Learning another language will change your life

Calling all language learners and teachers. It’s time we let everyone in on something that a lot of us have known for a long time. That learning additional languages will bring you benefits beyond the actual language itself. And today at Pearson, we are excited to launch the Global Scale of Languages so that more learners and teachers can share in these benefits. But first, here’s my own story about why I feel so passionate about language learning. ?

Let me take you back to the summer of 1982, to a small town in the north of England. A (much!) younger Mike had just finished A Levels and was preparing to go to university. The following conversation takes place with a family friend:?

“So, what are you going to study at university?”?

“French and German.”?

“Really? Do you want to be a teacher?”?

“Not especially.”?

“A translator?”?

“I don’t think so.”?

[Family friend looks at parents] “What use is that degree going to be to him?”?

Fast-forward 40 years, and a conversation with a friend about her daughter’s choices for university.?

“She’s decided to do Spanish.”?

“Oh wow – a fellow linguist.”?

“Yeah - but she’s doing it with business studies. Something useful.”?

Seriously? Do we still feel that learning languages isn’t valuable? Especially if you speak English as your first language? No one questions the value of learning English as a Foreign Language. It’s the language of business, a key language of education, it creates opportunities for a better life. But what about other languages? Are they not “useful” too??

Try typing “benefits of learning a language” into any search engine and you’ll hopefully see the value in learning another language. I wish I’d known all of these benefits when asked about my choices – but we didn’t have search engines in the 1980s! Research into learning a second or additional language has shown that it rewires your brain, increases your memory and your attention span, improves your critical thinking skills, makes you a better negotiator... I could go on. It has also been shown to have health benefits and can delay the onset of dementia. And the great news is that you can start learning a language at any age for these changes to your brain to occur – and you don’t need to be fluent. The mere fact of learning another language – at any level – will help you reap the benefits.?

If I’m honest, my key motivation for learning French was a dream to live in France – having fallen in love with the country on a school trip. Being able to speak other languages opens up new cultures, new friendships and gives you insights into those cultures that you don’t get if you don’t speak the language. I still remember the day in 1984 when I made a group of fellow teachers laugh in French. (As in, I was speaking French – a French laugh is pretty much the same as an English one!) That felt like a pivotal moment in my language learning journey – integration into a new community.?

So yes, I did end up teaching – but English in France, not French in England – and eventually left the profession to go into publishing. For the past ten or so years, I’ve been working on frameworks, tools and resources to support learners and teachers of English as a Foreign Language. If you haven’t seen all the resources we have produced for the Global Scale of English (GSE), take a look at The Global Scale of English - English language learning | Pearson Languages.??

When I was teaching, we didn’t have the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) - a publication that has had a significant impact on the teaching and assessment of languages in Europe and around the world. Our goal with the GSE was to extend the CEFR to include more learners – those studying English for Academic or Professional purposes, Young Learners and Pre-Primary Learners. As part of that goal, we wanted to motivate learners and teachers by being able to demonstrate progress to them on a regular basis. The GSE now underpins all products and services created by the Pearson English Language Learning division.????

At various points over these past ten years, I've been asked if we have developed similar resources for teachers of other languages. The answer has always been, sadly, no. For years, publishers and other organisations around the world have invested heavily in English as Foreign Language - because of the huge demand and commercial viability. Other languages did not see so much investment of time or resources.?

Until today – European Day of Languages – and the launch of Pearson’s Global Scale of Languages. We have taken our learnings and expertise, developed on the GSE project, and applied them to other languages. Today we are delighted to launch the frameworks that support the Global Scale of Spanish, French and Italian – with more languages to follow over the coming months and years.??

To find out more about this project, and to download the free frameworks for adult learners, please visit https://www.pearson.com/languages/why-pearson/the-global-scale-of-english/the-global-scale-of-languages.html.?