1. Improve your English – I know this might not make sense at first but hear me out. As a person who speaks only one language you have no basis for comparison; all you know is English. In different languages the same idea is often expressed in different ways. Knowing another language gives you a great measuring stick. It will help you better understand tenses, prepositions, and all the other parts of speech we normally take for granted. You will find yourself speaking and writing more precise creative sentences. There is a reason most great writers and poets are students of many languages.
2. Enhance your travel experiences – Traveling is one of the great joys of life and also one of the most expensive. Why not get the most out of your experience? As a person who doesn’t know the native tongue you are completely excluded from the culture. The locals shun you and you are relegated to sightseeing and taking cheesy photos. Knowing even a few phrases of the language will make a huge difference. You will meet many more people and find it much easier to get around. People are much more receptive if you make an effort to speak their language. This can turn a frustrating experience into the trip of a lifetime.
3. Languages are beautiful – Language is what makes us human. It is the medium we use to share our thoughts with the world. Could you imagine thought without language? Great language also has a wonderful musical quality. Learning a new language is like learning a new way to think and a new way to sing. I am often struck by new phrases that are profoundly meaningful and melodic. At those moments I feel grateful to be alive. Don’t sell yourself short by stubbornly ignoring every language but one.
4. Join the global community – Believe it or not, the majority of the world does not speak English. We are so isolated that we hardly realize this. The truth is new thoughts and ideas are happening everywhere and they are not being immediately translated. The world is getting smaller and we are coming into contact with more non-English speakers all the time. Gain an advantage for yourself in business and personal relationships by being able to communicate with people in their language. This will set you apart and gain you immediate respect and credibility.
Last, but not least:
5. It’s just plain sexy – I’m not saying you should learn a few corny Italian pickup lines and go saying them to everyone you meet, but knowing a foreign tongue and applying it tastefully is undeniably attractive. It implies education, good taste, and refinement, and it will certainly make you standout against the competition. Imagine saying a beautiful phrase with perfect pronunciation to a lovely coed. You will immediately have her attention; she will be dying to know what it means. I know this from experience.
Now that you are dying to improve your mind by learning a foreign language you are probably wondering how to go about doing it. The task appears daunting at first, but have no fear, in my next post I will detail how to teach yourself a foreign language in less than an hour a day. I’ve developed this method through personal trial and error, and trust me, it works much much better than the way your were taught in school. And best of all, it’s tons of fun. Once you start making progress you won’t want to stop.
[...] John Wesley presents 5 Great Reason to Learn a Foreign Language posted at Pick the Brain – Wit and Wisdom for Your Inspiration, saying, “Some great reasons to improve your writing by studying another language.” [...]
[...] If you’ve considered learning a foreign language, John Wesley at Pick the Brain – Wit and Wisdom for Your Inspiration asks us to consider 5 Great Reasons to Learn a Foreign Language. He then provides us with “How to Teach Yourself a Foreign Language.” [...]
Great post! And I agree wholeheartedly! I am currently taking a Spanish as a Second Language class, in part because I teach at a largely Hispanic-populated school, but also just for my own personal self-development.
I will probably never learn French, though the one phrase I CAN say is “I did not cut the cheese.”
Great article, John! Especially the point on improving your English – I never really appreciated how English is constructed until learning Spanish.
It really shows how much one takes for granted their native language and what it really takes to learn another one.
I totally agree those are great reasons to learn a language. I’d also note that technology has made it easier than ever to learn languages. In addition to podcasts and videos, with Skype and other IMs, you can actually learn from native speakers directly. Why learn on your own when you can find someone to learn from? It’s a plug, but it’s worth checking out http://www.italki.com to find language exchange partners and tutors. As with so many things on the internet — it’s free.
Very interesting, I’d love to find someone to speak a bit of French with. I’ll have to check that out.
obviously written by a monoglot who lives well away from any other countries!
I like your reasons for wanting to speak a new language, although learning a non European language is quite a challenge -I would suggest learning Mandarin – I’m trying to but its quite difficult, even when you already have three languages under your belt!
I’m an American, what can I say? I tried a bit a Mandarin too, and would agree that it’s very difficult to get the tonal part right.
Recommend you A good language exchange and lover find community
http://www.Lehere.com is a global online community for language exchange and friend find. With Lehere.com, you can learn a language naturally by talking with native speakers of that language. You can also make friends, find lover and relationship from all over the world. It’s easy, it’s safe and it’s free!
I can attest to #1. When I started learning French I learned so much about English. I had moments where I said “That’s why we say it that way”. It’s sad but when it’s your native language you don’t think about it.
#5 is also very true.
I’m soon going to study Linguistics/Semantics/Rhetoric-Persuation/Semiotics and general philosophy of conlang. Eventually, I’ll get on to learn a programming language and syllogism/formal logic.
[...] For anyone who doesn’t understand why learning a foreign language is a good idea, read 5 Great Reasons to Learn a Foreign Language. Everyone else, let’s get started. [...]
