Chinese more 'brainy' than English

Researchers in England have discovered that some languages seem to require much more thought than others. Specifically, Mandarin Chinese engages both hemispheres of the brain to process while decoding English is strictly a left-brain affair.

The reason's simple: Mandarin, like all Chinese dialects, relies heavily on intonation to determine a word's meaning. Identifying which of Mandarin's four tones is being used is a right-brain function.

The story was picked up by the Reuters news service so you'll see it all over the Web today, but I think the most entertainingly breathless writeup is at the UK Guardian:

"It's official: Chinese is more difficult than English.

"The Chinese need both sides of the brain to grapple with challenges of Mandarin, but English speakers listen with only half their minds on the job."