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Thanks for reading the Multilingual Books newsletter, your source for foreign language news, information, and product information and specials from Multilingual Books. This is also available as a web page at our website, www.multilingualbooks.com. In this issue:
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Being bilingual protects against some age-related cognitive changes, says new research
Public release from eurekalert.org
Most will agree that two heads are better than one in solving problems. The same logic may be true for language and retaining cognitive processes as we age. Being fluent in two languages seems to prevent some of the cognitive decline seen in same-age monolingual speaking persons, according to the findings of a study published in the journal Psychology and Aging.
It is established that learned knowledge and habitual procedures (crystallized intelligence) hold up well as people age, said lead author Ellen Bialystok, Ph.D., of York University, but abilities that depend on keeping one's attention on a task (fluid intelligence) actually decline as people get older. But in her study, Bialystok found that those who have been bilingual most of their life were better able to manage their attention to complex set of rapidly changing task demands as measured by an experimental task – The Simon Task – that purposely distracts the test takers.
Three studies compared the performance of a total of 104 monolingual and bilingual middle-aged (30-59 year olds) and 50 older adults (60-88 year olds) on the Simon Task. The Simon task measures reaction time without the subjects having to be familiar with the content, and it measures aspects of cognitive processing that decline with age, according to the study. The subjects watched flashing squares on a computer screen and were instructed to press a particular color key when they saw a square in a certain location of the screen. Half of the squares were presented on the same side of the screen where the correct key was located [congruent trials] and the other half of the squares were on the opposite side of screen where the correct key was located [incongruent trials].
Furthermore, to determine if speed was a factor in responding correctly in these tasks, a set of conditions that increased the number of different stimuli from two to four flashing squares was used. The bilinguals responded faster, said the authors, even when these stimuli were presented in the center of the screen and involved no interference from incongruent spatial position information. A control condition was used that presented two stimuli (flashing squares) in the center of the screen that produced no difference in reaction time, said the authors, thus ruling out an overall speed advantage as the explanation for performance differences between the bilingual and monolingual groups.
In all three studies, monolingual and bilingual adults who were matched on background experiences and cognitive measures performed differently on the Simon task. Both younger and older bilinguals were faster than subjects who spoke one language in both the congruent and incongruent trials but also exhibited less distraction from the incongruent items regardless of speed. Importantly, say the authors, bilingualism reduced the age-related increase in the Simon effect (distractibility), implying that life-long experience of managing two languages attenuates the age-related decline in the efficiency of inhibitory processing.
The authors propose that the ability to attend to a stimulus while ignoring irrelevant location information might be the same cognitive control processes used when using two languages.
All the bilinguals in this study used their two languages everyday since they were 10 years of age. The authors conclude that bilingualism offers widespread benefits across a range of complex cognitive tasks.
See the full release at: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-06/apa-bbp060704.php
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FSI Portuguese and Igbo Courses Now Available By Download! Language Associates FSI Portuguese and Igbo are now available in a downloadable version! The Language Associates Digital Editions are the popular FSI courses in full digital format - all course material is included, but all audio is in MP3 format and all reading material is in PDF format. These courses are considered by many to be the best and most complete language courses available. Get the benefits of full FSI courses with increased portability and substantial savings! Please note that Digital Edition courses require a computer capable of playing MP3s and displaying PDF files. Digital Edition downloads are currently available for French, Hebrew, Hungarian, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Thai, Arabic, Portuguese, Igbo, and Iraqi. Download and save! We are introducing our downloads at less than half the price of the hardcopy courses. Why? Well, when you buy in downloadable format, we save, so you save! No printing, reproduction, packaging, handling, and shipping costs for us means big savings for you. Check out our Digital Editions Download Store! Newsletter Special! For a limited time, we are offering the Language Associates FSI Portuguese 1 Digital Edition download to our newsletter subscribers only at a $25 savings! This limited time offer is only available in this issue's Newsletter Specials, so check it out and download today! |  |
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Last month's quiz: Each quotation below is by a famous linguist. For each quote, name the linguist. "Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation." "Experience becomes possible because of language." "The structure of language determines not only thought, but reality itself." "Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state." "The intellectual tradition is one of servility to power, and if I didn't betray it I'd be ashamed of myself." Each quotation is by Noam Chomsky, who in addition to his well-known political and social commentary did groundbreaking work in linguistics and is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at MIT. This month's winner is James G. Congratulations and thanks to all who entered. This month's quiz: Halloween is here! Pick out your costume and give the language and English meaning of these words.
Geist The answers and the winner will be in our next newsletter. Winner will receive their choice of one Talk Now or World Talk language CD-ROM! No purchase necessary to enter. E-mail your entry to:
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The Rosetta Project
From the website: "The Rosetta Project is a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers building a publicly accessible online archive of ALL documented human languages." Seems to be a bit in the early stages, but a laudable project.
Check it out at https://www.rosettaproject.org/.
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Save $10 on Platiquemos CDs!
Platiquemos Spanish Course For a limited time, save $10 on any order of Platiquemos CDs! CD version only. One week only. Use promo code M-PC10-OCT to receive this special. Order today! |
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BIG Savings! FSI Portuguese 1 Digital Edition Download - Only $50 - Save $25!
Language Associates Digital Edition Course Downloads
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FREE Shipping on Language Littles Speaking Dolls! We are proud to offer a great selection of language materials for children, such as Language Littles Speaking Dolls! See our Children's Books, Courses, and Software page for an overview, plus we have individual children's sections in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
Language Littles Speaking Dolls Save with FREE standard shipping (US orders only) on Language Littles Speaking Dolls! Use promo code M-LLFS-OCT to receive this special. |
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