Learning multiple languages ⏲️ 6 Minute English

00:07:03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ifQ3xRz4hM

Zusammenfassung

TLDRIn this episode of 6 Minute English, Neil and Hannah discuss the advantages of being a polyglot, highlighting research that shows how learning multiple languages can enhance brain function and potentially delay dementia symptoms. They share insights from cognitive neuroscientist Professor Frederique Liegeois, who explains that bilingualism is like a workout for the brain. The episode features a personal story from Victoria Uwonkunda, who learned several languages due to her family's moves across countries. Tips for effective language learning, such as immersion in the language environment, are also provided. The episode concludes with a quiz answer revealing Bolivia as the country with the most official languages.

Mitbringsel

  • 🗣️ A polyglot knows multiple languages.
  • 🧠 Learning languages can enhance brain function.
  • ⏳ Bilingualism may delay dementia symptoms.
  • 👶 Babies tune in to languages around them.
  • 🔄 Switching languages is a skill developed over time.
  • 💪 Juggling languages is like a brain workout.
  • 🛒 Immersion helps in learning languages effectively.
  • 📚 Picking up a skill means learning through practice.
  • 💪 'Soldier on' means to continue despite difficulties.
  • 🌍 Bolivia has the most official languages recognized.

Zeitleiste

  • 00:00:00 - 00:07:03

    In this episode of 6 Minute English, Neil and Hannah discuss the concept of polyglots, individuals who speak multiple languages. They explore the benefits of being a polyglot, including cognitive advantages and potential health benefits, as highlighted by Professor Frederique Liegeois. The discussion emphasizes how learning multiple languages can enhance brain efficiency and delay symptoms of dementia in bilingual individuals. They also share personal experiences with language learning, contrasting motivations and challenges faced by different individuals, including Hannah's colleague Victoria, who learned languages out of necessity after moving countries. Victoria's tips for language learning include immersion in the language environment, and the episode concludes with a quiz answer revealing Bolivia as the country with the most official languages.

Mind Map

Video-Fragen und Antworten

  • What is a polyglot?

    A polyglot is someone who knows and can use several languages.

  • What are some benefits of being a polyglot?

    Being a polyglot can enhance brain function, improve cognitive abilities, and may delay symptoms of dementia.

  • How can one learn a new language effectively?

    Immersing oneself in the language environment, such as going to markets or listening to native speakers, can help.

  • What did Victoria Uwonkunda say about learning languages?

    She found it easier to learn languages as a child and helped her parents learn Norwegian.

  • Which country has the most official languages?

    Bolivia has the most official languages, recognizing 37.

  • What does 'juggling several things' mean?

    It means managing multiple tasks or activities at the same time.

  • What is a 'brain workout'?

    A brain workout refers to activities that exercise and strengthen the brain.

  • What does it mean to 'pick up' a skill?

    To 'pick up' a skill means to learn it through practice rather than formal teaching.

  • What does 'soldier on' mean?

    To 'soldier on' means to continue doing something despite difficulties.

  • What is the purpose of the 6 Minute English program?

    The program aims to help listeners improve their English language skills.

