According to a recent study, scientists have confirmed that the brains of Arabic speakers differ from the brains of people who speak other languages.
The Arabic language needs great listening and concentration between the speaker and the listener, and this means that Arabic speakers work their brains in a more complex way.
Study details
A group of scientists from the German Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, headed by the lead author of the research, Dr. Chui Khoo Wei, monitored the white matter in the brains of 47 native Arabic speakers and 47 native German speakers.
The researchers made sure that they selected monolinguals, that is, they had only one native mother tongue.
The study explained that “the team of scientists asked the participants to undergo an MRI scan, to obtain high-resolution images of the brain and information about the connections between nerve fibers.”
According to data recently published on the Max Planck Institute website, it was found that “native speakers of Arabic showed the following:
- The connection is stronger between the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
- There is a stronger connection between the lateral parts of the brain (the temporal part) and the middle part (the parietal part). These brain regions are responsible for pronouncing words and understanding the meaning of spoken language, which is what Arabic requires of the speaker.
- Different neural circuits for language processing in the brain appeared differently among speakers of Arabic than speakers of other languages.
The information indicated that, in a second step of the study that is currently underway, the researchers will analyze what happens in the brains of Arabic speakers while they are learning the German language.
By the end of the research, the scientists hope to use the findings to improve methods of learning foreign languages.
The research team points out that depending on the type of learner and their mother tongue, different strategies for language learning can be developed.
The specialist in diseases of the brain and the nervous system, the Lebanese doctor in Spain, Professor Youssef Hashem, said in connection with “Sky News Arabia” that the study is an important step in understanding what is going on, especially in terms of the difference between languages.
- Long ago, studies showed that the articulation area is located in the left temporal area of the brain, as well as the comprehension area.
- Languages are divided and differ. Arabic consists of letters, and letters consist of sounds that combine words.
- As for the Chinese language and the languages of East Asia, it is known as ideographic, in the sense that every drawing that appears in the Chinese language is not a character, but a word with meaning.
- For these peoples, understanding and pronunciation are on the right side of the brain and not on both sides, as is the case for Arabic speakers.
- Surprisingly, the study shows brain activity on both sides of Arabic speakers without it being clear why this is done, as it only showed the difference between language speakers.
- There are many studies conducted earlier on children who speak more than one language. When they speak, they use both sides of the brain for pronunciation and understanding at the same time.
- When adults learn other languages, the electrical cycles in the brain change, and this is beneficial for them because they get less Alzheimer’s disease and have a greater ability to comprehend and think, especially in children, so we recommend teaching them two languages at the same time.
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