In order to learn a new language, you have to empty the mind and listen very carefully. A facility for achieving this type of mind – heart signature or orientation, is what accounts for the positive indication in many other areas of life.
What brain research will inevitably be able to describe, in the coming future years, is that everyone, no matter what language you speak, experiences feelings that are pre-verbal and which give rise to concepts we call words. If you can still the noise and motions (citta vritti nirodhah) (in otherwords, YOGA) then you can more perfectly “hear” and “feel” the thought stream in the other individual and by so doing be able to completely replicate that state in your own heart/mind. Then, you can hear and understand their language more easily, in addition to understand idiomatic phrases and so forth.
The best example of what I’m talking about I observed in The 13th Warrior, where the main character played by Banderras, listens to his Viking hosts very carefully and eventually, just by listing like this, hears them, and understands them.
This is a siddhi mentioned in the yoga literature as well, the ability to hear and perceive like this. I believe that Eliade addresses this in one of his books.
“The research report brings forth six main areas where multilingualism and hence the mastery of complex processes of thought seem to put people in advantage. These include learning in general, complex thinking and creativity, mental flexibility, interpersonal and communication skills, and even a possible delay in the onset of age-related mental diminishment later in life,” Jyvaskyla University Continuing Professional Development Center specialized planner David Marsh explains. The expert has been in charge of coordinating the international team of scientists that has carried out the study.
via Multilingualism Has Positive Effects on Thinking – It also benefits the brain – Softpedia.
