Tag languages

Daily Duolingo Sessions

drstaceynaito Leave a comment

My streak as of March 17, 2022

As of today, April 12th, I have completed a 567 day streak on Duolingo, and I have every intention of continuing my daily language practice on the user friendly app. I began this streak with Japanese and Spanish as my daily languages, and added Portuguese at the beginning of March because I want to have some familiarity with the language when I visit Portugal in May. Duolingo is an excellent app for brushing up on languages or even learning a new one, and Duolingo Plus is only $84 per year. For that price, you can practice as many languages as you’d like.

I have practiced a bunch of languages, besides the ones I mentioned previously, on Duolingo over the past several years (French, German, Hungarian, Latin, Italian, and Hawaiian), and I love the fact that I can jump back into practicing any of those languages if I’d like. Though I took French and Latin in high school, I am rusty in those languages, and I only know a small amount of Hungarian, German, Italian, and Hawaiian. It is important for me to polish my Spanish speaking and reading skills constantly, not only because I was immersed in it when I would visit my dad and his children from his second marriage, but also because I don’t want to lose the skills I learned from Spanish classes I took throughout grade school, high school and college. I also feel a responsibility to learn as much Japanese as I can, since I am half Japanese, took Japanese in college, and intend to visit Japan again in the future.

Duolingo truly is a fantastic way to learn any language which is in their system. I highly recommend it!

The Language Of Medicine

drstaceynaito Leave a comment

stethoscope

I often forget that my brain was heavily bombarded with tens of thousands of medical terms, because I have no use for about 95% of those words in my daily life. But there is a vast ocean of multisyllabic words swirling around in the depths of my memory which would make any logophile giddy with delight. Back when I was in grade school, I had already cultivated a strange fascination for long coils of letters, a fascination which became an advantage as I was able to spell difficult words with ease, and could edit my friends’ term papers fluidly.

Once I reached my college years, I immersed myself in the world of complex vocabulary by concentrating on the sciences. I thought the terminology used in chemistry, comparative anatomy, physiology, and microbiology was absolutely beautiful, and enjoyed learning it all. Even now, when I alight upon a scientific passage or book (a recent favorite was The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean), I almost get giddy with anticipation of what I am about to read. Though I appreciate the world of medical nomenclature and can pronounce the tongue-twisting jumbles of letters, I no longer have the same passion for them I once had.

I know that one of the reasons why I no longer adore words like cholelithiasis (gallstones) is because of my deep immersion in medical language for so long. I became tired of having to memorize massive amounts of information, and I realize there are esoteric medical terms taking up valuable real estate in my brain, terms which I will likely never use because they delve into subspecialties like hematologic oncology or cardiothoracic surgery, neither of which I discuss at length. I still remember most of the mnemonics which are a necessary part of the memorization process and am thankful for their existence. But there are only a few which stuck, the ones which have utility in my current practice of medicine, such as OOOTTAFAGVAH, SEXLAB, and “Some Lovers Try Positions That They Can’t Handle” (I will leave these undefined for those of you who like puzzles).

In some ways I guess I could say that I am bilingual, since medical speak is a completely different entity from regular, everyday speech. When my medical hat is on, I shift in to medical language effortlessly, and occasionally find it challenging to replace descriptive medical vocabulary with layperson terms. Usually the blank stare from a patient or friend is enough to jar me from my speech patterns and find more general words to describe a physiological process, a disease, or a treatment course. I suppose the science nerd in me will remain very much intact as a result of the vocabulary floating around in my noggin!

Learn a Foreign Tongue To Protect Your Brain

drstaceynaito Leave a comment

o-KID-LEARNING-LANGUAGE-facebook-806x393

Please read my original post at:

http://xactmind.com/xc/articles/learn-a-foreign-tongue-to-protect-your-brain/

By: Dr. Stacey Naito – Physician and IFBB Pro

Bilingual Brains

Numerous research studies have revealed that people who speak two or more languages possess greater skill in multitasking and paying attention than those who only speak one language. In addition, a 2013 study discovered that individuals who spoke two languages developed the signs of dementia more than four years later than people who only spoke one language, which strongly suggests that being bilingual may help to delay the onset of dementia.

Never Too Late

Scientists have determined that the earlier one learns a second language, the greater the protective benefits against dementia, but it is never too late to learn a foreign tongue, even if you only learn a bit of the language. Be ready for a challenge, though, because most aspects of learning a foreign language later in life will be more difficult.

One clear benefit which older individuals have over youngsters when learning a foreign language is that they have much larger vocabularies which are often as large as those of native speakers. However, the challenges which exist for older people learning a foreign tongue are numerous. First of all, phonemes, or sounds, of a language are very easily picked up by children, but are much more difficult for adults to learn. Secondly, adults automatically hear a foreign language through the filter of their native language, which is not the case in toddlers. As a result, the older learner may have issues with pronunciation.

A toddler’s brain has about fifty percent more neuron connections than an adult brain. The extra connections are a safeguard against potential early trauma, but are also critical for early language acquisition. After a child reaches six years of age, adaptability declines as a result of the brain’s need to acquire other skills during development. This adaptability, also known as neuroplasticity, continues to plummet throughout the years, making it more difficult to obtain new language skills.

Several studies have suggested that learning a foreign language later in life can delay age-related cognitive decline, as well as delay the onset of dementia. In addition, the mental challenge of learning a new language during later years improves executive function, which is important for mental flexibility.

Use It Or Lose It: How I Forgot Foreign Languages

drstaceynaito Leave a comment

foreign languagesI was a pretty ambitious kid and consequently managed to take Spanish, French, Latin, and Japanese during my school years. For those of you who are curious about how much exposure I had in school to each of these languages, they are as follows:

MANY years of Spanish (plus cultural exposure)
Two years of Latin
One year of French
One year of Japanese (plus cultural exposure due to my Japanese heritage)

I am so glad I took Latin in high school because it proved to be extremely helpful during medical school, but my decision to take French was primarily a way of filling up my senior class schedule. French was so easy for me that I got the the only A+ in the class. As for Spanish, I was so culturally and scholastically immersed that I approached fluency at a couple of different points. Finally, with Japanese, I wanted to have a more solid understanding of the language of my ancestors and wanted to honor my heritage.

As the years passed I found few opportunities to speak French, so I am now quite bad at it. I can read and understand about 25% of it but beyond that I am lost. I also went through a very similar experience with Japanese.

Spanish is an entirely different story because I keep finding myself in situations in which I could use my Spanish speaking and reading skills. Nevertheless, because I don’t speak it regularly, I am getting pretty rusty in my ability to converse in Spanish. Though I had learned and used medical Spanish out of pure necessity, I now rarely encounter Spanish speaking patients, so that skill is diminishing as well. What is perhaps most frustrating is when I am struggling too find the words in Spanish to say something I was so easily able to convey 10 years ago.

Like any skill, comprehension of a foreign language requires regular usage so that it is not lost. Looks like a trip to Costa Rica or Venezuela may be in order!