Viorica Marian

Knowing two or more languages is like a workout for your brain.

We used to think that when you use a language,

You turn off all the other languages you know, but that's actually not the case.

When you know multiple symbolic systems, which is what a language is, your brain constantly keeps all of them active to some extent.

Your brain has to constantly give the green light to the correct language and the red light to the incorrect language.

This sounds like passive strength training, but for your brain.

Exactly.

Of course, there are other ways you can exercise your brain and people often do that.

They engage in crossword puzzles and Sudoku and playing chess and reading and all kinds of other cognitively challenging activities.

However, for the most part, those activities you have to take time out of your day to engage in.

Whereas if you are bilingual, once you've learned that language,

you are earning those benefits as you go about your life.

And there is now evidence suggesting that

individuals who speak two or more languages develop Alzheimer's and other types of dementia on average four to six years later than monolinguals.

Yes, it is definitely wonderful to have access to this technology that allows you to translate instantaneously words.

from any language into any other language.

It's certainly not possible for anyone to learn all 7,000 plus languages that exist in the world.

But at the same time, LLMs, large language models, are not always accurate in how they translate information.

They can make mistakes, sometimes very serious mistakes.

So it's not a problem when what you are translating is not