so everyone can accept that language is essential. language of any kind â verbal, non-verbal, written etc. â allows us to communicate, share and exchange ideas, read, learn, scream (ok well tbh u can do that without language too but often screaming out real words is more fun than just screaming) and tbh if we didnât have language, you wouldnât even be reading this right now.
the thing is, in spite of the fact that everyone knows the importance of language not a lot of people enjoy studying languages, because they see it as a task, chore or necessity â if one is studying it for a grade/job, for instance. of course, learning anything requires dedication and commitment, but learning a foreign language is something that opens up a world of opportunities and makes you smarter too. quite a few people also look down on language and humanities students, because theyâre under the impression that other subjects (like science and maths for instance, maybe) are more challenging and thus require you to be more intelligent. of course, they have no idea how wrong they are, because languages and maths are so closely linked, you almost donât even notice how theyâre related. plus, mastering a language is definitely as challenging as a complex maths equation, if not even more so. but in any case, thatâs another topic for another day.
anyways, since so many people still arenât really eager to learn new languages, here are 50 good reasons which you should definitely consider before you give up and decide to delete your duolingo account, and 50 good reasons to convince you to make that duolingo account in the first place, if you havenât already.
discover a new cultureÂ
learning the language of a place helps you connect with that place in a completely different way. you can understand the movies, music, literature, poetry and theatre on a deeper level - for instance, reading an original novel as opposed to the translated version allows you to appreciate the subtle nuances of the language, like the idioms and puns which canât be directly translated into another language, thereby losing their true meaning and beauty.
learn about the history of a placeÂ
language and history are very closely linked. learning a language well allows you to understand historical texts in their original language, and for history nerds this is a dream come true. historical texts tell us so much about our origins and roots; furthermore, they give us insight into the lives of people in the past and how much things have changed and evolved since then, and how some traditions, ideas and beliefs have remained the same. plus, compared to the author of your history textbook, the guy who wrote this ancient text is more likely to actually know what happened during his time. now, you might ask: canât we learn about the history of a place without knowing the language? tbh i gotta admit that yes you can do that, but that brings us to the first point again: reading a translated version = reading a version that doesnât have those subtle nuances, which literally get lost in translation.
keeps ur brain alive and activeÂ
studies show that speaking more than one language improves your memory, attention span and the risk of age-related cognitive decline is reduced.
establish new relationships and friendships
iâm not saying that learning someoneâs native language = immediately becoming their friend, but learning someoneâs language allows you to become close to them and understand them in a completely different way. for example, i speak bengali and english at home and honestly when iâm with my bengali friends and family and i can talk in bengali, itâs like i almost become a completely different person. i believe that different languages are so closely associated with experiences, memories and relationships, which is why speaking with someone in their native language allows you to bond with them more easily.
english isnât the most common language
the most common languages (based on number of native speakers), in fact, are mandarin chinese followed by spanish. think about that for a second: that means that in spite of the fact that most of the popular tumblr posts are in english + most popular blogs are in english + the default language for most websites online is english, it isnât even the most used language and almost 600 million more people speak mandarin than english. and if we talk about total number of speakers instead of native speakers, mandarin still has the largest number of total speakers (200 million more than total number of english speakers). imagine the outcome of learning a language spoken more commonly than english. it can pretty much open a universe of opportunities.
work abroadÂ
speaking a foreign language makes it easier to work and settle down abroad. other countries have exciting job opportunities, and speaking the native language is your true key.
understand society in a foreign countryÂ
this is a really interesting one and itâs kind of a follow-up to the first point, but itâs also slightly different. iâll give you an example: in english, we have only one way to speak to someone in second person i.e. âyouâ. however, in spanish, for example, thereâs two ways i.e. âtuâ (informal) and âustedâ (formal). letâs also take a look at hindi, in which there are three ways i.e. âtuâ (highly informal), âtumâ (informal) and âaapâ (formal). as another example, letâs look at the honourifics in japanese: â-sanâ, â-samaâ, â-kunâ, â-donoâ, â-chanâ etc. etc. etc. are all added as a suffix to names and mean very different things, used to address different people depending on your relationship with them.
