A Second Language Will Keep You Young!

By Bolgen Vargas, Ed.D.

For a very long time we have known the empirical advantages for the individual and society of speaking a second language. The list is very long: improved academic achievement, delayed cognitive declined, improved problem solving skills, improved memory, more job/career opportunities, among many other benefits of a multilingual society.

Now there is even greater evidence of the cognitive benefits of speaking a second language. A recent study, published November 10, 2025 in Nature Magazine, including more than 80,000 participants, suggests that speaking multiple languages could slow down brain aging and help prevent cognitive decline. “The effects of multilingualism on ageing have always been controversial, but I don’t think there has been a study of this scale before, which seems to demonstrate them quite decisively,” says Christos Pliatsikas, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Reading, UK.

This new study affirms one the most important aspects to learning a second (or third) language, adding meaning to one’s life by improving the quality of our cognitive health. Reading about this study took me back to my professional experience and the multitude of conversations I had with students, families, some teachers and administrators who questioned the utility and meaning of taking a second language. I always emphasized the academic, personal, and societal benefits of learning a second language. Now I could add the improvement to our cognitive health to the assets of taking a second language for native English speakers and to the assets our non-native English speakers bring to the classrooms, our schools and our society.

This article also took me to a place of sadness about the present threatening situation for those of us who speak English with Spanish as our native language. I said to myself this is the worst of times and best of times for us. We need to continue to promote the best advantages of multilingualism while confronting the worst of the President’s policies for the education of English language learners. The empirical evidence says it all…who doesn’t want to age well and think young!