Are There Advantages to Learning a Second Language?
Let's face it, everybody knows there are advantages to learning a second language. The problem is many English speaking people believe that there is no need to learn another language. It is certainly true that many people can get by with knowing only English, but sadly these people are usually unaware of what they are missing. English will get you so far, but if you want to see the world through different eyes and countries as they really are, then learn a language.
Here is a short list of reasons showing the advantages to learning a second language. There are many more. Learning a second language can literally change your life and i have never known anyone who has regretted learning a language (well maybe Esperanto :-) Take a look at the list and see if any of the reasons could affect your life.
Some reasons to Learn a foreign language
1. Travel. This could be general holidays or business travel
2. Business. This covers business in your home country as well
3. Employment
4. Study/research
5. School/college admission
6. Improve native language skills
7. Sharpen cognitive (thinking) skills
8. Family & friends
9. Emigration
10 Culture & food
And a popular addition
11. Make you more appealing to the opposite sex
That was a quick list of some reasons to learn a foreign language and below I will try and explain the importance of each by going into more detail (possibly not too much about number 11 as it may take a lot more than a language).
1. Travel
Whether you are going on a regular holiday or a business trip, if you are going abroad there is no denying that knowing the local language is a huge benefit. Certainly English will be enough if you are happy with spending all your time in Five star hotels, eating fast food and reading the Evening Herald, but lets face it, English speaking areas, or areas that are solely catering for tourists are the same the world over. You can get a hot dog in Brussels, Bangkok, and Baghdad and they taste pretty much the same and are basically called a 'hot dog'. If a hot dog is what you want to travel 3000 miles for then fine, but if you want to go to a country and really find out what makes it tick, what the people are like behind the tourist facade, then you need to learn the language. You want to meet the average person, the true to life local guy, more than likely the one who can't speak English.
2. Business
Most businesses do perfectly well trading in a single language. English is after all the business language of the world (at the moment), but could a business be missing something if they only offer the English language to customers. Well, possibly. In the United States in the year 2000 census, it was found that 18 % of people speak a language other than English at home. In the UK also, it is estimated that 1 in every 10 citizens was not born in the United Kingdom. Many of these people will be bilingual, some will not. Some will prefer to do business in their native language, some won't care. But it should be obvious that if you can speak another language you are opening your doors to a multitude of new (possibly niche) clients.
3. Employment
When I talk about employment opportunities due to languages here I am not talking about the obvious translating jobs. Although they are there of course, they are few and far between and notoriously difficult to get into, and lets face it, not everyone wants to be one. What we are talking about here is an edge. An edge over the competition. For many companies these days, business is conducted inernationally. For many, domestic customers may have been born abroad, or they may have employees that are not native speakers. This means that being able to speak more than one language will put you ahead of the rest of the field.