Multilingual experience linked to delayed aging • Hacker News Board

Re: Multilingual experience linked to delayed aging

#11

Post by elpakal » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

thisoneisreal wrote: post #2

One thing I've never seen discussed on this topic (possible I just missed it, I only read popular accounts) is whether speaking multiple languages is a proxy for higher sociability / stronger social ties. That's a known dimension that improves health and aging and I wonder if just being able or interested in speaking with a broader swath of people is what helps more than the cognitive demands of switching.

Raised multilingual here (as in father spoke one, mother spoke another, living abroad and US back and forth). I don't know about the stronger social ties but I have found that thinking in a different language helps me get to sleep easier. There are times when I'm spinning around in webs in English (work, life etc) at night, and when I switch over to Spanish thoughts I fall asleep easier.

Maybe just stuff like that is enough to make a difference.

Re: Multilingual experience linked to delayed aging

#12

Post by westurner » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

comrade1234 wrote: post #10

thisoneisreal wrote: post #2

One thing I've never seen discussed on this topic (possible I just missed it, I only read popular accounts) is whether speaking multiple languages is a proxy for higher sociability / stronger social ties. That's a known dimension that improves health and aging and I wonder if just being able or interested in speaking with a broader swath of people is what helps more than the cognitive demands of switching.

Learning German hasn't made me more sociable.

But there was neurogenesis.

And, just thinking about other cultures

Re: Multilingual experience linked to delayed aging

#13

Post by tekno45 » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

asveikau wrote: post #6

TFNA wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learning a foreign language in order to get more out of art, literature, or poetry is already a very niche hobby and one risks being accused of snobbism or privilege for suggesting it. Art, literature (of the kind where learning the original language could be important), and poetry themselves are niche hobbies.

I don't know your history, but this sounds like a monolingual person not understanding and being arrogant about it. It's not a niche hobby if that's literally your life. Many people are not multilingual as a hobby, or as a choice.

they think art is a niche hobby and not the basis of human culture. I wouldn't listen too intently to them.

Re: Multilingual experience linked to delayed aging

#14

Post by TFNA » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 4:43 PM UTC

tekno45 wrote: post #13

asveikau wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know your history, but this sounds like a monolingual person not understanding and being arrogant about it. It's not a niche hobby if that's literally your life. Many people are not multilingual as a hobby, or as a choice.

they think art is a niche hobby and not the basis of human culture. I wouldn't listen too intently to them.

Art is perennial and omnipresent in human societies, but the sort of art that operates through a language foreign to the aficionado’s own, and learning that language would be beneficial to appreciation of it, is obviously going to be a niche subset of art.

Re: Multilingual experience linked to delayed aging

#15

Post by drtgh » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 4:45 PM UTC

TFNA wrote: post #3

Sadly, this beneficial activity doesn’t look promising in the longterm. Real-time interpretation of foreign languages through earbuds is already available in its nascent phase, and China at least has begun cutting foreign-language programmes at its unis because such AI translation is seen as the way of future. Once this tool becomes adopted enough societally, the learning of foreign languages is going to become a ver…

> China at least has begun cutting foreign-language programs because such AI translation is seen as the way of future. Once this tool becomes adopted enough societally, the learning of foreign languages is going to become a very niche hobby.

If this happens, professional or reliable translations will only be accessible to those who can afford/pay them, leaving everyone else stuck with the errors produced by LLMs.

To use machine translation, one have to know the language to review the output; otherwise, you're doomed to mistakes. Whatever you do with LLMs, the same thing will happen.

I would name all the marketing surrounding the A"I" as the LLM's blindness virus, or something similar.

Re: Multilingual experience linked to delayed aging

#16

Post by ChrisArchitect » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 4:45 PM UTC

> Dr Amoruso said: “In simple terms, people who spoke more languages tended to have brains that looked younger than expected for their chronological age. The effect was not only related to the number of languages spoken. Higher language proficiency and earlier acquisition of a second language were also associated with more delayed brain ageing. This suggests that multilingual experience matters as a gradient: it is not simply about being bilingual or not, but about the depth and duration of language experience.”

https://www.fens.org/news-activities/news/speaking-another-l...

Re: Multilingual experience linked to delayed aging

#17

Post by fer » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 4:52 PM UTC

TFNA wrote: post #5

asveikau wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think any multilingual person will be skeptical of your analysis. Translation is not a substitute for understanding the original. It's good that we have translations, but it isn't the same. As you get into consuming art, literature, poetry, commentary, this is relevant.

Learning a foreign language in order to get more out of art, literature, or poetry is already a very niche hobby and one risks being accused of snobbism or privilege for suggesting it. Art, literature (of the kind where learning the original language could be important), and poetry themselves are niche hobbies.

Culture is not only art. An LLM won't help you naturally drop you a "cuidao chacho que toy mu loco" nor "в жёлтом доме по тебе скучают", nor will it translate it into something that carries the exact meaning to you in English, nor reference any equivalent cultural element, for the foreseeable future. You'll need embeddings common life experiences, and even intonation can completely change the meaning even retaining the emphasis.

It will help you communicate, but not partake.

Re: Multilingual experience linked to delayed aging

#18

Post by HPsquared » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 4:55 PM UTC

elpakal wrote: post #11

thisoneisreal wrote: post #2

One thing I've never seen discussed on this topic (possible I just missed it, I only read popular accounts) is whether speaking multiple languages is a proxy for higher sociability / stronger social ties. That's a known dimension that improves health and aging and I wonder if just being able or interested in speaking with a broader swath of people is what helps more than the cognitive demands of switching.

Raised multilingual here (as in father spoke one, mother spoke another, living abroad and US back and forth). I don't know about the stronger social ties but I have found that thinking in a different language helps me get to sleep easier. There are times when I'm spinning around in webs in English (work, life etc) at night, and when I switch over to Spanish thoughts I fall asleep easier. Maybe just stuff like that is…

That's nice, like the brain switching to "home mode" maybe?

Re: Multilingual experience linked to delayed aging

#19

Post by barrenko » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 4:55 PM UTC

elpakal wrote: post #11

thisoneisreal wrote: post #2

One thing I've never seen discussed on this topic (possible I just missed it, I only read popular accounts) is whether speaking multiple languages is a proxy for higher sociability / stronger social ties. That's a known dimension that improves health and aging and I wonder if just being able or interested in speaking with a broader swath of people is what helps more than the cognitive demands of switching.

Raised multilingual here (as in father spoke one, mother spoke another, living abroad and US back and forth). I don't know about the stronger social ties but I have found that thinking in a different language helps me get to sleep easier. There are times when I'm spinning around in webs in English (work, life etc) at night, and when I switch over to Spanish thoughts I fall asleep easier. Maybe just stuff like that is…

Learned some french recently, heavy bouts of insomnia due to moving / stress - I will try this advice exactly this night.

Re: Multilingual experience linked to delayed aging

#20

Post by feverzsj » Mon, Jul 06, 2026, 4:57 PM UTC

TFNA wrote: post #3

Sadly, this beneficial activity doesn’t look promising in the longterm. Real-time interpretation of foreign languages through earbuds is already available in its nascent phase, and China at least has begun cutting foreign-language programmes at its unis because such AI translation is seen as the way of future. Once this tool becomes adopted enough societally, the learning of foreign languages is going to become a ver…

China does this, because significant amount of foreign companies have left or plan to leave China.