Tyepad is giving me trouble so I will simply paste here what I have been trying to put up on my own blog at http://www.thelinguist.blogs.com. I will eventually put it up there but in the mean time…. oh, and, by the way, John, I am not a monoglot,. I have learned Mandarin as well as nine other languages, and I do agree with most of what you say on this subject
Five Great Reasons to Learn Spanish
Here are Five Great Reasons to Learn a Foreign Language from an intriguing blog that I have started to follow, called “Pick the Brain, an analytical approach to self improvement.” I am starting to follow a number of blogs in various languages using Google reader. Any good Russian posts I find, I just import into LingQ and integrate into my Work Desk.
Here is my take on “five good reasons to learn a foreign language”. I decided to focus on Spanish. If English is the most widely studied second language, Spanish is certainly next, and with good reason.
Five great reasons to learn Spanish.
1) Spanish can be fun to learn.
The iPod and the internet have changed language learning. You can enjoy learning Spanish from all kinds of podcasts, blogs, websites, audio books and more. It is easier and faster than it used to be. No more sitting in a classroom. No more studying grammar. No more annoying questions and drills. And you can do it whenever and wherever you want.
2) Spanish is good for your mind.
Language learning builds up your brain like exercizing builds up your muscles. There is no decline in language learning ability as people get older. So why not start improving your brain fitness, whatever your age. If you already know Spanish, you can learn another language.
3) Spanish is written the way it is spoken.
To learn a language you need to listen a lot, but you also need to read a lot in that language. Some languages, like English have irregular spelling which makes life miserable for the learner. Some languages use a different alphabet like Russian, Arabic or Korean. Some languages are written using thousands of characters, like Chinese. Spanish is clear and consistent. In Spanish, what you see is what you say!
4) Spanish will increase your language power.
Not only will learning Spanish make you confident that you can learn another language, it will also improve your ability to express yourself in other languages. Spanish is an easy entry door to all the Latin based languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, French and more. These languages are spoken by over 750 million people all around the world. Even in English about 65% of the words are of Latin origin. Learning Spanish will make you a linguist.
5) Spanish can be useful.
If you live in the United States, there is a growing market of people who speak Spanish. But wherever you live, you can travel to a country where they speak Spanish or a related Latin based language. Or you can just use the Internet to connect to all kinds of fun content in Spanish, about Spanish speaking life, history or culture. Your life will be changed forever if you learn Spanish.
Please note that we are gradually adding to our Spanish content at The Linguist and we are looking for more. If you are a Spanish speaker please record yourself in Spanish and share with us. Talk about your life, or your friends. Or record something that is free of copyright. There is more information on how this works on this Demo.
Are you learning Chinese? How long time do you learn Chinese and mandarin? Do you want to know your current level and achievement? I suggest you spend 5 minutes to know your Chinese level through watching a video on http://hello-mandarin.blogspot.com/search/label/Level%20Test
You make some very good points. But you’re assuming that 1) someone has the time and energy to study a language, and 2) they have the ability to gain a reasonable level of procficiency. That’s not always the case.
Dan,
I only assume that a person is motivated, or at least can get motivated, by realizing that learning another language is useful, potentially enjoyable and not that difficult. Without motivation it will not happen. With motivation a people will find the time, and will learn to the limit of their ability. I have found that motivation and not ability is the greatest predictor of success.
Steve,
Sometime motivation isn’t enough. I’m self employed, and a single parent with an autistic child. My time is spent working, or working with my son. That’s about 16 to 18 hours a day. I (generally) don’t commute to work, and have little down time — hey, I need to eat the occasional meal and sleep once in a while
.
Seriously, though, I have tried to learn two foreign languages — and failed miserably. I was dedicated, I was motivated. But once I got to a (very) basic level of proficiency, my progress leveled off. No matter what I did or how hard (or softly) I tried, I made no further headway. So, you can’t really tell me that ability plays no part in this.
John…
Loved your blog. I am definitely bookmarking it….
Those who can speak one or more foreign languages as well as their native language have many advantages. From a business perspective, it can be quite beneficial to know foreign languages in order to connect and network with people from all over the globe. From a cultural perspective, learning a foreign language gives you a chance to experience an entirely different culture in a very intimate way.
[...] Read more… [...]
These are some great reasons but I think another really important point (Steve alluded to this) is that learning a second (or 3rd/4th/etc) language opens up new pathways in your brain. There’s a great book about this that escapes me right now but it makes a very solid case for learning another language, especially early in life.
Our goal @ eduFire is turn language learning from something that often is viewed as a chore into something immensely fun and social. All we have up now is a blog at http://blog.edufire.com but we’ll be unveiling more soon. Beunos dias!
I wholeheartedly agree with number 2. Having traveled both in countries where I know the language and where I don’t I can attest to how much easier and more enjoyable a trip can be, even with the most basic language abilities.
