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I do question whether they have the arrow of causality pointing the right way. Did these people have better cognitive abilities because they learned another lan

I do question whether they have the arrow of causality pointing the right way. Did these people have better cognitive abilities because they learned another language, or did they find it easier to learn another language because they had better cognitive abilities?

jimrandomh 12y ago
Definitely pointing the wrong way, and it's obvious enough that I would call the headline dishonest. Flagged.
- PeterWhittaker 12y ago
  Disagree, see comment on parent.
Fuxy 12y ago
Hard to say I'm fluent in 3 languages and trying to learn another one but i fail to see how it would affect intelligence. Mostly it's just remembering words how to speak them what they mean and how they should be used correctly. In that case would learning programming languages have the same effect.
PeterWhittaker 12y ago
Once you get past 2-3 languages you start to think differently. I'm 48, have spoken English since 2-3, French since 5-6, added a little German in uni, then some Turkish, then some Spanish, and more recently some Greek and Arabic. Then some Latin. That might have been the one that tipped the scale, hard to say. Along the way I noticed a change in how I think. I can only describe it as more visceral, though I know that is both ambiguous and terribly unhelpful. I used to think in English. Or at least it felt that way. Now I know that I do not - at least not any more. The concepts and notions come first, followed more or less swiftly by the words or phrases in as many languages in which I know them. I am mentally sharper and more creative now that when I hit my "peak" (late 30s for guys), which, given how fit I was, surprises me. (No, I don't have formal testing to support that. But I learn faster, can do more IQ-type-things better than I used to be able to, etc.) NOTE: I also picked up playing music over the last 7 years. That might be the tipper as well.

jimrandomh 12y ago

Definitely pointing the wrong way, and it's obvious enough that I would call the headline dishonest. Flagged.

PeterWhittaker 12y ago
Disagree, see comment on parent.

Fuxy 12y ago

Hard to say I'm fluent in 3 languages and trying to learn another one but i fail to see how it would affect intelligence. Mostly it's just remembering words how to speak them what they mean and how they should be used correctly. In that case would learning programming languages have the same effect.

PeterWhittaker 12y ago

Once you get past 2-3 languages you start to think differently. I'm 48, have spoken English since 2-3, French since 5-6, added a little German in uni, then some Turkish, then some Spanish, and more recently some Greek and Arabic. Then some Latin. That might have been the one that tipped the scale, hard to say. Along the way I noticed a change in how I think. I can only describe it as more visceral, though I know that is both ambiguous and terribly unhelpful. I used to think in English. Or at least it felt that way. Now I know that I do not - at least not any more. The concepts and notions come first, followed more or less swiftly by the words or phrases in as many languages in which I know them. I am mentally sharper and more creative now that when I hit my "peak" (late 30s for guys), which, given how fit I was, surprises me. (No, I don't have formal testing to support that. But I learn faster, can do more IQ-type-things better than I used to be able to, etc.) NOTE: I also picked up playing music over the last 7 years. That might be the tipper as well.