The ability to speak more than one language is a gift, but it’s one that doesn’t come easily. People are never lukewarm about their attempts to learn a new tongue. They’re either being forced to and hate it or they willingly throw themselves into the new linguistic exercises.
There is no in between. Here’s what you gain when you learn to love a new language.
1. A new way of looking at things.
A new language provides you with an untried lens through which you can view the world. From its grammar structures to new ways of constructing adjectives, languages operate differently from each other in how they go about describing the physical world.
Learning these new methods, you force your brain to see the things from the point of that language. A new language gifts you with the ability to come at problems from more than one perspective. Aren’t you lucky?
2. Perseverance.
Learning a language is no easy feat — it’s a long protracted task on par with Hercules’ 12 trials. It’s trying for sure, but the results are undeniable.
Not only do you gain the ability to drop what you’re doing and throw down in a new tongue, you’ve also received a first class lesson in how to persevere to the end.
3. Ability to look inside the brain of a new culture.
Being proficient in another language gives you a front row seat for beginning to understand the way another culture works. From idioms to how people greet one another, language is the way in which cultures operate and how traditions are passed on.
By being able to understand the nuances of a tongue, you get a little glimpse straight into the heart of the culture that wields it.
4. A secret code.
Bare with me on this one. Yes, there are probably millions (if not billions) of people who can also speak the language you are learning. However, if you are learning it at school within a friend group where not everyone can speak it, then you have been given a secret code.
When you and your friends need to talk to each other about that uncouth faux pas your other friend just made, then your shared language is perfect. Your other friends may grow to resent you, but they’re just jealous.
5. Travel becomes cheaper and easier.
When you’re traveling in a different country it’s a huge asset to be able to speak that language. Not only will it save you tons of time, but it will save you money because you won’t ever have to consider using a dreaded tour guide.
Not to mention that traveling on your own in a foreign country using your hard earned language powers makes you feel like a complete bad*ss.
6. New friends from those previously inaccessible.
A new language gives you the potential to be friends with a whole score of people who you now have the ability to be conversant with. You didn’t even know how many besties you were missing out on! Revel in your new friends.
7. Access to new literature.
The same goes for literature. Yes, there are translated texts, but something is always lost in translation, or maybe something is gained… Regardless, a translated work will never be exactly the same as the original, and that’s okay.
Yet, when being proficient gives you the ability to experience the work in its undoctored form.
8. An appreciation for your mother tongue.
In the process of adventuring into a new language, you stray from your mother tongue. But from a distance, you’re able to see more clearly all the shades that make it beautiful.