Knowable Magazine Streamed live on Sep 15, 2021 For many stuck in Covid lockdowns, learning a new language offered respite — and possibly gave their brains a boost. Studies find that actively speaking two languages later in life may help to delay the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s and other kinds of dementia. Research also suggests that children who grow up using two languages do better on standardized tests than their monolingual peers. But in many places bilingualism is not always valued. In the United States, for example, white, affluent English speakers are often encouraged to learn a second language, yet many people in poor, minority or indigenous communities are actively discouraged from speaking anything other than English. Join us for a discussion with two leading experts on bilingualism’s role in cognition and how speaking multiple languages may be lauded or frowned on depending on the societal context. Speakers: -Uju Anya, Carnegie Mellon University -Judith Kroll, UC Irvine Moderator: -Rachel Ehrenberg, Associate Editor, Knowable Magazine