Does Learning a New Language Increase IQ?
Does learning a new language increase IQ? There's no clear evidence that it does. Researchers have argued for years about a "bilingual advantage" in attention and self-control, and the biggest recent reviews found that the advantage is small or absent once you account for weak studies. Learning a language does train real skills, though, especially verbal memory and attention to sound and grammar.
If you're learning a language partly to sharpen your thinking, it helps to know which reasoning skills are weak for you in the first place; IQ Tester shows you in two minutes. Find my weak spots
Short answer
Most sites answering this question are language apps or language coaches, and they naturally lean toward "yes." Here's the neutral version.
- Does learning a second language increase IQ? Not in a way research has clearly shown.
- Are bilingual people smarter? Not on average, according to the more careful studies.
- Does learning a new language make you smarter? It makes you better at that language, and it may help your understanding of how language works in general.
- Is it worth doing? Absolutely, for reasons that have nothing to do with IQ.
The bilingual advantage debate
The case for it
Psychologist Ellen Bialystok and others published influential studies suggesting that bilingual people, who constantly manage two languages, get extra practice at controlling attention and switching tasks. In some studies, bilinguals did better on tasks that require ignoring distractions.
This became known as the bilingual advantage, and it spread widely in the media.
The pushback
Other researchers tried to repeat the findings and often couldn't.
- Kenneth Paap and Zachary Greenberg (2013) tested bilinguals and monolinguals on several attention and control tasks and found no consistent advantage.
- Angela de Bruin and colleagues (2015) showed that studies finding a bilingual advantage were more likely to get published than studies that didn't, which can make an effect look stronger than it is.
- A 2018 meta-analysis by Minna Lehtonen and colleagues in Psychological Bulletin reviewed a large body of studies on adults and concluded there was no clear bilingual advantage in executive functions once publication bias was accounted for.
Where that leaves us
The debate isn't completely closed, but the current weight of evidence says: if there's a general thinking advantage from bilingualism, it's small and hard to detect. It's definitely not an IQ shortcut.
| Claim | What the evidence says |
|---|---|
| Bilinguals have better attention control | Mixed; large reviews find little or no advantage |
| Learning a language raises IQ | Not clearly shown |
| Learning a language improves that language | Yes, obviously |
| It builds knowledge of grammar and words | Yes |
| It helps with travel, friends, jobs, culture | Yes |
What language learning trains
Here are the benefits of learning a second language that are much less controversial.
Verbal memory
You memorize a lot of new words and phrases. Spaced review, like flashcards spread across days, is one of the best-supported study methods in all of learning research, and language learners use it constantly.
Listening and sound discrimination
Hearing the difference between sounds that don't exist in your first language is a real perceptual skill.
Grammar as a system
A new language makes you notice the rules of your own. Why does English put adjectives before nouns? Many learners say studying another language made their English grammar click.
Tolerance for confusion
Conversations in a new language are full of half-understood moments. Learning to keep going anyway is a useful life skill.
What about sign language?
Does learning sign language increase IQ? The same logic applies: no clear evidence for an IQ bump. It does train visual-spatial language skills, and it opens up communication with Deaf communities, which is its own great reason.
Verbal reasoning gains
There's one area where language learning likely helps: your understanding of words and language structure. Verbal reasoning questions on tests, like analogies and word relationships, reward people who think carefully about meaning.
To squeeze more verbal reasoning out of your study:
- Explain grammar rules in your own words. "In Spanish, adjectives usually come after the noun, except..." That's reasoning out loud.
- Compare word families. Notice how "information," "informar" and "informe" relate.
- Translate both ways. Going back into your first language shows you where meaning shifts.
- Spot the rule, then test it. When you see a new verb ending, guess the pattern before looking it up.
This overlaps with reading, which we cover in does reading increase IQ.
What it will not do
Learning a language is unlikely to:
- Improve your mental arithmetic
- Make you faster at shape or number patterns
- Fix a habit of rushing then freezing on timed tests
- Stretch your working memory for math-style multi-step problems
Here's where people get stuck: you can study a language for years and still not know whether your trouble on reasoning tests is working memory, pattern spotting or something else. You can't easily test yourself fairly across every kind of question.
IQ Tester does that step. Its 16 quick questions pin down which of 7 problems is yours, from putting reasoning into words to mental arithmetic, and then it gives you one tip and one 10-minute drill each day aimed at your weak spots. Find my weak spots
Learn it for the right reasons
So, does learning a new language increase IQ? Probably not, and that's fine. The best reasons to learn a language are the obvious ones:
- Talking to people you couldn't talk to before
- Enjoying music, shows and books in the original
- Travel, school and future job opportunities
- Connecting with family heritage
- The satisfaction of watching a skill grow
Language learning for teens: a quick plan
- 15 minutes a day of spaced vocabulary review.
- One real-world input per day: a song, a short video, a podcast clip.
- Speak out loud a little every day, even alone.
- One conversation a week with a tutor, classmate or language partner.
For more research-backed habits, see how to get smarter as a teenager and can IQ change over time.
Keep the language, target the reasoning
Keep learning your language for all the great reasons above. In the next two minutes, IQ Tester gives you a reasoning tier and names your weak spots, then starts a daily 10-minute drill across pattern, number, verbal and logic problems, with a streak to keep you consistent.
FAQ
Are bilingual people smarter?
Not on average, according to the more careful research. Early studies suggested bilinguals had better attention control, but larger reviews found little or no advantage once publication bias was considered.
Does learning a second language increase IQ in kids?
There's no clear evidence it raises IQ. Kids who learn a second language gain the language itself, plus useful knowledge of how grammar and words work, which are valuable on their own.
Does learning a language improve memory?
It gives your verbal memory a lot of practice, especially with spaced flashcard review. Whether that improves memory for unrelated things is less clear, since skills mostly stay close to what you practise.
Does learning a language increase IQ, according to Reddit?
Reddit threads are split between personal stories of feeling sharper and skeptics pointing to the research. The research leans skeptical on IQ gains, while agreeing the language skills themselves are real.
What is the best language to learn to get smarter?
No language has been shown to raise intelligence more than another. Pick the one you'll actually stick with, because consistency matters far more than which language you choose.