The Power of Language: How the Codes We Use to Think, Speak, and Live Transform Our Minds

The human brain is built to use multiple languages, & using more languages opens doors to creativity, brain health, & cognitive control. Every new language we speak shapes how we extract & interpret information. It alters what we remember, how we perceive ourselves & the world around us, how we feel, the insights we have, the decisions we make, & the actions we take. 

Language is an invaluable tool for organizing, processing, & structuring information, & thereby unleashing radical advancement. Learning a new language has broad lifetime consequences, & Dr. Marian reviews research showing that it:

· Improves executive function—our ability to focus on the things that matter & ignore the things that don’t. · Results in higher scores on creative-thinking tasks. · Develops critical reasoning skills. · Delays Alzheimer’s & other types of dementia by four to six years. · Improves decisions made under emotional duress. · Changes what we see, pay attention to, & recall. 

Dr. Viorica Marian is the Ralph & Jean Sundin Endowed Professor of Communication Sciences & Disorders & professor of psychology at Northwestern Univ. Since 2000, Marian has directed the university’s Bilingualism & Psycholinguistics Research Lab, receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health & the National Science Foundation. 

Marian is a native speaker of Romanian; a native-like speaker of Russian; a fluent speaker of English; & has studied or conducted research with a variety of other languages, including American Sig