Why Do You Want to Learn Chinese?

A week ago, a mother who is interested in having her daughter learn Chinese from me told me that learning a foreign language can prevent Alzheimer’s disease.  I had sometimes worried that my language skills would deteriorate in old age.  I thought I would lose my English and revert to my mother tongue which is Chinese.  Since my husband is an American who does not speak Chinese, I thought I’d better teach my children Chinese so they could talk to me when I am really old.  But this mother reassured me that I will be all set and won’t have memory problems since I speak three languages:  Chinese, English, and French.

I googled on “foreign language and Alzheimer’s” and found several articles on how learning a foreign language can help prevent memory loss:

http://www.helpguide.org/elder/alzheimers_prevention_slowing_down_treatment.htm

Preventing & Treating Alzheimer's

Ideas for Exercising Your Brain: …Learn something new: how to play a musical instrument, a foreign language, or start a new hobby.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/LivingLonger/story?id=1241571

Learning a Foreign Language Can Help You Live Longer

[Dr. Andrew] Weil believes that by learning a foreign language we can reduce the risks of getting some of the most common age-related symptoms and diseases such as memory loss and Alzheimer's.  “You don't have to master it,” he said. “Just the attempt to learn a language is like running different software through the brain. You're exercising more communication channels in the brain.”

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/01/language_brains.html

Language, Brains, and Alzheimers

“There are no pharmacological interventions that are this dramatic,” says Dr. [Morris] Freedman, who is Head of the Division of Neurology, and Director of the Memory Clinic at Baycrest [Research Centre for Aging and the Brain], referring to the four-year delay in onset of symptoms for bilingual patients.