he said "For them, it's as easy as breathing."

Of course. We don't think before we utter every single word in English - for us, it's also as easy as breathing. No matter how much I may ramble and use incorrect grammar, you still understand me.

We've now lived in a multilingual society for nearly two years and continue to be amazed at how effortlessly nearly everyone here - young and old - move from one language to another. Never missing a beat, always using the right word or phrase to express their thoughts.

I had come to the conclusion that this culture is simply smarter than us. And in some ways, I'm right.

As Jim said, "For them, it's as easy as breathing". We've made a decent effort at learning to speak Dutch, but we started late in life. Therein lies the problem and now there's scientific proof of it.

I read an article recently in the U.K. Guardian about Alzheimer's. Research on this disease is giving even more insight into a world of knowledge about the brain.

Some interesting facts:

> learning a second language and speaking it regularly can improve cognitive skills and delay the onset of dementia compared with people who speak only one language

> bilingual speakers hold Alzheimer's at bay for an extra four years compared to those who speak only one language

> bilingual children who use their second language regularly are better at prioritizing and multitasking and perform at a higher level than monolingual children

> bilinguals can negotiate between the competition of the languages and rarely make a wrong choice

The notion that speaking several languages confuses the brain and even hinders cognitive development is proven to be incorrect.

Jim and I were children of the '60's and learning a foreign language was not an option for us until we reached high school in the mid-70's. Although not required to graduate, I took a couple of years of Spanish, but by that time I was 15 years old and never had the chance to speak it outside of class. I soon forgot everything, but hola and adios. What a shame.

Even 25+ years later, our children weren't exposed to foreign languages until high school. Fortunately they both had an awesome French teacher, Anita Greenwood, who really knows what she's doing. They've both retained a huge percentage of the language they learned and try to use it as often as possible.

In previous blog posts, I've mentioned the French exchange student, Emilie, who visited and whom we've kept in touch with through the years. Emilie is now a teacher of foreign language at a preschool for 4 year olds in France. While we are in awe of children so young speaking more than one language, she told us how easy it is for them. They not only learn French, but German and at the same time may be learning their parents native language of Spanish or Arabic or Turkish.

Here in Belgium, children in elementary school begin to learn French and they have it every day. Then, a few years later they begin to learn English - also every day. They continue these languages throughout their entire school years usually adding German as well. Therefore they speak all these languages regularly throughout their developmental years.

It's no mystery why this population speaks all these languages effortlessly.

There's an interesting video at the end of this post that illustrates how the brain develops differently in a bilingual child. Something to think about . . .

Perhaps in addition to piano lessons and soccer practice, if you have the chance to introduce your child to another language at an early age (the earlier the better) and they have the chance to speak it often - every day, if possible - but every little bit helps - it is proven it will make a world of difference from day one to delayed dementia.

It will make a lot more things as easy as breathing.

So I guess this is some consolation that I'm not fluent - yet, but perhaps a challenge to beat the odds.