A while back, I was catching up with an old friend and casually shared a small personal milestone — I had just completed the A1 level in French on Duolingo. Nothing too dramatic, just something I’d been working on quietly for a while.

He was curious at first, asked what that meant. So I told him, I’ve been learning French for over 700 days now. A few lessons each day, no rush. It’s become a refreshing challenge in my routine. And honestly, learning French has been a childhood dream of mine — something I always wanted to do, even if there wasn’t a clear reason.

But then he said something that stuck with me.

He said, “In a few years, we’ll have earpieces that translate everything in real-time. Why spend years learning a language when technology will do it for you instantly?”

According to him, language learning would soon be unnecessary, inefficient even.

I didn’t really have a counter. All my reasons were personal, emotional — things I felt, but couldn’t explain clearly.

Still, the conversation lingered in my head for days.

And it left me with a bigger question:

“Is learning a new language — in 2025 — still worth it?”

Science is the deciding vote for me in these emotional matters. So let’s start from the beginning.

Is monolingualism better according to research? - False

• In the early 1900s, some psychologists in the U.S. claimed that bilingual children scored lower on IQ tests than monolingual children. These studies were later discredited for being poorly designed, culturally biased, and often racist.
• Colonial powers, especially Britain, often framed their language as a marker of civilization. Knowing only English was considered a mark of refinement or elite status.

As English became the dominant global language (especially post-WWII), English speakers became less incentivized to learn other languages. To justify this linguistic laziness, some promoted the idea that monolingualism wasn’t a weakness that it was somehow better.

Bilingualism

Bilingualism generally falls into two categories: simultaneous and sequential.

Simultaneous bilingualism occurs when a child is exposed to two or more languages from infancy, typically through family, caregivers, or the immediate environment. These languages develop in parallel as part of the child’s early cognitive framework.

Sequential bilingualism, on the other hand, occurs when a person first becomes fluent in one language (usually their native or dominant language) and then learns a second language later in life, typically through school, travel, or personal interest.

While sequential learners can achieve absolute fluency and even near-native proficiency, there are often subtle but noticeable differences in how the languages are processed, pronounced, and used. These differences are shaped by the age of exposure, context, and the depth of immersion.

Accents

At birth, infants can distinguish over 800 different speech sounds/patterns — far more than any single language uses. But as they grow, their brains begin to specialize. By the time a child turns one, their brain chemistry has already started tuning itself to the sounds of the languages they hear regularly.

After this critical window, learning a new language becomes more difficult in terms of pronunciation. You can still learn to speak fluently, but certain sounds may be harder to master, which often results in having an “accent.”

Cognitive Benefits

Bilinguals develop what researchers call an “internal filter” — a mental skill that helps them quickly focus on what’s relevant in a given moment. Because they constantly manage two active language systems, their brains become more efficient at switching between thoughts, tuning out distractions, and adapting to changing situations.

In fact, many bilinguals can effortlessly blend languages in real-time, mixing vocabulary and grammar in a way that still makes perfect sense to other bilinguals.

“Waqt hai shine karne ka”

This kind of mental juggling strengthens something called inhibitory control — the brain’s ability to suppress irrelevant or competing information. While monolinguals may rarely need to filter out linguistic noise, bilinguals do it constantly. They’re always choosing the right word from the right language and holding the other back, without even realizing it.

In short, bilinguals get daily, real-world training in focus, attention, and cognitive flexibility.

And here’s the interesting part — these skills don’t just apply to language.

They spill over into every area of life, from multitasking and decision-making to self-control and problem-solving.

Brain Deterioration with Age

As we grow older, the brain naturally undergoes a gradual decline in cognitive function. In many cases, this process can be accelerated by neurodegenerative conditions like Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease — both of which impair memory, thinking, and behavior in deeply life-altering ways.

But here’s where language plays a powerful role.

Mounting scientific evidence shows that multilingualism — regardless of the specific languages or level of fluency — builds a cognitive reserve that helps the brain withstand the effects of aging and degeneration. In other words, the mental effort required to manage and switch between languages strengthens the brain’s neural architecture over time.

A landmark study published in Neurology found that bilingual individuals with Alzheimer’s exhibited symptoms an average of 4.5 years later than monolingual patients, even when factors like education, income, and lifestyle were taken into account. This suggests that the act of juggling multiple languages doesn’t just improve everyday mental agility — it also offers long-term protection against neurological decline.

Conclusion

So yes — I began learning French out of curiosity, and maybe a little romanticism. It was a personal aspiration, a quiet challenge I set for myself. But the deeper I looked, the more I realized: language is more than just a tool for communication — it’s a lifelong investment in the mind.

Learning another language strengthens the brain, fosters empathy, builds cognitive resilience, and keeps us mentally agile well into old age. It’s not just about speaking with someone from another country — it’s about seeing the world through more than one lens, about staying mentally flexible in a rapidly changing future.

Maybe one day we will have earpieces that translate everything perfectly.