The benefits of learning different languages have been observed by psychologists all over the world. Learning new words, constructing new grammatical sentences can indeed change the way you perceive everyday life and can improve your performance at work. In some cases, the gap between the new language and the mother tongue becomes completely blurred and eventually transform itself into Bilingualism. 

That is indeed my case! I was born in Italy, Italian is my first language, so I speak it with all my relatives and especially my parents. However, I have been living in the UK since I was 21 years old, therefore English is now slowly, but not that slowly, becoming my ‘everyday spoken language’.  It’s hard for me to differentiate English and Italian at this point. For example, when I write down my food shopping list, I have stopped thinking about translating from Italian to English, I just write it in English. Sometimes I write it in Italian too! But that’s just because you can’t translate mozzarella, right??!!! 

The point is, speaking a different language everyday will become part of your brain without you realising it. When the lines are completely blurred, it means that you have reached a native proficiency level.  Studies have shown that learning and speaking a new language does not only represent a personal change in habits (my shopping list) but it can also trigger different cognitive parts of the brain. 

For instance, it is believed that people speaking a second language at work will have a sort of an emotional distance that can often translate into a more pragmatic and analytical approach. We are basically heartless!  But we do exercise the brain a little more. It benefits the memory. When memorising words, sentences, grammatical rules, the memory improves as it’s constantly ‘under pressure’. When learning a new language you become more aware of the language and the way it can be structured and manipulated. 

If I relate this research to my experience here at TINKER TAYLOR I can definitely confirm - it is like that!  Speaking different languages at work has definitely broadened my knowledge of the business and enabled me to add value to the business in ways I could not have imagined.  I have been back to Italy (to my home town) to shoot a film for our client Alantra.  A crew of three flew over from England and shot some beautiful interviews, some in Italian, some in English. I interviewed Pinarello supremo, Fausto Pinarello. It was a dream come true!  Shortly after the film was finished, TINKER TAYLOR had another European shoot for Alantra, this time just outside Paris.  

I have been working at TINKER TAYLOR for almost a year and it has been an amazing experience. Speaking to clients in Italian, Spanish and English, working on projects in Mandarin, Danish and German - my "bilingual brain" has benefited me and my team!