When Ebrahim developed Alzheimer's Disease, for example, he'd been living in the UK for many years. Gradually his fluent English faded and he reverted to his mother tongue, Farsi - which made things tricky for his English-speaking family who were caring for him. Two decades on,his son, the journist and author David Shariatmadari, seeks answers to his fathers experience of language loss. What can neuroscience reveal about dementia, ageing, and language changes? Why are some aspects of language more vulnerable than others - and importantly, what are the best approaches to communicating with someone living with dementia?
David reflects on archive recordings of his Dad, and speaks to a family in a similar situation to theirs, to compare the ways they tried to keep communication alive. And he discovers there are actually clear benefits when it comes to dimentia: jiggling two or more languages can delay the onset of symptoms by around four years. So while losing one of his languages posed practical difficulties for Ebrahim, it's possible that by speaking two languages in the first place, he was able to spend more valuable lucid years with his family.
If you change English for Farsi as my mother tongue and French for English as my second language, the circumstances described above correspond exactly to my own situation.
More to follow.
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