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Early exposure to two languages gives bilingual speakers a huge advantage when learning a new language, a new study from Northwestern University shows.

The study used three groups of native English-speakers: English-Spanish bilinguals, English-Mandarin bilinguals, and English monolinguals. When each group was asked to master a set of words in an invented language that had no similarities to either Spanish or Mandarin, the two bilingual groups learned nearly twice as many words as the monolingual speakers.

Researchers think this adeptness translates to strengths in other types of language learning and verbal capacities.

The study has important implications for educators who are considering the appropriate age at which to introduce foreign language instruction as well as for parents who in increasing numbers have an option to enroll their children in dual language immersion programs.

“We’re seeing that exposure to two languages early in life carries far-reaching benefits,” said co-author Kaushanskaya. “Our research tells us that children who grow up with two languages wind up being better language learners later on.”

Despite the benefits of early childhood language instruction, some parents fear that a second language will distract or confuse their child. However, this article suggests that do bilingual children are actually better able to ignore irrelevant information than non-bilinguals when learning a second language.

This set of studies adds to comparable language acquisition research, some of which suggests that the onset of Alzheimer’s in bilinguals is delayed by four years compared to monolinguals.

Related article: Speaking more than one language may slow the aging process in the brain.