Does Learning a Second Language Make You Smarter? (Part I)

I reckon than I am at least a little bit smarter since I learned Spanish but sometimes I wonder if this is just an illusion after all. Maybe it is time to think about whether learning a second language could help to make you a bit more intelligent or not.

Think in a Different Way

I remember reading that English speakers think differently because of the way the tongue forces us to make connections in our brain. That sounds a bit vague for my liking but I definitely found that I began to think in a different way once I learned a second language. It is quite a difficult process to explain and the best stab I can make at it is to say that I felt as though I had added an extra later of filters to my thought process, or maybe that I had an extra set of eyes through which I could see the world. Either way, when you immerse yourself in the literature, music and news of another culture I think that it is only to be expected that you no longer think in exactly the same way you did before. If you like the sound of thinking differently then click here and you will find that it is a natural process which you will soon settle into.