¿Does multilingualism promote better brain aging?

University of Houston professor of psychology Arturo Hernandez is disputing a high-profile study ¹ claiming that people who live in multilingual countries show healthier brain aging. Though the study got lots of attention, Hernandez and collaborators report ² that the findings warrant cautious interpretation and reframing of public health implications.

“We took a closer look and argued that the study’s conclusions go further than the data can support,” said Hernandez.

According to Hernandez, the countries with high multilingualism in Europe also happen to be the wealthiest, with the best health care systems and the longest life expectancies, sometimes by as much as six years. When those structural differences are accounted for, the apparent language effect largely disappears.

“There is a real temptation in science to find individual behavioral solutions: learn a language, do a puzzle, take a supplement—are all suggested as solutions to problems that are fundamentally structural,” said Hernandez.

“When those solutions get oversold, it can erode public trust in science and distract from the harder work of building the conditions that actually support healthy aging: access to health care, good nutrition, economic stability. We wanted to make sure the public gets an accurate picture of what the evidence shows.”

In the original article, researchers examined records in 27 European countries and claimed that multilingualism protects against accelerated aging whereas monolingualism increased risk of accelerated aging.

Countries with high multilingualism, like Luxembourg (82.5 years) and the Netherlands (82.5 years), have some of the highest life expectancies in the world. Meanwhile, countries with low multilingualism, such as Bulgaria (75.8 years) and Romania (76.3 years), lag nearly six or seven years behind.

“A six-year gap in life expectancy is unlikely to be explained by language. World-class health care, superior early-childhood nutrition, higher occupational safety, and lower chronic stress offer a more parsimonious account—the same structural forces that produce longevity in general,” said Hernandez, who points to Japan as another example.

As a largely monolingual society, it boasts an exceptional life expectancy of 84.5 years. “Low inequality, a healthy diet, and a robust universal health care system account for that advantage far better than language ever could,” said Hernandez.

“Learning a language is a beautiful, culturally enriching endeavor. It connects us to others and expands our world. But we must be careful not to overpromise it as a clinical intervention for aging.”

“As scientists, we do a disservice to the public when we promote individual behavioral hacks as substitutes for structural resources,” he said.