Why Neuroscientists Are Telling People to Learn Arabic Arabic 101

In Arabic, this is called necklace and this is called contract. Notice anything? Well, these two words have identical letters, but they are pronounced differently. So, if were to show you this word without Tashkeel or context, it would be literally impossible to tell which one I'm talking about. But if it is given context like this, an average Arabic speaker who knows that means beautiful and means written would immediately be able to tell that the first word is necklace and the second contract. So, context helped us decode the structure of the sentence. This skill of constantly thinking of context and trying to decode the Arabic sentence to understand it is something that all Arabic learners have to keep in mind when reading Arabic, especially if the text has no diacritics because it can literally change the meaning completely. Now, if you think that this is frustrating, inconvenient, or it is the reason why you haven't learned Arabic yet, think again. As it happens, this unique feature of the language is actually doing something to your brain that neuroscientists in Germany didn't expect to find. They just discovered that forcing your brain to constantly decode Arabic sentences as shown can physically alter your anatomy by building an interconnected system in your brain so powerful it could delay or even prevent the onset of some neurological diseases for several years. But how can learning Arabic or any language for that matter actually change your brain's hardware? Well, to understand what the scientists found, let us have practical comparison to really understand what's going on. Let's start by these three completely unrelated English words. book library writer Each one of these words is different in terms of how they look, what they sound like, and how each word is structured. Every word is like an island. Now, take the very same three words but in Arabic. kitab maktaba katib The difference here is is that they are not three islands. They are interconnected under one idea, one root. kataba And thinking about that one root kind of forces you to activate thinking about the rest of the formations connected to this root that you know of. And right here at this point, your brain just did something it has never done and can do in English. And going further shows you how vast this can get. single root, kataba, could be connected to dozen words and all are interconnected. Thinking about one makes you think about the root. Thinking about the root makes you think of all the other interconnected forms. And so, reading simple English sentence like this is extremely straightforward. It offers no challenge to your brain whatsoever and it will never have the same impact or require the same brain power as similar Arabic sentence. Because for starters, two of the words mentioned in this sentence are interconnected through one root, causing you to involuntarily recall other words related to the same root. Secondly, you also have to be paying attention to the Tashkeel and the case endings, which can change the meaning and the grammar structure. Means Means took. Added to that, understanding words with same letters but different pronunciation. So, is it min, man, manna, or mun? Without diacritics, context decides which one it is. So, in short, in order to process an Arabic sentence, you must actually decode it in layers, contextualize the information and find connections. All of this is done on the go while you're trying to read. And so, because of how the Arabic language works, you're not just reading, your brain is actively solving puzzle. And this particular feature in Arabic made some neuroscientists curious enough to study how doing this on regular basis can affect your brain. And so, they compared the brain activities of two groups. One group only speaking Germanic language like English or German and the other group speaking Arabic. And what they found is that while rigid rule-heavy languages like English or German strictly use the left side of the brain, the puzzle-solving nature of Arabic does something entirely different. It physically thickens the white matter or the neural connections between the left and the right hemispheres of the brain because your brain has to constantly cross-reference the root word with the context. It builds massive neural bridges across the center of your brain. So, your brain actually works much harder to read Arabic than any other language. And that is not bad thing. It is biological advantage. And now you might be wondering, so what? How is having extra neural connections useful in any way? Well, think of your brain like city grid. disease like Alzheimer's causes physical damage that creates kind of roadblocks on your neural pathways. When you learn language like Arabic, you're essentially building massive network of alternate highways and bridges. So, because Arabic forces both hemispheres to communicate constantly, your brain has surplus of pathways to rely on. If Alzheimer's blocks one road, an Arabic-trained brain just takes detour. This is what neuroscientists call cognitive reserve. You can build it in many ways, but very few activities build it the way Arabic does. Why? Because very few languages, if any, demand this much from both sides of your brain simultaneously like Arabic does. So, learning and practicing the Arabic language is literally the ultimate preventive medicine. It is the physical training of your brain. Finally, it is no surprise that learning Arabic is highly recommended and encouraged in Islam. So, now you know that learning Arabic is not only good for your deen, but it is also good for your brain. Yet another reason why you should start learning Arabic today. Thanks for watching. Don't forget to check out my latest books with their video courses if you want to learn the Quran in Arabic or properly learn its Tajweed. Check out the links in the description. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time, inshallah.