When in Rome, why not let the Romans teach you?
In Huangshan (黄山) southern Anhui province in Eastern China, Fu Shou-Bing logs on to the computer in the public library near his village. Since discovering ECpod.com (http://www.ECpod.com), the retired High School Chemistry teacher has been logging on almost every day to the English-Chinese teaching website. Sometimes he cycles the 25 miles home, cooks himself a simple lunch of rice and stir-fried vegetables with salted fish, often returning once again to the library and his new hobby in the evening.
ECpod.com boasts an educational website that teaches members conversational English or Chinese (no “this is an apple” stuff here) via video clips contributed by other members. After a vetting and often transcribing process by language tutors commissioned by the site, the clips are available free of charge in YouTube fashion. The twist? Members
film each other in everyday activities, hoping other members will learn not just their native tongue, but also cultural innuendos lost in textbooks and more conventional means of language learning.
“One member filmed himself cooking in his kitchen. We got a few emails asking what condiments he used,” says a bemused Warwick Hau, one of the site’s more public faces. One emailer even wanted to know if she could achieve the same Chinese stir-fry using ingredients from her regular CR Vanguard (华润超级) supermarket. “We often forget our every day activities may not be as mundane to people on the other side of the world,” Hau adds. Another such clip is “loaches” – a Chinese mother of 3 filmed her children and their friends playing with a bucket of loaches – slippery eel-like fish the children were picking up and gently squeezing between their fingers.
Lately the members have also begun to make cross-border friends and contacts. The ECpal function works much the same way sites like Facebook.com and MySpace.com work – members can invite each other to view their clips and make friends. And it has its fair share of juvenile humor as well. “Farting Competition” features two teenagers and graphic sound effects. Within several days, the clip was one of the most popular videos that week, likely due to mass-forwarding by the participants’ schoolmates.
For other members keen to learn more than the fact juvenile humor is similar everywhere, there are many home videos featuring unlikely little nuggets of wisdom. “The last thing I learned from the site is why you never find green caps for sale in China”, says Adam Schiedler one of the English language contributors to the site. Green caps signify cuckolded husbands, particularly shameful in China as they are a huge loss of face. Adam vows not to buy any green headgear for his newfound friends.
The subject matter of the videos often speaks volumes about its contributors. Members choose their own content and film the clip wherever they please, some of their efforts drawing attention to rural surroundings and the quaint insides of little homes otherwise not seen unless you backpack your way thru the tiny dirt roads and villages along the Chinese countryside.
Idyllic countrysides and cooking lessons aside however, ECpod marries the latest video sharing technology with the old school way of teaching a language – from the native speakers on the street. It’s a modern, more convenient alternative to spending 6 months in China. And why not let the Chinese teach you?
I am 13 and i a ma learning norwegian so i can converse with freinds from norway. i believe that learning a new language can be fun, and i also agree with all the things said above. (i am also learning french)
Totall agree. The pursuit of language should be everybody’s business especially for adults who have children. I do not live and am not raised in a monolingual or mono-cultural society. I have developed the confidence (like many of my fellow friends who speak more than 3 languages) of meeting people from a totally different background.
I was in Aruba last week and had my first encounter with Papiamento (sp?). Until last Saturday, I didn’t even know that the language existed.
I -really- need to get out more!
Learning a foreign language can be easy for some people but not for all. The best way to learn a foreign language is to tailor a custom program for the individual. Visit my website
http://vandoornslanguagetechnique.com
for details on how to custom your own language learning program based on the Proto-Indo-European Language Family Tree.
Wow some really make huge posts… my 2 cents:
I did find another one, apart from the ones in the comments:
http://www.studentteacherexchange.com/ which is completely free and uses chat/video/voice and whiteboards as well.
They are new but my guess is they will be booming soon since they charge nothing.
[...] For anyone who doesn’t understand why learning a foreign language is a good idea, read 5 Great Reasons to Learn a Foreign Language. Everyone else, let’s get started. Note: I don’t claim that following these instructions will [...]
En realidad, aprender un idioma extrangero, es de gran ayuda para desarrollar una mejor comprensión de lo que sucede a nuestro alrededor, el mundo no se mueve en un solo idoma, ni aún cuando Roma domino ‘todo el mundo’(el mundo que conocian entonces) el Latin, si bien fue de dominio ‘mundial’, no fue un único idioma aglutinante sino que fundiendose con otros tantos forjo nuevos idiomas – los que hablamos hoy en día (practicamente todos los idiomas europeos, en mayor o nemor medida, tienen ifluencia del latin) – y aun estos se estan fundiendo y generando nuevas formas de hablar; en este orden de ideas por ejemplo el Ingles le debe mucho al Frances -que de echo era el idioma real de la monarquia britanica, a diferencia del ingles que idioma de los plebeyos-, el Español se nutrio de muchos idiomas amerindios, igual que del arabe y a su ves influyo en otros idiomas como el ingles, que a su vez influyeron en el.