Importance of Learning a Foreign Language

Learning multiple languages helps the brain to nurture, and makes it easier to learn and understand new languages. It is all about learning how to truly communicate and connect with others which add an important life skill that can only be cultivated by interacting with people.

The reasons for learning a new language are varied, but the importance of learning foreign languages is universal: it will always benefit you in one way or another. These are some of the reasons why learning a new language is important.

1. Foreign language study grows your brain:

One of the most beneficial things that come from learning a second language is your brain will become more active. Studies have shown that bilinguals tend to have bigger brains, better memories, are more creative, and better problem solvers.

2. Opens up a world of job opportunities:

Learning a foreign language can improve your employment prospects. More companies than ever are doing business in several—often dozens of—countries around the world, but they can’t do it without hiring people who have a grasp on at least one foreign language. Even in small, local companies, chances are that the ability to speak a second language will set you apart from other applicants.

3. Travel becomes cheaper and easier:

 Knowing the language of the region you are traveling in, helps you in having a more immersive experience. Knowing more than one language opens up your vacation destination possibilities. Traveling through a foreign country becomes much easier if you can speak the language of that country. Speaking a foreign language opens up a massive pool of potential friends, helps express our feelings, desires, and connects with other humans around us and forms meaningful relationships.

4. Makes you more open-minded:

Foreign language study is simply part of a very basic liberal education. To educate is to lead out—to lead out of confinement and narrowness and darkness. Learning a foreign language and getting soaked into an entirely new culture and worldview is the surest way to become an open-minded, understanding, tolerant individual, and that is absolutely priceless.

5. Increases cultural awareness:

 Learning a new language increases cultural awareness and allows you to communicate with different people. All good methods of learning languages also entail learning about another culture, especially when your language skills get to a higher level. This awareness allows people from different nationalities and religions to get along with each other better, which is very important given the high levels of immigration. Many countries with high immigration levels have trouble with a lack of integration, and this is often because of the language barrier, so people end up being segregated, staying in communities where their own language is spoken. Even those that say they don’t care about meeting people of other cultures will have noticed these problems and should accept the importance of learning other languages.