Being a native English speaker might make you confident that you don’t need to learn another language.
After all, English is the most dominant language in the world.
With 1.5 billion people speaking it, it is the second most spoken language worldwide, Mandarin being the most used one.
However, 55.7% of the internet is in English. Nothing comes close.
With Mandarin, the direct competitor for the most important language, only making up 3.3%.
These are pretty impressive numbers. But still, there are many Benefits to be gained from learning an additional foreign language.
In this article, I will list and explain the major ones in detail.
Benefits of learning a language
Never was learning a new language easier than in today’s society.
Books, blogs, articles, guides, videos, dictionaries, and more provide the perfect feeding ground to turn bilingual.
Most of it on the internet free of charge or for very little money.
As you can see, there are no excuses left not to pick up a new language, guys!
Increasing Cultural Awareness
Learning a new language will bring you closer to your culture of choice.
While there are other ways to get to know a culture, there is no way to learn the in’s and out’s without immersing yourself in the respective language.
This has a couple of reasons.
First of all, some words, while having a direct translation, do not quite convey the same message as you would think they do.
They are symbolic in their own way. The way people use them, and what they use them for, its unique to their culture and history.
This is one of the reasons why in Germany, you might hear the occasional “fuck” as a curse word, instead of the direct German translation “fick”.
To be precise, the German translation is associated with another context in this example, even if the literal meaning stays the same.
Someone saying “fick” might therefore get a different reaction than someone saying “fuck”.
Moreover, there are things, traditions, dances, music instruments, or anything else you can think of that are unique to this one culture.
Therefore, there is no need to have an English translation for it. In the English culture, it simply does not exist.
On top of that, there is big chance that this special thing, sounds, feels, and even looks somewhat close to what it resembles.
Attributes that would be lost when literally translating.
Getting to know these new things might spark interest and excitement in you. Possibly even letting you discover a new passion.
Furthermore, it lets you understand the motives of the people coming from that culture.
If a German knows that Spanish people are not as serious with punctuality as Germans, he can adjust his expectations and behaviour.
Something that could change the trajectory of that relationship.
To signify, cultural awareness is an important skill in the increasingly international society.
Understanding motives and taking a look at the bigger picture will make sure you don’t get stuck in repetitive and outdated thought patterns and opens your horizon in general.
It improves your Professional Relevance
As already mentioned, the society and economy is going trough intensive internationalisation.
This means on one hand, that more and more people aquire a good level of English.
On the other hand you, me, and anyone else is more likely to get in touch with people who do not speak English as their mothertongue.
While its true that most people should have a sufficient skill of English, just because of the sheer importance of the language, it doens’t rule out that learning foreign languages can be extremely helpful.
For one, speaking in someone else’s native language makes them more comofrtable, and instantly makes for a good first impression.
Not only do you allow him to stay within his comfort-zone, you also step outside of yours. Something easy to respect and even admire.
Any blunders in the conversation will therefore easily be ignored in company of a smile, or even help to break the ice.
Additionally, shining with a decent level or italian, spanish, or whatever else in your next job interview might give you the edge over other competitors.
Since it is not a secret that there is more and more cross-culture communication, employers search for people with unique abilities and assets to the company.
Being that one guy that speaks Italian can consequently upgrade your value significantly because all of a sudden, the whole company is able to communicate in Italian with potential business partners and customers.
Even more impressive might not be speaking the language itself, but the journey you took to get there.
Learning something so complex and demanding shows a great deal of percevierance, tenacity, discipline, and willpower.
It highlights your work ethic and that you finish things once you have started them.
All of these are tremendously attractive attributes in the workforce.
It opens up possibilities
Its a simple concept.
Once you know a language, you naturally feel more confident to go to a country and talk with the native people.
It makes vacations and even moving to said country so much easier, since the language barrier is something that holds many people from starting a new life in another country.
Supplementing the new-found confidence, talking to native people is an experience noone should miss out on.
It widens your horizon, again, increases your cultural awareness, and just brings so much value.
These people have entirely different backgrounds. They have grown up in a different society, with different values, norms, and laws.
Getting a peak into their lifes can be extremely educating and exciting!
To round off the experience, you might gain new best friends, business partners, or even your future soulmate!
Since employers are not the only ones who can appreciate someone who speaks multiple languages, people from all over the world will be impressed if you talk to them in their language.
Which makes making friends and making a good impression that much easier.
It also shows that you are probably able to do the trick again, learning maybe even another language.
Something that makes you attractive to people even if you don’t know their specific mothertongue.
-Nelson Mandela
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
It Improves your Brain Structure
Besides the numerous societal and personal benefits that come with learning a language, your brain will thank you for it, too!
After all, the brain is arguable the biggest asset we have.
It stores our experiences, knowledge, and controls our body alike.
When learning a second, third, or foruth language, the brain’s connection get strenghtened, while new ones get added.
This disproves the assumption that brains cannot be changed in older years.
Making it possible even for eldery people to positively influence the anatomy of their brains.
Additionally, learning and knowing multiple languages helps your brain to age slower. Resulting in higher cognitive abilities in older ages, and, more importantly, preventing or delaying the development of mental diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Pushing back these mental illnesses is certainly very desirable, as I feel like everyone dreads the mental restrictions that are associated with a ripe old age.
To put the cherry on the cake, here is a list of other improvements that result from being billingualHave higher general intelligence
- Improves creativity
- Increases mental flexibility
- Upgrades decision-making
- Better focus
- Higher attention span
- Make better financial decisions
- Improving memory
As you can see, a lot of key functions are improved.
In fact, you could compare learning another language with recieving an upgrade for your hardware and software at the same time.
Sounds more exciting than the experiences we remember from being forced to practice boring and repetitive poems in school, right?
Learning one language improves the others
Because you get more familiar with the way languages are composed, you gain more insights into grammar and vocabulary you don’t usually use in your mother tongue.
While a specific word might not see much use in your native language, perhaps it is a staple in another.
Therefore, the more you talk in foreign languages, and the higher your fluency is, the wider your range of active and passive vocabulary becomes.
Having a bigger vocabulary is certainly very atractive, since it enables you to express yourself more precise and accurate.
It will also simply make you sound smarter, better informed, and educated.
Actually, throwing back to the structural changes antother language provokes in your brain, it not only makes you sound smarter, it literally makes you smarter, too.
What a fortunate combination!
Take away
In conclusion, there is no ground for discussion whether it is worth it to learn another language or not.
It will positivley influence your life in every aspect imaginable.
- It will make you more attractive privatley and professionaly
- Change your brain for the better
- Open up new and exciting possibilities in the trajectory of your life
- Upgrade countless skills
It can be your X factor.
Your reason to get the job instead of otherwise equally qualified competition,
Set you up for success in business and relationship,
it can let you discover new passions, while it can be the reason you connected to your future wife, best friend or business partner upon meeting them for the very first time.
So, if you are interested in obtaining all these benefits, elevating you to the next level, start today!
Don’t know what to start with? or still have respect for the difficulty of the task?
Here is a list of the approximated time you have to commit to achieving general professional proficiency in reading and writing for the most popular languages. The ranking is based on the viewpoint of a native English speaker.
Any questions or experiences regarding language learning? Hit us up on social media or leave a comment below to partake in the conversation!
Thanks for reading guys!
Matthis.
