Learning a Second Language: 4 Reasons You Should Start Trying

 

“The limits of my language signify the limits of my world.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein

“I’d love to speak another language, but…” There is a long list of reasons you could choose to finish this sentence. However, the list of reasons you could use to finish the phrase, “I am learning a new language because…, ” is far longer. That’s right! There are many proven benefits to learning a second language. Here are four that are enough to motivate myself to at least give it a try.

More Job Opportunities

To many, the increase in job opportunities is the most obvious benefit and perhaps the driving force behind choosing to learn a second language, and for good reason. The ways that speaking more than one language can improve your employment opportunities are seemingly endless. 

You will increase the size of “your world,” by increasing the number of places in the world that you are able to live and work in. The business world is a constantly growing and expanding entity. Companies to be specific, are expanding to all corners. Without people who speak multiple languages, they would be limited to the small part of the world they started in. Can you imagine what it would be like to only find Coca-Cola in Georgia? The ability to converse with and translate for people from the non-native sectors of big businesses will set you above any candidate who cannot. Even in smaller companies, chances are good that the ability to speak a second language will still set you apart from other applicants. You could be the asset they are looking to expand their business.

Logic Based Decision Making

Think back to the last big decision you had to make. It is very likely that your own emotions, instead of the facts alone, played a role in the out come. Studies have shown that decisions made in a second language verses your native language tend to be more logic and fact based.

Added Brain Power and Learning Ability

Multiple studies have shown that learning a second language can greatly improve your cognitive abilities. Memory improvement, longer attention span, and a reduced risk of age-related cognitive decline, are just a few of the known positive effects of learning and speaking more than one language

In addition to pumped-up brain power, learning a new language can help you become an over-all better learner. As you learn a new language for the first time, you will identify what your hindrances are, how to overcome them, and figure out the most efficient way to accomplish your goal. The ability to do this can transfer over into other goals you are trying to meet, and help develop you into a goal achieving problem solver. A real force to be reckoned with in any business setting.

Confidence

Merely conquering the fear of looking out of place or stupid to an individual who is native in the language you are trying to learn and speak, will do amazing things for your confidence. Once you find yourself able to communicate effectively in a new language, you may consider trying any number of other new skills that you may have been fearful of before. Dancing, creative writing, speaking in public, you name it. Your world is as big as you decide to make it.