The three hardest classes I’ve ever taken were geometry, computer programming for the web and 7th grade Spanish. Came so close to failing all three of those I almost knew what it felt like to be Matt Keohan on a daily basis, yet somehow I pulled through with at least C’s in each. And while many have touted the benefits of how learning a second language can be good for your brain, science has now determined that bi-dialectalism, aka the ability to speak slang as well as proper English, has the ability to boost memory as well.
According to Daily Mail, finding published in the journal Cognition from researchers out of the University of Cambridge, University of Cyprus, and the Cyprus University of Technology, found that “while some people speak African American English at home, they also use Mainstream American English at school, which can benefit their brain”:
The findings support the results of a separate study this week, which similarly found learning another language has a positive impact on attention span.
It showed that the effects can be seen after just a week.…Their study consisted of 64 bi-dialectal children, 47 multilingual children and 25 monolingual children.
Comparisons between the three groups were performed in two stages and the socio-economic status, language proficiency, and general intelligence of all children taking part was factored in.
…The study showed multilingual and bi-dialectal children performed better than monolingual children in tests involving memory, attention and cognitive flexibility.
This suggests advantages previously reported for multilingual children could be shared by children speaking two or more dialects.
Supposedly it only takes one week of studying a second dialect/language to improve your attention, so if you’re one of the millions of college students looking for a quick Adderall prescription to hock all over campus, make sure not to mention to your doctor that you’re good with languages. Adderall goes for $20 a pop where I’m from, and you can’t be risking that sort of easy money with a casual throw-away line like “Yeah my grades are great and I know 5 languages….BUT I’M BAD AT PAYING ATTENTION? Yeah, 100% — drug me up big boy!”
[H/T Daily Mail]