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Untertitel
en-GB
Automatisches Blättern:
  • 00:00:05
    Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
  • 00:00:10
    I'm Neil and today I'm here with Hannah from BBC podcast What in the World.
  • 00:00:15
    Hello, Hannah. Hi, Neil.
  • 00:00:16
    Hannah and the What in the World team have been investigating
  • 00:00:20
    what it's like to learn multiple languages,
  • 00:00:22
    and she's here to tell us more about it.
  • 00:00:24
    Welcome to 6 Minute English.
  • 00:00:26
    Thank you so much for having me.
  • 00:00:28
    And it's great to have you here.
  • 00:00:29
    Now in this programme we help you improve your English.
  • 00:00:32
    And maybe English is the first language you have ever tried to learn.
  • 00:00:37
    Or maybe you know a lot of languages.
  • 00:00:39
    Well, someone who knows multiple languages is called a polyglot.
  • 00:00:44
    Neil, are you a polyglot?
  • 00:00:46
    I speak a little bit of a few languages, but I couldn't say that I'm a polyglot.
  • 00:00:51
    How about you? I am a polyglot.
  • 00:00:54
    Wow, I feel really impressed and a bit intimidated!
  • 00:00:59
    And now, Hannah, we always start our programme off with a question.
  • 00:01:03
    So, here it goes.
  • 00:01:04
    Which country has the most official languages recognised by their government?
  • 00:01:09
    So is it a) Zimbabwe, b) Switzerland, or c) Bolivia?
  • 00:01:14
    I would guess Zimbabwe.
  • 00:01:16
    Well, we'll find out the answer at the end of the programme.
  • 00:01:19
    Now, Hannah, you've been finding out about some
  • 00:01:21
    of the benefits of being a polyglot.
  • 00:01:24
    Yes, Neil, there's been lots of research
  • 00:01:27
    about how knowing more than one language can change your brain.
  • 00:01:31
    And this might have some health benefits, too.
  • 00:01:34
    At What in the World we spoke to Professor Frederique Liegeois
  • 00:01:37
    who's a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London.
  • 00:01:42
    Babies, even before they speak, have to tune in
  • 00:01:44
    to the languages around them to make sense out of what people say to them.
  • 00:01:48
    And then when children start to speak several languages, they have to focus
  • 00:01:53
    on one language and ignore another one where they're speaking.
  • 00:01:56
    They also have to be able to switch from one language to the other,
  • 00:01:59
    depending on who they're speaking to. Later on in age
  • 00:02:03
    when adults have dementia, they seem to show symptoms
  • 00:02:06
    later when they're bilinguals as opposed to monolinguals.
  • 00:02:09
    We think that juggling several languages has helped
  • 00:02:12
    them really boost this brain efficiency, which is a great advantage.
  • 00:02:16
    It's like a brain workout.
  • 00:02:19
    Frederique explains that babies who grow up learning
  • 00:02:21
    more than one language have to tune into the languages around them.
  • 00:02:26
    They have to listen to each language.
  • 00:02:28
    Over time, they become good at switching languages
  • 00:02:31
    and ignoring the ones they don't need in a conversation.
  • 00:02:34
    Scientists think that juggling several languages is good for you.
  • 00:02:39
    If you juggle several things, that means you deal with all of them
  • 00:02:42
    at the same time.
  • 00:02:44
    Frederique describes being a polyglot as a brain workout.
  • 00:02:48
    This means it's exercise for your brain that can make it stronger.
  • 00:02:52
    Now, Hannah, I don't know about you.
  • 00:02:55
    When I was younger
  • 00:02:56
    and languages just seemed like another subject at school,
  • 00:03:00
    I didn't really care so much. But when I worked abroad later in life,
  • 00:03:04
    I was much more motivated and found it easier. How about you?
  • 00:03:08
    Quite the opposite actually.
  • 00:03:10
    I did find it easier to learn languages at school and university,
  • 00:03:14
    but I didn't have to learn these languages out of necessity.
  • 00:03:19
    But my colleague Victoria Uwonkunda, she's a presenter and a journalist
  • 00:03:23
    on the BBC World Service, she did.
  • 00:03:26
    She speaks five languages and she understands eight.
  • 00:03:30
    And she learnt those languages because her family moved from Rwanda
  • 00:03:34
    to Kenya and then to Norway when she was a teenager.
