Bilingualism Delays Onset of Dementia

Dee writes with word of a Canadian study indicating that lifelong bilingualism delays the onset of dementia by 4 years. The scientists were reportedly "dazzled" by the results. From the article: "The researchers determined that the mean age of onset of dementia symptoms in the monolingual group was 71.4 years, while the bilingual group was 75.5 years. This difference remained even after considering the possible effect of cultural differences, immigration, formal education, employment and even gender as influencers in the results. "

Comments

Wow

[wbean]

Wow, does that include Fortan and Cobal? (Couldn't be C# because it requires lifelong fluency.)

Re:Wow

[Andrew Kismet]

Well if size and complexity are the deciding factors, then Perl should be the best at keeping you going out of your mind :)
Fixed.

Re:Wow

[indifferent children]

A compiler is the ultimate spelling and grammar Nazi.

Some people think bilingualism is bad

[pembo13]

Some people think bilingualism is something for 3rd world countries. Of course I've only heard this sentiment expressed in the USA.

Simple conservation of confusion

[NotQuiteReal]

Be confused with multilingual voices in your head for much of your life... or just a concentrated dose for the last four years.

Re:I'd just like to say...

[Propaganda13]

Let me be the first to say "Tengo un gato en mis pantalones."

Either that or "Tengo un sandwich de jamón en mi sombrero." After that, the conversation usually goes downhill from there.

Re:Stands to reason

[Anonymous Coward]

Kinda like how, if I learned the skill of snake charming, and I worked in an I.T. department, I wouldn't expect any extras in my paycheck. ;-)

But if you worked as a flight attendant, it might just come in handy!

Re:Cause or effect?

[o2sd]

People still look at me funny when I tell them I learned english at the age of 11 and speak 5 other languages. White folks are weird.

Reminds me of a Swiss guy I met in Beijing. He was already tri-lingual by the age of 16 (Swiss French, Italian, German), then learned English and Spanish after high school before going to Taiwan to study Mandarin Chinese. He was in Beijing for sight seeing before heading to Moscow to learn Russian.

And yet hardly a month goes by without another idiotic article in the paper describing how difficult it is to learn a second language. White people ... sheesh.

Re:Stands to reason

[OldManAndTheC]

Kinda like how, if I learned the skill of snake charming, and I worked in an I.T. department, I wouldn't expect any extras in my paycheck

Just add "Expert with Python" to your resume.

Re:Stands to reason

[nacturation]

ANY language in addition to English. Ellway, ouyay oday eakspay Igpay Atinlay, on'tday ouyay?

What is a valuable skill?

[Savage-Rabbit]

Kinda like how, if I learned the skill of snake charming, and I worked in an I.T. department, I wouldn't expect any extras in my paycheck. ;-) You seem to value skills only if they result in a pay rise, this is a major mistake. You see... while snake charming might not get you an increase in pay it will significantly increase your chances of survival when it comes to dealing with management. This is true in any industry, not just IT and has been true for many millennia, which actually makes snake charming a most valuable skill.