We live in a hyper-connected, fast-paced world, and things are not going to change anytime soon. Now, as the world becomes more and more connected through technological advances, it is becoming increasingly apparent that learning another language is beneficial for many reasons. Studies have shown that learning languages are good for you, and it is a great skill.
Learning new languages activates the grey cells and broadens the mind because it helps you understand that people from different cultures think differently. Learning a new language also opens up the gateway to the culture related to that language. It makes you more interested and enthusiastic to learn about cultures, traditions, and people in short. It is evident that you can learn about cultures and traditions separately, but knowing that language helps you have an impactful experience. This makes you more open-minded and accepting of others. Learning languages inspires you to become a good person. It may become a source of tolerance and solidarity. It even helps you understand more people, especially when refugees seeking help are denied. You learn to understand people and their emotions. Learning new languages would lead to a better world.
It is also good for your brain because it improves your general intelligence. This helps you to remember better and notice things. Apparently, it makes you better at making decisions, and it has even been shown that it helps people avoid dementia. The part of the brain responsible for problem-solving and learning starts to work proficiently when it starts switching between languages. According to doctors, "the language centers in the brain are so flexible, learning a second language can develop new areas of your mind and strengthen your brain's natural ability to focus, entertain multiple possibilities, and process information"
Language degrees get you jobs. A really high percentage of language graduates walk straight into good positions. They are more likely to get a good job quickly than students of other subjects, partly because with languages, you learn all manner of transferable skills. As the world becomes more connected day by day, the demand for multilingual candidates keeps on increasing as well as their salaries. Being able to speak more than one language brings on many opportunities with it, for example, in marketing, education, law, communication, etc.
Learning languages connects you with people. You can become a part of a larger community by learning a language. In short, learning different languages makes you a better global citizen.
Moreover, learning a language makes traveling and exploring fun and easier. If you are a person who loves to travel, then learning a new language would become very exciting for you. It would help you experience traveling like never before. This is because you can converse with people around you rather than understand their gestures. You would know what is going on around you, what people are trying to say, what food you are ordering without the need to point at pictures of the food, and most importantly, people would not be able to prank you, etc.
To preserve heritage, language plays an important role. More than 6000 languages are present today. By the end of the century, half of these languages will disappear. Only one-third of the world languages have writing systems which mean that not all of them can be preserved by writing. Hence language is the only way of saving this culture. Trying to learn a minority language can help its preservation as well as the culture that is associated with it. This is because when a language becomes extinct, so does its culture and body language.
You can try to learn a new language by yourself. Start by taking lectures on YouTube or any other platform where it is easily available. After that, try reading children's books in that language for example Chinese reader 2000 words. Finally, try practicing that language as much as possible in public without hesitating. This would help you boost your confidence.
Moreover, try speaking it in front of a native speaker. This could help you in improving your pronunciation and your body language. Furthermore, try to understand the media of the foreign language. For example, watch movies with subtitles, listen to songs and try learning their lyrics.
Some functional languages that you can learn are English, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, French, German, Portuguese, and Russian. These languages have a worldwide demand that can help you in many ways.
As listed, there are massive benefits of learning a new language. Most importantly, it can be very advantageous for your career, helping you build a bright future. I think all the benefits of learning a new language would be enough to convince you to give it a try. Nothing is complicated. It just requires time. Providing an adequate amount of time to learn can help you be fluent in a language really fast.
