Learning languages may keep your brain young, but the evidence for preventing dementia itself is far less clearcut.
Articles on Learning languages
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A languages curriculum enriched with linguistics is appealing to students and teachers.
We can waste an awful lot of time on social media because of the engaging, even addictive, nature of platforms like Tiktok. But teachers are now exploiting these qualities for learning languages.
Britons are notoriously bad at learning other languages. Here are some of the things that they find difficult.
Young people from working class backgrounds in socially deprived areas are far less likely to choose, or have the opportunity, to study languages at secondary school, than their more affluent peers.
Debunking the myth that English is the only language you need.
There’s been a growing number of students taking up the language in schools across the UK.
Kiswahili will be easy for South Africans to learn compared to foreign languages from outside Africa.
Software tools for South Africa’s Nguni languages may assist with redress and effective communication.
There is usually a historical reason why schools teach certain languages. But as new economies emerge, such languages may no longer be the best ones to learn.
For bilingual children, the constant switching between languages is like a frequent exercise for the ears and the brain.
Researchers have found that some individuals have a ‘language aptitude,’ which depends on how their brain is organized.
From Jabberwocky to the BFG’s gobblefunking, playing with words is the first step to mastering them – not something to be ironed out of teaching.
Is translating into native languages helping the disenfranchised?
From 2016, students will be able to study Aboriginal languages in high schools in New South Wales – but a clause in the design of the course means grades will not contribute towards ATARs.
People growing up with two or more languages have social and cognitive advantages.
Top contributors
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Professor of Linguistics in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Newcastle University
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Associate professor in Computer Science, University of Cape Town
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Pro-Vice-Provost East Asia, UCL
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Lecturer of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge
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Honorary Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of Southern Queensland
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Ph.D. Student, University of Washington
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Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Oxford
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Director of the Language Centre and Assistant Professor in German, University of Nottingham
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Professor of Language Education and Linguistics, University of Leeds
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Director of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Research Office, University of Sydney
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Post-doctoral fellow. Rhodes University, Rhodes University
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Senior Research Associate in the Machine Intelligence Laboratory, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
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Head Tutor in Political Science; Tutor in Italian studies and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Biological Psychology, Loughborough University
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Lecturer in Sociolinguistics, University of East Anglia