Researchers Find Dogs Can Distinguish Between Languages – Nozomi Tahara

Laura V. Cuaya at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest is one of researchers and had led to study about the difference between different languages from dogs. Because she moved to Hungary from Mexico a few years ago and brought her dog Kun-kun with her.

Then, she wondered whether her dog noticed that people in Budapest spoke a different language, Hungarian.

  At first, for their study, the researchers played recordings of the story "The Little Prince" in both Spanish and Hungarian to a group of 18 dogs. Then they examined how the animals’ brains reacted. In addition, her dog and other dogs were trained to lie down in a brain scanner for several minutes during the experiment.

    Next, every dog in the study had heard only one of two languages spoken by their owners - either Hungarian or Spanish. Then they compared how their dogs brains reacted to a highly familiar language and to a completely unfamiliar one. The dogs listened to parts of “The Little Prince” in Spanish and Hungarian. They also played scrambled versions of the story to test if dogs could hear the difference between speech and non-speech.

  Then, when comparing brain reactions, they found clear activity in the dogs’ primary auditory – or hearing – area of the brain. That suggested that they can distinguish between speech and non-speech.

  Finally, they found that the dogs’ secondary auditory area is for understanding complex sounds. She said that the study found for the first time that a non-human brain can “distinguish languages.” Raul Hernandez-Perez is a co-writer of the study, and he said that when dogs live with humans, they can learn patterns of the language they hear. Thus she said that dogs could understand the differences in how the two languages are spoken. Needless to say, they also found that the older the dogs were, the better they were able to distinguish between the two languages.

  At the end of it, I found that dogs can understand the differences in how the two languages are spoken even if they live various places. I mean, dogs are smart (intelligent) and good adaptability. In some instances they also become a therapy dog, and they will help to effect allay a patient's anxiety. On the other hand, the other study found no clear benefit from the therapy dogs. The media, however, reported that the study did find benefits. As a result, people might think animal therapy affects long-term human health more than it does. To live together with dog in our life, it may have good point, but also may have bad point. That said, dogs dispensable presence for us, we need work together for mutual harmony and benefit.