Can Learning a Second Language be Beneficial?

by Amanda Parrack, R-T Summer Intern

When I sat next to 65-year-old Ann in my Spanish 101 class at Missouri State University, I looked around the room and thought to myself, “This lady isn't gonna last the whole semester.” Turns out that Ann had proven me wrong on all levels of the class and even spoke more fluently than I ever could have at the end of the semester. When I asked her why she was learning Spanish, she simply responded that her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia close to her death. Ann had learned somewhere that learning a language slows the process of dementia, so she decided to learn Spanish in case she had inherited the disease. In fact, in my experience at Missouri State University, more and more people who are between the ages of 60-80, have been learning how to speak another language. For instance, in my Spanish 102 class I sat next to Jim, roughly around the same age as Ann, who was fluent in Latin and was now learning Spanish! I have taken many language classes with people in this age range and in my experience, normally these kinds of people are one of the top students within the class.

Ann’s story of learning a language to slow the process of dementia intrigued me. Does learning a language change the neural pathways within a brain that makes someone who is bilingual have better capabilities of memory? An article titled “The impact of bilingualism on brain reserve and metabolic connectivity in Alzheimer’s dementia,” by Daniela Perani in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, states: “Crucially, older bilingual individuals manifest symptoms of Alzheimer's dementia significantly later than comparable monolinguals. Furthermore, bilingual speakers also show significantly better cognitive recovery following stroke than monolinguals.” In other words, bilingual speakers have better recovery after strokes and have a better chance of delaying the onset of cognitive decline in later years versus someone who is only efficient in one language. The article continues stating how bilingual seniors have better cognitive function in certain areas of their brain: “An enhanced neural efficiency was also shown in bilingual seniors, with an increased functional connectivity in the frontoparietal network for executive control.” However the article does point out that if language learning slows the process of cognitive decline, then at least half of the world should be cured of dementia: “Considering that bilingualism is a global phenomenon, and that half of the world is actually bilingual, it is highly unlikely that half of the world is protected against dementia.”

I would argue that even so, learning a language is very rewarding nonetheless. During my time in my Spanish classes, I got to learn a lot from my classmates such as Ann, who was a nurse from the Army. She talked about her experiences with Spanish early on was when she was a nurse. She had said that it was crucial to know a little bit of Spanish in order to communicate with patients and people who needed her. She mentioned that although she never knew much Spanish then, it was always something that intrigued her. Jim, for instance, who is a distinguished professor, wanted to learn Spanish due to its similarities to Italian or Latin. I will say that learning a language is not easy if you would like to become fluent in one. It takes daily dedication and practice to speak a language that is unfamiliar. However there are very rewarding benefits of being able to speak another language. It is often said that if you speak to a person with a language not of their own, you speak to their mind, but if you speak to a person with their native language, you speak to their heart. What I learned most from this experience is that stereotypes placed on people of older generations are often untrue. I think a lot of people often forget that the older generation consists of highly esteemed and intelligent people such as nurses or professors, who have decades of experience in those fields. Such as the case with Ann, who continues her language learning path at Missouri State University.

North Central Missouri College athletics proudly announces that the department had twenty-two NJCAA Academic All-Americans for the 2022-23 school year. Baseball led all teams with nine individual honorees. Softball had seven players earn the distinction, women's basketball and women’s golf added two each while men's basketball and men's golf totaled one. Nine student athletes earned First Team status by carrying a 4.0 GPA.

Academic All-Americans must earn at minimum a 3.60 cumulative GPA for the school year. "I am very proud of our student athletes that were able to earn this recognition. Being a student athlete is difficult, but these individuals showed what hard work can do. Here at NCMC, we emphasize the importance of academics and our coaches and North Central Missouri College employees play an intricate role in the success of our student athletes, both on and off the field," remarked NCMC's Athletic Director Nate Gamet.

First Team Honorees (4.0 GPA) include Caragan Baker, softball; Chloe Bell, softball; Will Heller, men's golf; Josh Hughes, baseball; Lauren Krohn, softball; Bailey Quint, baseball; Gracyn Rongey, softball; Carsen Sporleder, softball; and Kyle Stratman, baseball.

Second Team Honorees (3.80-3.99 GPA) include Rawlins Brant, baseball; Kennadie Crowe, women's bas- ketball; Justin Dameron, baseball; Cam Dickerson, men's basketball; Kennedy Dickerson, women's golf; Tanner Schmidt, baseball; and Jaden Thacker, baseball.

Third Team Honorees (3.60-3.79 GPA) include Emma Angel, softball; Plinio Donoso, baseball; Laydon Fields, baseball; Brianna Filley, women's golf; Maeve Lavoy, softball; and Maci Moore, women's basketball.

StocksRecap

Big Tech’s big unveiling

So much on Wall Street depends on just a handful of stocks Seven alone accounted for 73% of the S&P 500’s returns through the first half of the year according to Bank of America strategist Savita

Subramanian More of the “Magnificent 7” will show whether that big a rally was warranted when Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Microsoft this week report their profits for the spring. If they fall short of expectations, it could have big consequences for investors in S&P 500 index funds These seven stocks have grown so big that their movements carry tremen- dous weight on indexes. Nasdaq rejiggered its Nasdaq 100 index before trading began Monday to limit the effects of such overconcentration Just look at Thursday when Tesla tumbled 9.7% despite reporting stronger results than expected. Investors may have been concerned about how profitable it will be after cutting prices. It helped drag the S&P 500 to a loss and the Nasdaq 100 index to its worst drop in nearly five months The last three members of the Magnificent 7 to report their quarterly earnings, Apple, Amazon and Nvidia will hit the spotlight in August.