Bilingualism and dementia
Many people who adopt internationally try to learn a little of the language of the country their child was born in. Many people also try to make sure their kids learn at least a little bit of that language too. Now there is another reason to do that. Some research recently by researchers at Toronto’s York University shows that people who are “fully bilingual and speak both languages every day for most of their lives” can delay the onset of dementia by a few years.
Learning a new language, especially as an adult isn’t easy - I know, I’ve been working on it for a long time and haven’t made much progress.
It’s so much easier to learn as kids, so I hope to teach mine (if this adoption ever goes through!) as much as I can.
The research doesn’t say that it will prevent people from getting dementia like Alzheimer’s disease, just that it can delay it. They aren’t really sure of why. Even if it turns out to not be true - knowing another language can be really helpful for anyone!
And with this really long wait time, learning Mandarin is just one good way to keep myself busy!