{"id":17442,"date":"2017-03-31T05:00:10","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?p=17442"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:33:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:33:46","slug":"bilingual-brains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/","title":{"rendered":"Bilingual Brains"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over 60 percent<\/a> of the world\u2019s population is bilingual, and it\u2019s long been known the capacity to understand tw\"shutterstock_323916998\"o or more languages can help older adults maintain healthy brain function and stave off dementia.. With more than 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer\u2019s, the ability to speak two or more languages isn\u2019t just a party trick\u2026 it can be a lifesaver.<\/p>\n

A 2013 study published in Neurology<\/a> determined bilingualism could delay onset of dementia by almost 5 years. The study\u2019s authors discovered the bilingual benefit occurs regardless of education, sex or even literacy.Moreover, because bilingual brains are accustomed to understanding more than one language, they are well equipped to manage degeneration and neuron loss by utilizing alternative ways to function.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter years of daily practice managing interference between two languages, bilinguals become experts at selecting relevant information and ignoring information that can distract from a task,\u201d explains Dr. Ana In\u00e9s Ansaldo, a researcher at the\u00a0Centre de recherche de l\u2019Institut Universitaire de g\u00e9riatrie de Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, bilinguals showed higher connectivity between visual processing areas located at the back of the brain,\u201d she writes in summary of her research<\/a> on the differences in brain function between bilingual and monolingual seniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cData indicate[s] that the bilingual brain is more efficient and economical, as it recruits fewer regions and only specialized regions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multilingual Multitasking<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Ansaldo\u2019s research identified two cognitive benefits associated with bilingualism. While monolingual seniors use diverse brain areas when completing cognitive tasks, bilingual adults save resources through centralized and specialized functional connections. Additionally, when completing cognitive tasks bilingual seniors use less of the brain\u2019s frontal regions, which are more vulnerable to aging. Dr. Ansaldo theorizes these benefits are what allow bilingual seniors to stave off dementia and other signs of cognitive aging.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have observed that bilingualism has a concrete impact on brain function and that this may have a positive impact on cognitive aging,\u201d says Ansaldo. \u201cWe now need to study how this function translates to daily life, for example, when concentrating on one source of information instead of another, which is something we have to do every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have yet to discover all the benefits of bilingualism,\u201d she concludes.<\/p>\n

Adult Ed<\/strong><\/p>\n

While bingo will always be a mainstay, many senior living communities have expanded their activities offerings to include everything from fencing to computer programming. Among many providers, language classes are a popular choice. And because\u00a0studies<\/a> continue to demonstrate that new language acquisition improves brain function, including multitasking and decision-making, many senior care providers are adding French, Spanish and even sign language to their lineup.<\/p>\n

The [French] language is beautiful,\u201d Evanston, IL retiree Randy Balla, 63 told the New York Times during a recent discussion<\/a> of language immersion programs for seniors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can open up your world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new slew of studies on brain function reveal bilingual ability can not only delay dementia, but also preserve memory and help older brains stay focused.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":17447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2952],"tags":[1773,1867,1774,88,1866,1666,842,868,1772],"class_list":["post-17442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-senior-living","tag-alzheimers","tag-bilingual","tag-dementia","tag-education","tag-language","tag-senior-citizens","tag-senior-living","tag-seniors","tag-sensors"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYardi Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new slew of studies on brain function reveal bilingual ability can not only delay dementia, but also preserve memory and help older brains stay focused.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bilingual Brains\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new slew of studies on brain function reveal bilingual ability can not only delay dementia, but also preserve memory and help older brains stay focused.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yardi Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-31T12:00:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-22T23:33:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/02\/shutterstock_323916998.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cutright Elizabeth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cutright Elizabeth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/\",\"name\":\"Bilingual Brains - Yardi Corporate Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/02\/shutterstock_323916998.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-31T12:00:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-22T23:33:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dba832121806bbec3d280d6cdde90b4d\"},\"description\":\"A new slew of studies on brain function reveal bilingual ability can not only delay dementia, but also preserve memory and help older brains stay focused.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/02\/shutterstock_323916998.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/02\/shutterstock_323916998.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bilingual Brains\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Yardi Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dba832121806bbec3d280d6cdde90b4d\",\"name\":\"Cutright Elizabeth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4016b5eabd512619820fc63946d01cd983acc211f98fbc559a890a5b4b27c559?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4016b5eabd512619820fc63946d01cd983acc211f98fbc559a890a5b4b27c559?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cutright Elizabeth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth Cutright is an award-winning writer and editor with over 20 years of experience in journalism, publishing and online content creation. A film school grad with a law degree from the University of San Diego, outside of work Elizabeth can usually be found in the pool, on a hiking trail, or sampling Santa Barbara\u2019s latest vintage.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth-cutright-2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yardi Blog","description":"A new slew of studies on brain function reveal bilingual ability can not only delay dementia, but also preserve memory and help older brains stay focused.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bilingual Brains","og_description":"A new slew of studies on brain function reveal bilingual ability can not only delay dementia, but also preserve memory and help older brains stay focused.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/","og_site_name":"Yardi Blog","article_published_time":"2017-03-31T12:00:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-22T23:33:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/02\/shutterstock_323916998.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cutright Elizabeth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cutright Elizabeth","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/","name":"Bilingual Brains - Yardi Corporate Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/02\/shutterstock_323916998.jpg","datePublished":"2017-03-31T12:00:10+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:33:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dba832121806bbec3d280d6cdde90b4d"},"description":"A new slew of studies on brain function reveal bilingual ability can not only delay dementia, but also preserve memory and help older brains stay focused.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/02\/shutterstock_323916998.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/02\/shutterstock_323916998.jpg","width":1000,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/bilingual-brains\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bilingual Brains"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/","name":"Yardi Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dba832121806bbec3d280d6cdde90b4d","name":"Cutright Elizabeth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4016b5eabd512619820fc63946d01cd983acc211f98fbc559a890a5b4b27c559?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4016b5eabd512619820fc63946d01cd983acc211f98fbc559a890a5b4b27c559?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cutright Elizabeth"},"description":"Elizabeth Cutright is an award-winning writer and editor with over 20 years of experience in journalism, publishing and online content creation. A film school grad with a law degree from the University of San Diego, outside of work Elizabeth can usually be found in the pool, on a hiking trail, or sampling Santa Barbara\u2019s latest vintage.","url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth-cutright-2\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2017\/02\/shutterstock_323916998.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17442"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27698,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17442\/revisions\/27698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}