Bilingual benefits
The benefits of knowing more than one language are apparent for travel and work. Yet, a little-known benefit is that being bilingual can increase a person’s mental health.
A 2006 Canadian study, Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of dementia, examined the medical records of a group of 184 seniors diagnosed with dementia, 51 per cent of whom were bilingual.
The onset of dementia symptoms in the bilingual group was four years later than the monolingual group.
Lost origins of language
The Biblical story of the Tower of Babel tells of how God created the languages of the world to confuse the people as punishment for their blasphemous building project.
Many ancient stories describe a similar divine origin for languages spoken by humans, in an attempt to explain a problem that has puzzled humans for generations.Though more modern theories don’t involve any divine intervention, there is disagreement as scholars attempt to answer this question.
The language of culture
The relationship between language and culture is a source of great debate between those who study languages and their effect on civilization.
Linguists of the future
Over the next hundred years, Chatbots.org CEO Erwin Van Lun expects different languages to meld in to one global language.
