I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
marvellous are Thy works;
Psalm 139:14
"Imagine someone who can effortlessly switch between chatting with their grandma in Italian and arguing philosophy with a classmate in French. That's a polyglot, someone who can speak multiple languages.
A new MIT study explores how their brains handle this impressive feat. The experts found that while the brain's language network lights up when processing any language, it works less intensely for a polyglot's native tongue. This suggests our first language becomes specially encoded in the brain, allowing for smoother comprehension.
Scientists found that the brain processes our native language much faster and easier than other languages. The key to this is early learning. We soak in all the rules and words like sponges. Because we're exposed to this language so early and all the time, it becomes ingrained in our brain's language areas.
Scientists could actually see this happening in the brain scans. When people listen to their native language, there's a specific pattern of brain activity.
Parts of the brain linked to language, like Broca's area for speaking and Wernicke's area for understanding, light up less.
Basically, our brain has a special shortcut for processing our first language, making it faster and easier to understand and speak."
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