Recent scientific research has revealed that multilingualism may be key to keeping the brain young, as researchers found that the more languages a person speaks, the younger their brain appears than their actual chronological age.
Our brains are made up of billions of nerve cells that communicate with each other, but as we age, these neural connections weaken, leading to memory loss and slower thinking.
But a new study presented at the 2026 Federation of European Societies for Neuroscience (FENS) Forum suggests that learning an additional language, especially at an early age and with a high degree of fluency, can slow down this process.
The study was conducted by Dr. Lucia Amoroso from the Basque Center for Cognition, Language and Brain in Spain, in collaboration with research teams from specialized institutes in Chile, Argentina and Ireland.
The team had previously published a study showing that people in multilingual countries tend to age more slowly, and in their new study, they analyzed a group of people from Spain’s Basque Country who speak between one and four languages, including Spanish, Basque, French, and English.
To arrive at these findings, the researchers created a "brain aging clock" using 728 participants. They employed magnetoencephalography (MEG), a technique that measures the brain's electrical activity using magnetic fields, and used artificial intelligence to analyze the data and determine the normal level of neural connections at each age. They then applied this clock to a second group of 144 people, comparing their actual ages to their brain age.
The results were surprising: bilinguals had brains about 6 years younger than monolinguals, trilinguals had brains 7 years younger, and quadrlinguals had brains 13 years younger.
Amoruso explains that the impact isn't limited to the number of languages spoken, but also includes proficiency level and age of learning. The more fluent a speaker is and the earlier they begin, the more pronounced the delay in brain aging. She describes multilingualism as a gradual progression, where depth and duration are the true factors, not simply whether someone is bilingual or not.
Although the researchers took into account factors such as age, gender, and education, they acknowledge that other factors such as lifestyle and social participation could have an impact and could not be completely ruled out.
The team now plans to expand the scope of work to include those with degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, where brain health and neuroplasticity are of utmost importance. They are also studying the possibility that very similar languages may have a greater impact, because distinguishing between them may require higher cognitive effort.
For her part, Professor Christina Dalla from the University of Athens, chair of the forum's communications committee, who was not involved in the research, commented that the factors affecting brain health are numerous, such as quitting smoking, good nutrition, physical activity, and social and artistic participation, but she stressed that learning languages is an intellectual investment that stimulates the brain, and said: "This study indicates that learning a second, third, or fourth language may help keep the brain young for longer, and the earlier we start, the better. There are many reasons to learn another language at any age—social, cultural, and for your brain health—so language learning should be supported in school and throughout life, even if it is difficult."
