Dr. Suzanne Flynn's speech given to members of the Hippo Family Club in Tokyo, Japan in May 2008.

From a very, very early age as a child I was fascinated by the fact that people spoke other languages. And I was most fascinated by the fact that people could speak more than one language.

I grew up in a family that was essentially monolingual English, but had grandparents that spoke more than one language. But we were not allowed to speak them because everyone wanted to assimilate and become very "American," and being very American meant speaking only in English. And I always thought that that was a tremendous, tremendous loss, and I was always disappointed in the monolingualism in the U.S. So I made it a lifetime career and did my research and continue to do research to understand: is it impossible to learn a new language throughout one's lifetime? Is it possible to learn a new language after age 10, for example? So I set about trying to research that and I wanted to tell you six basic things that I learned and I wanted to share with you. You will probably be able to understand and identify with them, or already know what I am going to tell you.

1. First of all, we know that human language is a unique human ability. Its truly, truly unique. It separates us from all of the other species in this world.

2. The second thing is that multilingualism, as somebody said earlier, is the natural state. The human capacity for language is infinite! There is no upper limit in terms of, oh, I can only learn three languages. Or I can't learn more than two because it means that I won't speak any one very well. It's not the case. Your capacity is infinite to learn a million languages, although there are not a million languages to learn.

3. Number three is everyone can learn a new language. If you learned your first language, you have the ability to learn many other subsequent languages. There is no such thing as a critical period where after some age I can't learn a new language. This you will notice.

4. The easiest way to learn a new language is in a naturalistic setting. And settings that simulate or can get as close as possible to the conditions that a young child learns a first language are the best ways to learn a new language. You get encouragement, you hear lots of natural speech, its not pressured, no one is giving you a grade. Those are the best ways to learn.

5. The other thing we learned is that the more languages you know, the easier it gets. Because you can build. Languages differ in only a finite number of ways, a very limited number of ways. Once you have learned a certain range of languages, every other language is just sort of a clone or a variation on a language that you already know. And, we know really that there is only one human language. Right?

6. And, the other piece of this that isn't directly from my research, but is that the more languages you learn, the smaller the world gets, and the greater your understanding of the world and its people.

Okay, so this is what I've learned after my over 30 years of research in the area. And I was very surprised to learn two years ago when Elizabeth first contacted me that these are the same principles that underlie the Hippo program. Right? I had no idea.

The Hippo program that Mr. Dr. Yo, I will call him, already had the insight and the brilliance to understand this and now we have the research, the empirical research that supports exactly what it is that he is trying to do. And you are all a testimony to that fact, right?

So let me just tell you a few other things that you may or may not know-some of the other wonderful consequences that follow from being a multilingual. It increases your intelligence. We know that. People who are multilingual, on the whole, are better at abstract thinking. They do better in math. They can deal with figurative languages a lot better. And that is something that holds even when you begin to learn a new language at age 90. Your attention, your ability to focus, your ability to stay on target is much better when you are a multilingual. You can hear somebody, you know how to fade out other noise. Also, we know that it helps you age. You are less inclined to get dementia. For some reason, we don't know why that is the case but with continued practice with multi languages is a very, very good antidote to aging in terms of your cognition. So those are the things I have learned that I think Hippo incorporates. So what you have in Hippo is the best, the perfect example, of what it is that, if I had to put together a program, this is the kind of program that I would put together. It's just extraordinary. And what I am most impressed about from all of my meetings is the unity that you create with the learning of new languages, and how open and compassionate each of you are. It's very, very impressive. And how open you are. And I think the openness of the community and your ability to accept each and every one of you, also goes a long, long way then in terms of your tolerance for others that don't know a language as well, but also beyond that. It builds your confidence, not only in your ability to try new languages, but it builds your ability in other areas as well. Your self-esteem is enhanced because you are a member of this group.

I want to just say, thank you, thank you, thank you for allowing me this opportunity to participate in these activities. And really what we have here, I keep saying extraordinary, but I can't think of a better word, it really, really is extraordinary. And you are very, very special people for being a part of this program. So continue with that.

Gracias, Chay Chay, Merci, and Arigatou Gozaimas!