Breaking News English

A new study [shows / showing] that being bilingual may delay dementia by five or more years. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland [discovered / discovery] that people who spoke two languages did not show any signs [for / of] three types of dementia for more than four years longer than [those / them] who were monolingual. A co-author of the report, Dr. Thomas Bak, said: "Bilingualism can be [looked / seen] as a successful brain training, [contribution / contributing] to cognitive reserve, which can help [delay / relay] dementia." This means that [speaking / spoken] two languages keeps the brain in better health and helps to keep diseases like Alzheimer's at [bay / pay] for longer than if someone spoke [justly / just] one language.

Dr Bak's research found that bilingualism and the [delayed / delaying] of dementia had [few / little] to do with social status, [gander / gender] , occupation or educational background. Bak's team [evaluated / evaluation] the medical records of 648 people from India who had been [diagnosed / diagnosis] with dementia. [Of / For] these patients, 391 were bilingual or trilingual and many were [illustrative / illiterate] . Dr Bak wrote: "The fact that bilingual advantage is not [caused / causing] by any differences in education is confirmed by the fact that it was also [finding / found] in illiterates, who have never attended any school." He suggested that learning a language later in life could keep the brain healthier. He said language learning was "socially more [enjoyable / enjoying] , and it forces your brain to train permanently".