Multiple Benefits of Learning Foreign Languages
There are multiple benefits of picking up a foreign language which you can start today if you know why you are part of this journey. Research by Jacob et al., (2022) confirmed that multilingualism is strongly associated with helping learners grow in their chosen stream of education apart from just improving language skills.
The central point from where all businesses emerge is the ability to communicate effectively anywhere with anyone at any time. Be it an important person at the airport waiting area, sitting next to you in a train, or any social event organically dragging you into an engaging conversation. You might be blank or full of the right words to pick up which can originally change your shape of you.
If you want to kickstart or progress your career from your current situation, you will need to continuously train your mind to prevent getting drained out. Command, confidence, and clarity are the set of outputs emerging after investing time in language skills.
There is no loss in keeping extra assets in form of learning a new language that can influence business talks, presentations, important meetings, and pitches because you improve your personality. If you are also thinking about getting breakthroughs or starting your first job soon, you can consider the following benefits of becoming multilingual:
Improve Self-Esteem: According to Strauss, Tolmen & Bipath (2023), when there is a supportive environment for children, they are easily capable of developing a high level of self-esteem. Learning a foreign language is also related to changing the patterns of one’s brain shaped badly due to negative experiences of the past. To be more confident about one’s own beliefs, one shall embark on the path of learning a foreign language. Fumbling, stuttering, or not making eye contact while trying to spit specific words out of your mouth is a sign of poor communication skills. You can talk to anyone with sheer self-confidence which can be possible when you practice the languages including body language. Whether you start speaking Italian, Spanish, German, or French, the organizations will have one more reason to recruit you.
Various industries function because of employees who are experts in more than one language.
When a language is neither a part of your traditional curriculum nor is your mother tongue, mastering it shows you are a person with high self-esteem and you are well versed in learning complex things quickly.
As a person, you become even more literate as multilingual are more confident about how they represent themselves.
Become a Confident Communicator: The process of learning a new language shell starts in childhood. It is the time when language acquisition is speedy and children develop fluency which is demandable in the job market. According to an initial thinker who proposed the models for communication, this theory seems to be invalid once a child crosses the age of 11 years. From a neurological point of view, acquiring and developing a new language at an early age is rather a fast process. However, it has been seen and proven that consistently practicing a new language at any age works out excellently. Developing fluency in a language is oriented to practice it repeatedly for which a group is also a primary requirement (Suzuki & Hanzawa, 2022). Therefore, at any age acquiring fluency in a language is a matter of practice which is even more powerful while practicing with a group. A confident communicator strikes in you when your environment supports the same activity regularly.
The secret to public speaking lies in practicing the language through conversations. It is recommended to practice speaking the language in the following ways:
Speak in front of a mirror which can also improve your facial expressions.
Record your video while speaking and view it to identify mistakes and learn from them.
Pick up a newspaper and read the random news loudly taking care of where you need to emphasize and where you need to take a little pause.
Increase Employability & Opportunities: When you are up for a job interview, the recruiters may not ignore in your resume that you can speak multiple languages. Whether the particular job is not related to that language, still there are more chances that you will get selected as compared to others. The candidates who will be able to acquire and develop new skills often get selected. Therefore, you are also increasing your employability once you are equipped with a sufficient level of language to be able to communicate in a professional environment. As a career option also involves studying abroad, taking admission to one of the prestigious universities around the world is a task you can cross off your bucket list. Working abroad also demands understanding their culture for which speaking in their own language is a sure way to settle yourself in a dream career.
Multilinguals are getting paid more due to their high demand after globalization.
The work can be related to writing, reading, speaking, or listening with the possibility of a combination of these important aspects of a language.
You can choose the medium of communication as per your level of comfort to work in different roles such as demanding content writer, language translator, interpreter, editor, and entrepreneur.
Strong Brain & Diverse Mind: Learning a new language is linked to improving memory. According to research, the ability to speak various languages leads to prevent the occurrence of dementia at an early age as this illness which is associated with the structure of the brain gets delayed by almost 5 years (Baruah, 2022). Therefore, it is within your control to shape the structure of the brain to stay fit at every age. Also, accessing the content in diverse languages can enrich you with plenty of knowledge to grab directly in the native language. Creating a diverse mind forms more space in it to consume the content written in a foreign language.
The best way to train your brain is to engage yourself in activity-based challenges. The learning process of a foreign language involves useful exercises to improve comprehension and speaking skills.
There are various mobile applications such as Duolingo and Cambly that help you hone your language skills with help of creative visuals making this journey enjoyable too. The more you practice, the more you develop your brain to allow new neurons to become active.
You can watch films in foreign languages and read famous books having been written originally in the language of your interest. Having vast content is boundless to explore literature and cinema beyond the predefined limits to learn.
Travel for Transformation: Traveling turns a traveler into a storyteller who speaks the language of emotions that can be conveyed when you choose the set of right words which fits into the context. If you want others to listen to you, a complete understanding of the language including its grammar and vocabulary is undoubtedly considerable. In addition, exploring new places is a sign you will come across strangers. It is time to assess where you stand in terms of your communication skills. In a single moment in which you communicate confidently, you can open up new avenues for yourself. The best way to learn any language is to speak it where it is mostly spoken. For example, learning French is easy when you are in France.
When you travel, you are required to speak up with the cab driver, hotel manager and staff, and other passengers including people you haven’t met before. The hesitation to speak in uncertain situations can be eliminated which ultimately makes you an expert in that language.
When you are traveling you get time off from your normal routine. You can find time to complete reading any pending book or even start a new one as there is plenty of time before a train, bus or flight arrives at the destination.
If you want to speak up enthusiastically, you are bound to read more and more. Also, the writing flows out of your fingers if you immerse in reading a lot.
Bottom Line
As a multilingual, you become confident speaking in front of anyone whether you are addressing a small or large audience. There are multiple reasons for choosing one of the foreign languages. You just need to have enough clarity about your decision. Even if you do not know much initially, the entire process is education in itself which teaches you important lessons in life. Also, having known the purpose of language learning, you will not just shine in your career, but also you will improve your personality, resume, public speaking skills, and daily conversations.
References
Baruah, P. (2022). The Difference in Personality and Self-esteem of Mono/bilinguistic and Multilinguistic Individuals. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2187194/v1
Jacob, S. R., Montoya, J., Nguyen, H., Richardson, D., & Warschauer, M. (2022). Examining the what, why, and how of multilingual student identity development in computer science. ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE), 22(3), 1-33. https://doi.org/10.1145/3500918
Strauss, A. M., Tolmen, P. S., & Bipath, K. (2023). A critical multimodal discourse analysis of drawings to ascertain identity and self-concept. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 13(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v13i1.1240
Suzuki, Y., & Hanzawa, K. (2022). Massed task repetition is a double-edged sword for fluency development: An EFL classroom study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 44(2), 536-561. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263121000358
