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Left hand, right hand crazy question?

  Tags: Secondhand | Brain
 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies Post Reply
ExRN
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 3155 days ago

61 posts - 75 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, Spanish
Studies: Dutch

 
 Message 1 of 7
12 August 2015 at 10:32am | IP Logged 
This may seem like a very strange question but here goes.....

I start university in September to study languages, specifically Italian, Spanish and German.
I am capable of using both hands to write with and wondered if words written with different hands would
register on different parts of the brain?

If this is the case would there be good reason to write Spanish with the left hand and Italian with the right
in order to help my brain not to confuse the two?

We could take this one step further and use one ear for each and one eye also.
As you can probably appreciate, I am no neuro scientist so any advice would be great.

I know it's a strange idea but I did read once about brocas area being used in some people, another area by
others and both by 10% of left handed people which I predominantly am. Is that the way to register certain
words on different parts etc? Would be good to file my languages neatly in my brain.

Cheers guys
4 persons have voted this message useful





Iversen
Super Polyglot
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Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6463 days ago

9078 posts - 16473 votes 
Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan
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 Message 2 of 7
12 August 2015 at 1:00pm | IP Logged 
It definitely is a weird question.

As for the labor division in the brain it is true that Broca's area and Wernicke's area are important for language production, but these are usually placed in the left half and only there. Some rare persons may have mirror images of the normal brain so that these centres are in the right half, though I don't remember seeing this on print anywhere. But I definitely haven't seen any reference to people with those areas duplicated. But the matter gets slightly more complicate when you consider that the specific language areas aren't the only ones involved in speaking and writing. Quite generally patients with lesions in Broca have trouble making the necessary sounds, whereas those with lesions in Wernicke can speak fluently, but only speak rubbish. However foul words and other semi-linguistic utterances can be enunciated purely by using the right half of the brain, using mechanisms that basically are non-linguistic.

OK, you want to separate Spanish and Italian by using the left vs. the right hand. But you will still use the same Broca and the same Wernicke. However there are indications that for instance the vocabulary recall functions for different languages can be located differently in second language learners than if you a native speaker, but the more reports I have seen about this the more confusing the picture seems to be.

I suggest that you forget about the neurophysiological part of this and return to your basic wish, namely to separate the two languages. And writing each one with different hand might do the trick (though few people are so completely ambidextrous that they can write with equal ease with both hands). But it would probably work just as well always to study Spanish in your kitchen and Italian in your bedroom, or to study Italian on Mondays and Spanish on Wednesdays.

Personally I would prefer studying one of them until it has been stabilized (which isn't the same as learning to speak it even at a B1 og B2 level), and then add the other. But there are many ways to do this, and different people should probably do it in different ways.

Edited by Iversen on 12 August 2015 at 5:35pm

6 persons have voted this message useful



ExRN
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 3155 days ago

61 posts - 75 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, Spanish
Studies: Dutch

 
 Message 3 of 7
12 August 2015 at 2:00pm | IP Logged 
Iversen wrote:
It dedfintely is a weird question.

As for the labor division in the brain it is true that Broca's area and Wernicke's area are important for
language production, but these are usually placed in the left half and only there. Some rare persons may
have mirror images of the normal brain so that these centres are in the right half, though I don't remember
seeing this on print anywhere. But I definitely haven't seen any reference to people with those areas
duplicated. But the matter gets slightly more complicate when you consider that the specific language
areas aren't the only ones involved in speaking and writing. Quie generally patients with lesions in Broca
have trouble making the necessary sounds, whereas those with lesions in Wernicke can speak fluently, but
only speak rubbish. However foul words and other semi-linguistic utterances can be enunciated purely by
using the right half of the brain, using mechanisms that basically are non-linguistic.

OK, you want to separate Spanish and Italian by using the left vs. the right hand. But you will still use the
same Broca and the same Wernicke. However there are indications that for instance the vocabulary recall
functions for different languages can be located differently in second language learners than if you a
native speaker, but the more reports I have seen about this the more confusing the picure seems to be.

I suggest that you forget about the neurophysiological part of this and return to your basic wish, namely to
separate the two languages. And writing each one with different hand might do the trick (though few
people are so completely ambidextrous that they can write with equal ease with both hands). But it would
probably work just as well always to study Spanish in your kitchen and Italian in your bedroom, or to study
Italian on Mondays and Spanish on Wednesday.

Personally I would prefer studying one of them until it has been stabilized (which isn't the same as learning
to speak it even at a B1 og B2 level), and then add the other. But there are many ways to do this, and
different people should probably do it in different ways.


Thank you for such a definitive answer iverson. I lived in Spain for a while so I have a good grounding with
the language. I have looked at the basics of the Italian language, hence why I feel I could get a little
confusion . I like your kitchen and bedroom strategy! Good thinking that. I think I will be paying a visit to
the psychology department when I arrive to get an Fmri scan done. I have always been curious as to
whether I am one of those rare ten percenters. I was hoping to study both languages everyday as opposed
to alternative. Do you think that's a bad idea? AM/PM kind of affair. I also have German to learn up to B2,
granted it's not as higher level as the others but I will still need to budget some time for that one. I am not
overly concerned about confusing it with the romance ones though for obvious reasons. Don't think I could
have wrote it using my left foot anyway ;-)
1 person has voted this message useful





Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6463 days ago

9078 posts - 16473 votes 
Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan
Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 4 of 7
12 August 2015 at 5:35pm | IP Logged 
Studying the language on alternate dates would be both and easy way to keep the study sessions separate, and if you use a variety of study methods on each language on a given day you might prevent the boredom that could be the result of sticking to one language.

I have already noticed that you didn't fear mixing German into your pair of Romance languages, but if you make a plan for these two you should also take care not to leave German at the doorstep.
1 person has voted this message useful



ExRN
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 3155 days ago

61 posts - 75 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, Spanish
Studies: Dutch

 
 Message 5 of 7
12 August 2015 at 6:03pm | IP Logged 
Iversen wrote:

I have already noticed that you didn't fear mixing German into your pair of Romance languages, but if you
make a plan for these two you should also take care not to leave German at the doorstep.


There is method to my madness on that one Iverson. As already mentioned it won't get too confusing as if
studying a triplet of romances, there is FREE education in Germany (always good), it makes an excellent
bridge from my mother tongue to Dutch (my university city has a port with cheap connections) which in
turn would lead nicely to Afrikaans.

I feel lucky at 29 years of age to have finally found a way to pursue something I've always wanted. In the
forces I was given the chance to pursue Middle Eastern tongues but at the last minute I unfortunately
became sick and lost out there. Now I'm in the civilian world I can follow this through and make is my
meaning of life. <----- bit cheesy?
1 person has voted this message useful



Mork the Fiddle
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3729 days ago

86 posts - 159 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Norwegian, Latin, Ancient Greek

 
 Message 6 of 7
12 August 2015 at 7:18pm | IP Logged 
Welcome to HTLAL, ExRN. You seem born to be a language student, and you have thought through what you plan to do. Please report back here from time to time on your progress. Good luck!
1 person has voted this message useful



ExRN
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 3155 days ago

61 posts - 75 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, Spanish
Studies: Dutch

 
 Message 7 of 7
12 August 2015 at 7:34pm | IP Logged 
Cheers Mork the fiddle. I am just getting to grips with the forum but I will be making regular contributions.


1 person has voted this message useful



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