  • 00:03:37
    Victoria says she was able to pick up Norwegian quite easily.
  • 00:03:42
    If you pick up a skill, it means you learn it, usually by being
  • 00:03:45
    in the environment where that thing happens rather than being taught.
  • 00:03:50
    But Victoria's parents found it much harder to learn Norwegian.
  • 00:03:54
    Let's hear what Vic said on the What in the World podcast.
  • 00:03:58
    First of all, you're having them coming into a new culture completely
  • 00:04:02
    from everything they've ever known.
  • 00:04:04
    The language is new.
  • 00:04:06
    These are people in their 50s, you know, but they soldiered on.
  • 00:04:09
    Because if you want to work, if you want to live there, you have to learn.
  • 00:04:13
    And they did. It wasn't easy.
  • 00:04:15
    But I think also with us kids, we picked it up quite quickly.
  • 00:04:18
    So if they were making a mistake, we were also helping them along the way.
  • 00:04:22
    So it's kind of a way of paying back.
  • 00:04:24
    You helped us get to this, you know, to keep our mother tongue and here
  • 00:04:27
    we are going to help you.
  • 00:04:29
    Victoria's parents found it difficult to learn Norwegian in their 50s,
  • 00:04:33
    but they soldiered on.
  • 00:04:34
    They continued doing something even though it was difficult.
  • 00:04:38
    And I love that the family helped each other with their languages,
  • 00:04:40
    Hannah. Yes.
  • 00:04:42
    So Vic's parents helped them keep their mother tongue Kinyarwanda
  • 00:04:46
    when they had to leave Rwanda.
  • 00:04:48
    And then years later, the children helped their parents learn Norwegian.
  • 00:04:51
    And Hannah, Victoria picked up Norwegian quite easily,
  • 00:04:55
    even after learning four other languages.
  • 00:04:58
    Did Victoria have any tips for learning so many languages?
  • 00:05:01
    Well, one thing she recommended is trying to immerse yourself
  • 00:05:05
    in the language.
  • 00:05:06
    So, she said go to the market or into the street,
  • 00:05:10
    a place where you can listen to people using the language.
  • 00:05:13
    Yes, and some learners might be learning English online,
  • 00:05:16
    and so they don't have the opportunity to go to a market or street
  • 00:05:20
    and hear the language.
  • 00:05:21
    But there are other things that you can do.
  • 00:05:23
    For example, you can listen to 6 Minute English,
  • 00:05:26
    or you could try other BBC podcasts like What in the World too.
  • 00:05:30
    What in the World is the programme that I work on
  • 00:05:33
    and we put out a new episode every weekday.
  • 00:05:36
    We look at stories from around the world covering news
  • 00:05:39
    and trending topics to try to help you make sense of the world.
  • 00:05:44
    Time now for the answer to our quiz question.
  • 00:05:46
    I asked you, which country has the most officially recognised languages?
  • 00:05:50
    I said Zimbabwe.
  • 00:05:52
    And I'm afraid that was the wrong answer.
  • 00:05:54
    It was in fact Bolivia, which recognises 37 languages,
  • 00:05:59
    though of course not everyone speaks all of them.
  • 00:06:02
    Now let's recap the vocabulary that we have learned, starting with polyglot,
  • 00:06:06
    which is someone who knows lots of languages, like me.
  • 00:06:10
    If you tune in to something, you listen or pay attention to it.
  • 00:06:13
    Juggling several things,
  • 00:06:15
    like languages, means doing several different things at the same time.
  • 00:06:19
    A brain workout is exercise for your brain.
  • 00:06:23
    If you pick up a skill,
  • 00:06:25
    you learn it, usually through practice rather than being taught.
  • 00:06:29
    And if you soldier on, you continue doing something
  • 00:06:32
    even though it's difficult.
  • 00:06:34
    Thanks for listening to 6 Minute English and listen to the full episode
  • 00:06:37
    of What in the World about polyglots and learning languages.
  • 00:06:41
    There's a link in the notes below this program.
  • 00:06:43
    Thank you so much for having me on 6 Minute English.
  • 00:06:46
    Goodbye. Ciao.
  • 00:06:48
    Adios. Até logo.
  • 00:06:49
    Sayonara. Bye!
Tags
  • polyglot
  • language learning
  • cognitive benefits
  • bilingualism
  • brain workout
  • immersion
  • language tips
  • dementia
  • BBC Learning English
  • 6 Minute English