Learning a new language can seem like a chore to most people: you have to memorize vocabulary, understand conjugations, and learn accent and tone. And indeed, whether it is for a class, in which your grade is on the line, or it is so you can commune with your neighbor, the process of separating yourself from your “base” language is not an easy one. However, one cannot dispute the benefits of adding another language to their repertoire. If you are not sure about the advantages, look no further as I will highlight some benefits of learning a foreign language.
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1. Cultural Immersion
When you learn a new language, it is not just blobs of words and rules that aggregate in your mind, it is the new set of eyes that helps you become aware of other cultures in the world. I can say that through my years taking French in middle school and high school, I have learned about fashion, food, tourism, and celebrations that are in France. Although there is still so much I have not seen or heard about, it has been great seeing what another culture does and values.
In life, there will always be moments where you have to step out into the unknown. It is inevitable and imperative, for new experiences are what truly makes life interesting.
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2. Improves Your Cognitive Abilities
There have been multiple studies comparing how bilingual and monolingual subjects perform in a given task. In a study about 7-month bilingual infants, it was found that the bilinguals grasped new information and stimulus quicker, being able to make accurate predictions for the given task, while the monolinguals did not learn the new response. The researchers attribute this discrepancy to the fact that knowing 2 languages as opposed to 1 improves one's executive function performance. “Executive functions (EF) refer to mechanisms involved in conflict monitoring, planning, attentional control, and the suppression (inhibition) of habitual responses.”
For those who have learned a 2nd language, these results may not seem as surprising. Almost every component of the learning process exercises our cognitive skills in some way. Memorizing new vocabulary is not just a matter of testing yourself over and over; it forces you to draw connections in your mind, to make the unfamiliar seem familiar. Understanding new grammatical structures cannot be mastered just through passive learning; you must harness both your pen and your mouth.
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3. You Will Have Fun!
Last but not least, it is having fun! It is especially awesome if you get to go through the process with friends. You can laugh off your butchered pronunciations, you can celebrate when you have hit some “milestone”, and you can even have a dysfunctional conversation in a different language.
Google Translate is a thing, yes, but it lacks the excitement of picking up something new. Picture this. You have spent several months learning a language, with ups and downs in terms of improvement. You bump into an adult who you have known for a very long time, but because of a language barrier, you two can never quite have a fully understood chat. However, it just happens that you learned their native language, and you proceed to have a full conversation with them! There might be some hiccups here and there, but when you reach the end, and that person is surprised but smiling at what you have picked up, it feels – for lack of a better word –awesome.
Acknowledging the Difficulty
There is no denying that learning a new language is tough. If you ever need more help, there are plenty of resources online to fix that! Listening to podcasts, music, or even reading a children's book can be a better introductory lesson into a language compared to just looking over vocabulary!
And as a general rule, try to find someone to learn with! It makes the experience way better.
I hope I have convinced some of you to begin thinking about what new language you should learn! Remember that it is not an easy journey, which makes it all the more worth it to undergo. So the next time you are wondering what class you should take or what new skill you should acquire over the summer, consider learning a foreign language! It might just be what you need!
