The benefits of speaking multiple languages - What in the World podcast, BBC World Service

Most people in the world speak more than one language and many countries have more than one official national language. But what is it like living as a polyglot? And what advantages can it bring to your health? Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3VyyriM BBC journalist Victoria Uwonkunda describes what it was like growing up as a polyglot and how she deals with speaking multiple languages in her daily life. Turkish polyglot İclal Dağcı, who speaks nine languages, tells us why she learned so many and how she uses music to master the ones she found difficult. Plus, Professor Frédérique Liégeois, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London, explains the effect speaking multiple languages has on your brain, and how it could help maintain brain health as you get older. 00:00 Introduction 01:15 What languages Victoria speaks 02:14 Idioms and expressions in various languages 03:02 İclal Dağcı on why she loves learning languages 03:53 How Victoria knows all the languages she speaks 06.35 Professor Frédérique Liégeois on the advantages of learning multiple languages 08:00 Victoria on the benefits of knowing multiple languages 09:13 Victoria on learning to speak Norwegian 12:15 Professor Frédérique Liégeois on why it’s harder for adults to learn languages 12:45 Dreaming in multiple languages 14:18 The challenges when learning a language 15:12 Lisa from Ling on which languages are difficult and which aren’t 16:44 Victoria’s tips to learn a new language 17:48 Conclusion Watch more episodes from What in the World here 👉🏽    • What in the World   Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Emily Horler, William Lee Adams, Mora Morrison, Emilia Jansson and Elena Angelides Video Journalists: Beatrice Guzzardi and Adam Chowdhury Editor: Verity Wilde ---------------- This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel. If you like what we do, you can also find us here: Instagram 👉🏽   / bbcworldservice   Twitter 👉🏽   / bbcworldservice   Facebook 👉🏽   / bbcworldservice   BBC World Service website 👉🏽 https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio Thanks for watching and subscribing! This podcast was edited on 07 March 2025. #bbcworldservice #WorldService #polyglot #polyglots #polyglotlife #language #languages #bilingual #multilingualism