The brain is one incredible organ, and it only weighs around 1.4 kilograms. Despite its size, it holds billions of neurons, and its complexity is unlike any other. It produces our every thought, every single action, feeling, memory, and experience. This is the very reason why we need to take care of our brain.

Studies show that human brain changes as people grow older. Our ability to think, process information and retain memory can become impaired as we age. One of our sad realities is that mental decline is so typical, it affects most of the population.

This is especially true for students and academic professionals. We need to keep our minds sharp and healthy for us to learn and retain knowledge. Luckily, many ways can help us prevent cognitive impairment – and learning about the Chinese Language is one of them.

The following are reasons why everyone should consider learning Chinese.

Learning the Chinese Language Helps Brain Stimulation

Research suggests that brain stimulation brought about by learning a second language helps exercise your thinking skills and improve brain function. It won’t even matter at what age you’re attempting to learn a new lingo – whether you choose to teach a child how to learn Chinese at an earlier age, or you enroll yourself in classes teaching Chinese at age 40. By learning Chinese, you get to enjoy understanding the language while helping your brain become healthier and younger in more ways than one.

It Helps to Develop and Improve Motor Skills

When you learn Chinese, you don’t only learn how to read the characters, but to write as well. Practicing writing the Chinese characters aids in the development and improvement of motor skills. Unlike the English letters, there are only a few characters available. In Chinese, you’re obliged to learn thousands of letters to be able to read and write the language. This means you get to practice and hone your motor skills along the way.

It Helps Improve Accurate Hearing and Interpretation

When it comes to the English language, we only use one side of the brain to speak, read and write in English. In Chinese, however, we use both sides of the brain – the left and right temporal lobes to learn. The reason is that of the many intonations used in the Chinese language. The more tones you need to distinguish because of the many characters available, the harder one needs to think to accurately convey the message and understand the meaning of the words spoken. Also, the different strokes make it even harder for the brain to interpret words, letting you exercise your mind to interpret better the words written.

Good Read: The Mandarin Language Is Music To The Brain

It Helps Improve Your Math Skills

That’s right! Some studies correlate improved math skills from learning Mandarin. Scientists claim that since you need to count when practicing writing Chinese repeatedly, math concepts are applied thus honing your skills in the said subject. With learning Chinese allowing you to learn about the language itself, the sounds, the characters, intonations and all, and with the left and right hemisphere working, you also get to practice your math.