in every language, there are different levels of formality. learning the language of the person youâre speaking to helps you recognize the level of formality with which you must address them, and the kind of respect you must show them.
impress peopleÂ
this goes without saying, obviously; speaking another language is an immediately impressive factor which makes random people go âwow!!! that is so cool! can u say something in that language???â which is slightly nice because of the amount of interest someone is showing in something youâre used to, but this should not be your main reason to learn a language because a) it makes you lose focus of the goal youâre trying to achieve in learning and speaking the language and makes you forget the point, b) it gets annoying after a while and c) the language is not some americaâs got talent magic trick to perform when youâve run out of things to entertain other people with. treat it with respect. itâs very possible that the people asking you to say something in the language donât really care about respecting it, and might make fun of it thereafter.
learn english + your first language better
fun fact: most languages are more connected than you know. the similarities may not be obvious at first, but once you examine them, you realize the likeness.
for example: âmanoâ in spanish and âmainâ in french both mean hand. the japanese word for tea is âchaâ, the bengali word is literally the same, the mandarin word is âchĂĄâ which is just a slight variation in intonation and the hindi word is âchaayâ.Â
but the similarities, as fascinating as they are, arenât exactly the coolest part either. the best thing is that a lot of difficult/fancy english words came from latin and french. approx. 29% of the english language comes from french, in fact, as well as ~29% of latin origin and ~26% of germanic origin.
example 1 (french): âpĂ©joratifâ in french = âpejorativeâ in english; ânonchalantâ in french = ânonchalantâ in english; âinsouciantâ in french = âinsouciantâ in english
example 2 (latin):Â ârelinquereâ in latin =Â ârelinquishâ in english;Â âabdomenâ in latin =Â âabdomenâ in english;Â âdiurnalisâ in latin =Â âdiurnalâ in english;Â âinundÄreâ in latin =Â âinundateâ in english
example 3 (germanic): âhĆ«rtâ in frankish = âhurtâ in english; âgram/grinjanâ in frankish = âchagrinâ in english; âgalgoâ in frankish = âgaugeâ in english; âborganjanâ in frankish = âbargainâ in english
a lot of the words we think of as âfancyâ in english are basic words used in latin and french, while the germanic words are less sophisticated-sounding due to the origins (which you can find out more about in these two super interesting videos: [x] and [x] ) so, by learning those language, you are improving your own english vocabulary and, if you are the native speaker of another language, possibly improving your vocab in that language too!Â
furthermore, iâve noticed that when youâre learning another language from scratch, itâs generally taught in a very structured way which is not something youâre used to. if your first language is english, itâs likely that youâve grown up speaking english, so you havenât spent a lot of time thinking or focusing on things like parts of speech, tenses, sentence structures, gender (which, thankfully, doesnât exist in english) or anything of that sort beyond a certain extent (unless youâre studying grammar) - it comes naturally to you. however, in the process of learning a language you study the grammar of a language extremely well and in the process you get to draw connections between english grammar and the grammar of the language youâre learning + you get to study english grammar properly too.
last, but not the least: itâs fun!Â
if the rest of this post hasnât convinced you already, learning a language is one of the coolest and most exciting and interesting things on the goddamn planet. with other people who speak the languages i speak, i can pretend itâs a code language that only we understand. and if you think learning a language is not fun because itâs difficult/tedious/time-consuming, just know that if you learn a romance language fluently you find yourself picking up other romance languages easily because of how similar they are, making you a language pro which (in my nerdy opinion) is one of the most beautiful and honourable things to call yourself and be known for.
+ if all that didnât convince you, here are some more:
why learn a foreign language? benefits of bilingualism
12 reasons everyone should learn another language
ten amazing reasons to learn a foreign language
50 reasons you should learn a new language
bbcâs guide to learning languages
a complete guide to studying (well)
i hope you enjoyed this post and that it convinced u to learn a new language!!! feel free to message me in case 1) any of the links are broken, 2) u want me to add on to something, 3) u have a suggestion for a masterpost [i would love that so go ahead and ask if u do] or if u just wanna talk! also, feel free to reblog and add ur own comments/resources. hope this helped someone learn and understand more!!!
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