This is your brain on bilingualism!

There are still parents out there who worry their kids will get confused if they learn another language too early. Au contraire: it's the other way around. Learning another language in early childhood builds up your brain power, according to several studies on the subject. Now who wouldn't want a better brain for their kids? Here in Canada, official bilingualism gives us an additional incentive.

Amongst the benefits of bilingualism are a heightened capacity to screen out distractions and delay in the onset of illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease. Bilingualism alters the brain structure and produces significant activity in the right hemisphere.

Sources:
　
Bilingualism and the Brain
http://www.baycrest.org/Breakthroughs/12800.asp
　
Bilingualism's Brain Benefits
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39338-2004Jun13.html
　
The Bilingual Brain
http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainbriefings_thebilingualbrain
　
The bilingual brain. Proficiency and age of acquisition of the second language
http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/121/10/1841