If you’re learning English, you probably have a couple good reasons. You probably need it for work, or to get a new job, or to get into a university. Or, you anticipate needing it for one of these reasons in the future.

Chances are, you’re not just doing it for fun (although that’s not a bad reason to learn a language).

According to the TED video we used for this week’s English listening exercise, learning a  new language is really good for your brain in general, beyond the ability to speak another language. This video is also interesting because it talks about the different effects learning a language has depending on when you learn it in your life.

Answer the questions below and we’ll answer them in comments.

1. What are the two active and two passive parts of using a language?

2. What type of bilingual are you (or will you be)? Does this affect your ability to become proficient in the language?

3. What are the differences between child language learners and adult language learners?

4. What are some of the benefits of being multilingual?

5. What did people think about being multilingual in the past?

6. It’s never too late to ___ ____ _ _____, and ____ the linguistic ____ from “hello” to “hola.”