It is therefore very good for your brain to speak in dialect
I speak very boring, just simple, normal Dutch. I have been living in Amsterdam for quite a few years, but to say that I speak with a thick accent like a true Mokum? Nah.
Still, I should have focused more on those dialects, because it turns out it would be quite good for your brain. People who master more languages have a more flexible brain and are better equipped to resist developing Alzheimer's. This has been known for a while, but it was recently discovered that this also applies to people who speak in a regional language. That rural Brabants or that grumpy Frisian: it is so awkward not yet. Although no one in the Randstad understands you: at least your brain is fit. And all that thanks to your own, sweet little language from your hometown.
People who master two or more languages or speak in dialect have better ‘executive functions’. This is a term from neuropsychology, but those functions mean that you are better at maintaining attention, suppressing impulses to suppress, making plans, solving problems, and remembering things. You master the ability to express yourself in a different language than the one in which you think or dream. Not entirely unimportant in your career and private life, right? Bilingual toddlers already score better on various IQ tests, and older adults become demented four years later if they speak a dialect or a foreign language fluently. It is due to what they call ‘code switching’: you actually switch between those languages in your head all the time. This also happens when you are somewhere and speaking English, for example. You translate and quickly search for words in your brain, usually Boca's area is used for this, where your language ability resides. If you unconsciously teach yourself this, your brain becomes fitter and faster by the day.
I actually find it quite fun, because speaking in dialect is not held in high regard. We laugh a bit about it. We stammer: ‘What do you say?’ when we hear someone from the east of the country rambling. We don't understand expressions from the Brabanders like ‘if you just let it’ or ‘That's a nice little place’, and well, we mainly find it funny during carnival, but not so much the rest of the year. We insist that we all have to speak proper Dutch so that we are neatly understood in twelve provinces. Well, not really: embrace your roots. Talk to your moeke or your pake in a nice flat way.
And if you, like me, are very boring and have absolutely no dialect: don't worry. You can always take a Latin lesson, although absolutely no one will understand you if you speak it out loud. Not even in Brabant.
Source: The Knowledge of Now
