7 Advantages to learning a new language

Intro

Most of us are taught a second language during childhood. But as with many school subjects, we aren't always taught?why?we should learn it. As a result, for many students, learning French or Spanish or Japanese is simply about passing an exam — so it’s little surprise they stop learning as soon as they leave the examination hall.

But being able to speak a second language is one of the most useful skills anyone can have. Whatever stage you’re at in your life, a second language is useful in nearly every aspect of your lifestyle, from the shows you watch and the music you listen to, to the friends you make and even the way you think.

These seven advantages to learning a new language will show you why you should pick up a new language today — or carry on with one you left behind in the exam room — and take it towards fluency.

Boost your career prospects

Whatever your line of work, being able to say you’re fluent in more than one language looks great on your CV or resumé. When you consider that in the U.K., for instance,?only 6% of the population can speak a second language, being able to speak another language gives you a massive advantage over the other 94% in an increasingly competitive job market.

Of course, different professions place different degrees of importance on knowing a second language. For some jobs that involve translation or working with international collaborators, being bi- or polylingual is often a necessity, or if not can often lead to a special 'language bonus' on your salary. But even if language skills aren't relevant to the job you’re applying for, learning a second language is a fantastic way to demonstrate that you’re curious and industrious, and that you have the commitment and capability required to be an amazing employee.

Moreover, the skills used in learning a language are directly transferable to other employable talents, such as learning to code, solving complex problems and finding new ways to communicate with people.

Make New Friends

The world is a big place. Over 7,000 languages are currently spoken around the world, across an enormous range of countries, communities and societies. Indeed, the best way to immerse yourself in a different culture is often through the language.

While around?1.35 billion people can speak English, only around a quarter of that figure speak it as a native language.?Switching to a language in which your interlocutor is fluent, and in which they feel more comfortable,?allows them to be more open and articulate with you. It is also highly flattering, and a great opportunity to practise.

And that's to say nothing about the 80% of the world who don't speak English at all. Without a language in common, communicating and forging relationships with people — especially from different cultures — is extremely difficult, if not impossible. A second language can act as a bridge between worlds.

So whether it’s a lingua franca or a local dialect, learning a new language is the best way to meet and speak to people with whom you otherwise wouldn't get the chance.

Impress People

It isn’t just employers who will be amazed by your language skills. From friends and family to strangers and potential partners, the fact that you can speak a second language is sure to make a good impression.

While knowing a second language allows you to communicate with other speakers of the same language, you may also be seen as an authority on the language to those who do not speak it. People may ask you how to say certain things in your target language, or to translate things for them. The experiences you've been through while studying the language, and all you've learnt from it, provide innumerable topics for conversation — and opportunities to boast about your new skill.

Enjoy media in its original language

Watching a film in subtitles or dubbed is never as good as the real thing. Reading a book in translation means you’ll miss out on the cadences of the prose as it was originally written. Listening to a catchy song in a foreign language might perk up your mood — but it's twice as good if you know what they're singing about.

When you understand the language, you experience things as they were meant to be experienced, whether it's literature, music, TV or any other form of media or entertainment. And even though more media is translated now than ever, it remains the case that most books and a huge proportion of visual and audio media have never left their original language. As a result, the only way to enjoy them properly is to learn the language they were created in. In turn, consuming media in another language — even if it's translated from your first language — is a great way to learn passively, while doing something you enjoy.

Discover a new way of looking at the world

Language plays a significant role in how we perceive the world. It’s how we communicate, and how we interpret the world around us, from restaurant menus to signposts to this very blog. It forms the medium through which we articulate our thoughts, and it’s always there in the background, even when we don’t want it to be. In fact,?research suggests that the average person hears up to 30,000 words in the course of a single day!

From the words and expressions we use to the way we position subjects and objects in an average sentence, language influences these thoughts and interactions, and using a different language consequently opens up new ways of thinking and interacting with the world. Did you know, for instance, that Hindi has several dozen words for family members, from 'father's younger brother' to 'daughter's son'? That many East Asian languages don't use tenses? And that in Chinese, 4 is an unlucky number because it sounds similar to the word for death?

Even the subtle differences between languages like English and French can have a huge impact on your relationship with your acquaintances, your surroundings and more abstract ideas.

Regardless of the language,?studies suggest that shifting your thoughts to a second language also makes you think more rationally. This is because the areas of your brain that you activate when you think in a second language, mainly in the prefrontal cortex, are the same ones used in rational thinking. But that isn't the only reason learning a new language makes you smarter...

Take your brain to the next level

Learning a language requires a number of skills, and it's easy to forget that brainpower is only as important as the time, discipline and practice you put into studying.

But while you don't need to be clever to learn a new language, the good news is that learning a language can make you cleverer!

Besides equipping you with an entirely new vocabulary and — as mentioned above — a new way of looking at the world,?studies have shown that learning a language — at any point in your life — helps prevent cognitive decline as you age, and can even stave off dementia. The puzzle-solving nature of learning a language also does wonders for your attention span and your analytical abilities — a skill you may find yourself using in all aspects of life.

From Leo Tolstoy and Arthur Schopenhauer to Trevor Noah and Shakira, it's little wonder that many of the smartest people in the world were polyglots. You can be too!

Jump ahead to a third language

Speaking of polyglots...why stop at language no. 2?

Okay, maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Learning a new language can be a daunting experience, and reaching fluency requires a huge investment in time and effort. So it stands to reason that learning a third language on top of that would be twice as difficult, and take twice as long.

However,?studies suggest that this isn’t the case. In fact, the more experience you have studying languages, the more intuitive the process becomes. Understanding the fundamentals of grammar and syntax becomes second nature, meaning that the fourth language you choose to learn is even easier than the third — and the fifth is even easier than the fourth!

Of course, this probably won’t be at the top of your priorities if you're just starting off. And it must be said that it depends on the language — some are more difficult than others, and spotting patterns is considerably easier when your target languages are related (for instance, French and Italian, or Turkish and Arabic). But just remember that while it might be difficult now, it only gets easier — and that all the benefits that come with learning a second language are multiplied for each one you have in your arsenal.