Alzheimer's Disease

G'day,

I just read an interesting article that says learning a second language, even later in life, can help lessen the effects of Alzheimer's Disease.

This is good news !
All my hard work on trying to understand and conquer the French subjonctif and conditionnel might pay off in the end by stopping me losing my mind !

"Want to protect against the effects of Alzheimer's? Learn another language.

That's the takeaway from recent brain research, which shows that bilingual people's brains function better and for longer after developing the disease.

Psychologist Ellen Bialystok and her colleagues at York University in Toronto recently tested about 450 patients who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Half of these patients were bilingual, and half spoke only one language.

While all the patients had similar levels of cognitive impairment, the researchers found that those who were bilingual had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's about four years later, on average, than those who spoke just one language. And the bilingual people reported their symptoms had begun about five years later than those who spoke only one language.

"What we've been able to show is that in these patients... all of whom have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and are all at the same level of impairment, the bilinguals on average are four to five years older -- which means that they've been able to cope with the disease," Bialystok said."

Hi Krystyna,

Thanks for your article!

That's wonderful news! I'm going to take up Russian, Chinese and Hebrew... this way I'll be able to live long enough to play the guitar as well!

All my hard work on trying to understand and conquer the French subjonctif and conditionnel might pay off in the end by stopping me losing my mind !

LOL
Remember that subjonctive and conditional also exist in English LOL
If you want better, we also have the "imparfait du subjonctif" which is a nightmare to so many in France.

<br> in your sig... does this mean you're cold?

Hi Gérard,

My, you will be busy trying to "save your marbles" !

The <br> is a mystery !
I didn't think I had a signature, so now I must investigate !

Yes, I'm a bit cold, but not cold enough to be brrrr ...

Ah ah, <br> has been duly discovered and relegated to the poubelle !

My grandmother just dead last month of an Alzeimer disease. She was bilingual: born in Poland ans emigrate to France. Your article don't give true this way.

By the way, the <br> is the default signature....

Bonsoir Florent,
So you are also a bit Polish ... this is good, the Polish are wonderful people !
Thank you for divulging the secret about the <br>, now I must think of something memorable and witty to write for my signature

Hi, Krystina, happy to meet you on this Forum, and so glad you bring such good news !!
We won't consider too much Florent's grandmother's case, and keep on with our high spirits about the news. And persevere in our efforts to learn, and practise languages... If only to have a good motivation, which brings about pleasure and a feeling of fulfillment.

As Florent, I'm very concerned about the Alzheimer's disease, as I lost my mother after 5 years of suffering from the disease, which is really unbearable for the family. Being impaired physically is terrible, but losing one's mind is losing one's humanity.

Thank you Krystina for your article.

Thank you for this article which can give us hope for the future

I am at the same time trying to reconquer the german konjuktiv 1 and 2 and conquer the spanish subjonctif
and my courses are on thursday and friday. I have to say that sometimes it ends with headaches but I am sure I CAN do it, it is what I am telling me each time it seems a little bit difficult.

nevertheless, it is good news for all of us in this forum

Hi Krystyna, Ghislaine, Charline, Florent, hi everyone,

I assume that which protects from Alzheimer's is to learn, to make the brain work... so Charline's efforts are good hope for her future: good luck with your various subjonctives; maybe you should add Polish!

Hello Ghislaine and Charline,

Thank you for your welcome !
It is super-difficult at times to master learning a new langauge as an "oldie", but at the same time, it is empowering and satisfying to finally conquer something that has caused so much grief eg those pesky subjonctifs and conditionnels, as well as those even more pesky irregular verbs !
For myself, I welcome the challenges of learning and education, and would hate to spend my days just watching television, shopping, or playing bingo !
In English, we have a funny expression "USE it or LOSE it" !
I cannot find an equivalent in French, does anybody know it ?

Bon weekend ...

Hi Muriel,

Thank you, but maybe my Australian expressions will confuse you all !
As Gérard says often, Australian is not "true" English, and not even the poor Queen would understand what we say !

"Take it or leave it" refers more to a feeling of ambivalence ... you neither like nor dislike something or someone, so you don't care whether you have it or not.
eg with foie gras, I might eat some if it is on the table, but I don't like it that much that I would especially go out to buy some.

"Use it or lose it" ... we mean that if you stop practising or doing something, you will lose your skill
eg sport, another language, playing the piano (plus there are other connotations that are somewhat too risqué to explain !)

Close Muriel, but not exact !

"Practice makes perfect" infers that you need to become proficient at something you are not so good at to start with.

"Use it or lose it" infers that you are already good at something and need to continue doing it so that the level of proficiency does not decrease.

Hi Krystyna, Muriel, everyone,

> "USE it or LOSE it"
We don't have a saying in French.
WordReference suggests "C'est à prendre ou à laisser" but Krystyna doesn't like the response!

Hi Krystyna, hi everyone,

A bit far from the topic (language learning good for health) but an interesting piece of information (so I guess): International Genomics of Alzheimer's (IGAP - looks like I missed a letter) was just created.
Aim: cartography all of the genes which might be related to the illness which touches 35.6 million people in the world.

~~ edit
The event took place in the very beginning of February 2011.
Okay the "P" that was missing in IGAP stands for "Project"; "International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project"

A few English pages :
-> International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project Launched
->
International Collaboration on Alzheimer’s Genetics

CHICAGO - The launch of the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (IGAP) – a collaboration formed to discover and map the genes that contribute to Alzheimer's disease – was announced today by a multi-national group of researchers. The collaborative effort, spanning universities from both Europe and the United States, will combine the knowledge, staff and resources of four consortia that conduct research on Alzheimer's disease genetics

-> (4-page PDF Document)FIRST INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION ON THE GENETICS OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE IS LAUNCHED
-> First international collaboration on Alzheimer's disease genetics launched
-> International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project Launched

A few French links:
-> Lancement de la première collaboration internationale sur la génétique de la maladie d’Alzheimer
-> IGAP : un projet international de génomique de la maladie d’Alzheimer
-> Alzheimer : un consortium mondial vise à découvrir et cartographier les gènes de la maladie

Hi Muriel,

First of all, a few typos:
> Scientists don’t yet fully understand what causes...
According to me, the "yet" is not at its right location in the sentence and has to be sent after "understand"... I hope Krystyna will confirm.
> geriatician
You ate an "r": geriatrician
> A friend of mine is geriatician
You should write: "A friend of mine is a geriatrician".

This new organization is very important. As far as I could read, it will coordinate actions between other existing organizations. I'm sure they all will make improvements soon working together and also checking genes.

You're very welcome!

Hi Muriel and Gérard,
Well, the "yet" is one of those words that can go pretty much anywhere in a sentence ?
So, both of you are correct !
Scientists don’t yet fully understand what causes ... is good !
Scientists don't fully understand yet what causes ... is equally as good !

Thanks for your message Krystyna!
However, I suspect Ozies easily accept Frenchie sentences.

@ Krystyna: I changed your avatar cos I don't want a forum too "anonyme".
If you want something fun, you can change your pseudo as well!