Benefits of Learning a Second Language

Often, I hear people asking, what is the point in learning a second language, everybody else in the world speaks English now, right? That is a big, no!

While it is true that with globalization, English has become the most universally spoken language, it is ethnocentric to think the entire world speaks it. In fact, only 1 out of 5 people speak English as a first or second language. One of the most fulfilling and self-enriching acts you can achieve in your life is to learn a second language, to become a global citizen. Ask others why they would want to learn a new language; you are bound to hear countless answers. Some people may do it for business, others traveling, or for graduate school, to learn a new culture, get a job, or even just so they can brag about it.

One of the most popular answers you will certainly hear is for business. The world is getting smaller and businesses not able to deal with foreign markets are going to fall behind the competition. Fortune 500 companies often look for employees with language skills, especially in the more seldom spoken languages. Speakers of Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and Russian are not easily found, and combined with an MBA, prove a force not to be reckoned with for other applicants. More commonly spoken languages also prove useful. Many jobs working for the United Nations requires the applicant to speak both English and French, with the latter being the second most widely spoken language in the world. In America, you can pick up any newspaper and find jobs asking for applicants who are fluent in Spanish, especially in the customer service and sales sectors. A second language can increase your employment potential tenfold.

Perhaps, you are set when it comes to a job, and wish to see the world. Being able to speak the native language of the country you are traveling can make the trip safer and easier. While much of Europe may have a large English speaking population, it shows respect and a desire to learn to be able to speak the language of the country you are traveling to. If you are going to one of the more exotic places in the world, having knowledge of the native language can make the trip much safer and easily handled. Perhaps, the hustlers, I mean merchants, in Cairo's famous Khan Al-Khalili bazaar will be a bit more lenient on you if you can yell back at them in Arabic. A second language can give you an enhanced perceptive of the civilization that you are visiting.

A third reason for learning a new language is to help with studying for the SAT's, GMAT's, GRE's, LSAT's or other tests you may have to take in order to gain acceptance into undergraduate or graduate schools. It has been repeatedly shown that those students capable of speaking a second language do better across the board on these exams. There is a reason why so many lawyers and doctors take courses in languages as undergraduates. To learn any language requires critical thinking, time, and hard work. A student, also, will gain knowledge into not only the meaning of a word as a whole, but each of its parts.

These are just a few reasons for why you should learn a foreign language. Knowledge of a second language shows that a person is more than a citizen of there own country, but a citizen of the world. People, who have learned another language, have stepped out of the shell of their own culture and helped to make this a more unified world.