People who regularly speak more than one language appear to age more slowly, at least by one biological measure, than those who use only a single language, according to a large new study of older adults across Europe. The effect seemed to strengthen with each additional language a person used, though the researchers were careful to say their work shows a link rather than a cause.
What the study found
The research drew on data from tens of thousands of healthy adults aged roughly 50 and above across more than two dozen European countries, The Guardian reported. Using a computational model, the team compared each person's chronological age with an estimate of their biological age based on health and lifestyle measures, producing a gap that can run faster or slower than the calendar.
People who used more than one language were markedly less likely to show accelerated aging on that measure, Scientific American reported. The apparent advantage rose with the number of languages, with those using several languages showing the largest gaps between their estimated biological age and their actual age.
Important caveats
The researchers and outside experts were quick to note the limits. The study relied on people's own reports of their language use rather than tested fluency, so it is not clear how much or what kind of language use matters. It also cannot rule out other explanations: multilingual people may differ in education, social contact, income or other habits known to affect brain health, any of which could contribute to the pattern.
The work adds to earlier findings that bilingual people tend to develop dementia somewhat later than those who speak one language, but here too scientists caution that association is not causation, and that it is not yet established whether taking up a new language later in life would bring the same benefit.
Why it matters
Even with those caveats, the size of the study gives weight to a simple and appealing idea: that keeping more than one language in active use may be one of the ordinary, everyday habits, alongside exercise, social connection and learning, that help keep the aging brain resilient. The researchers frame multilingualism not as a cure but as a factor worth studying further, and a reminder that some of the influences on how we age are woven into daily life.
