One of the reasons there is such a great atmosphere at the VICI Language Academy is because everyone who enrols to learn a language is passionate about it for a host of reasons – but imagine being compelled to learn a language until you left university!
We’ve written before about the growing evidence that learning another language can protect you from dementia in later life, however a leading psychologist is calling for children to be compelled to learn at least one foreign language alongside any kind of degree. Although even a week long course can have benefits.
Antonella Sorace, professor of developmental linguistics at the University of Edinburgh says:
“Languages should be a requirement for any kind of degree, bilingualism opens up the mind in a very fundamental way.”
Speaking recently in Washington, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, she presented findings that showed health retired people on the Isle of Skye who too an intensive Gaelic course for just a week, then performed much better in cognitive tests than their peers.”
Researchers believe that learning a language builds up a buffer of ‘cognitive reserve’, allowing the brain to be more flexible and work around damage caused by dementia.
Here at VICI we know you are never too old, or too young, to learn another language and we have toddlers through to students in their eighties learning different language and we would welcome any steps that would mean more people become bilingual and believe the benefits go way beyond the health implications, with greater confidence and social skills often emerging.
Of course it might be that it is all the benefits of learning a language that combat dementia, from brain activity to the additional benefits above and beyond speaking another language.
We just know our students love learning languages and whatever your reason, from staving off dementia in later life through to an impending holiday where you really want to speak the lingo, get in touch and we can get you learning.