Am I too old to learn a new language?
[1] Learning a language as an adult could help delay the onset of dementia, research suggests.
[2] The brain's neuroplasticity decreases with age, but this shouldn't put off older learners – they do have
[3] some advantages.
[4] It's often said that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Actually, this proverb is, for the most
[5] part, not true. For much of the history of modern neuroscience, the adult brain was believed to be a
[6] fixed structure that, once damaged, could not be repaired. But research published since the 1960s has
[7] challenged this assumption, showing that it is actually a highly dynamic structure, which changes itself
[8] in response to new experiences, and adapts to injuries – a phenomenon referred to as neuroplasticity.
[9] Collectively, this body of research suggests that one can never be too old to learn something
[10] new, but that the older they are, the harder it is for them to do so. This is because neuroplasticity
[11] generally decreases as a person gets older, meaning the brain becomes less able to change itself in
[12] response to experiences. Some aspects of language learning become progressively more difficult with
[13] age, others may get easier. "Older people have larger vocabularies than younger ones, so the chances
[14] are your vocabulary will be as large as a native," says Albert Costa, a professor of neuroscience who
[15] studies bilingualism at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. But older learners are less likely to
[16] have good pronunciation or accent, since the phonemes, or sounds, of a language are picked up
[17] naturally by children.
[18] Learning a new language may not always be easy for adults, but there is research to
[19] suggest that doing so is beneficial for brain health. As we get older, most of us experience an agerelated
[20] decline in mental functions such as attention and memory, and in some people the acceleration
[21] of this process leads to the development of Alzheimer's disease or some other form of dementia. A
[22] number of recent studies suggest that learning a foreign language can slow this inevitable age-related
[23] cognitive decline.
[24] "Learning a language later on in life might be more beneficial than learning it earlier because it
[25] takes more effort," says lead researcher, Thomas Black. Despite the difficulties, Black regards learning
[26] for ign languag s as fun. “It is lik a puzzl that has to b solved. I'm doing it partly to keep my brain
[27] active," he says. Besides, learning a foreign language, much like learning to play a musical instrument,
[28] does indeed appear to be a good way of exercising one's brain, and keeping it healthy, throughout life.
Adapted from: <https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/13/am-i-too-old-to-learn-a-language>. Accessed on March 19, 2018.
Assinale a alternativa que apresenta o significado do provérbio “you can´t teach an old dog new tricks” (l. 04).
