Right now, I'm on a 30-day French Language study blitz. And I've been studying Japanese for coming on 3 years. So why do I study foreign languages? Here are five reasons why everyone should study a foreign language.
TRAIN YOUR MIND
If you can teach yourself a language, you can teach yourself just about anything.
Anything you do which is new and unusual for you, is going to make you more intelligent. Intelligence is not some innate thing we have from birth, it's the result of the experiences we've had in life. Learning a foreign language exposes you to a ton of new experience and unusual ways of thinking.
When you encounter a new situation, your mind will try to figure out a response by looking back at your past experiences and finding patterns. One great way to ensure there are a lot more patterns to choose from, is to study something full of complex patterns. A foreign language is perfect.
TRAVEL
If you speak English, you can do a lot of travel without knowing any foreign languages, but knowing the language will make the trip so much more real. When I travelled to Japan last Summer, my knowledge of the language let me do things that tourists never do. Like get inducted into a crazy Buddhist cult, talk to a geisha, and stow away in youth hostels without paying.
If I hadn't known Japanese, my trip to Japan would've been much less exciting; it would probably be like going to a tacky Japan theme park in the USA, except more confusing.
MEET PEOPLE
A lot of the most awesome people I've met, I met through my language studies. When you study a language, you open yourself up to a whole community of other people who share your love of that language.
My Japanese studies even helped me and my girlfriend meet each other. I'm sure fate would have pulled us together somehow either way, but studying each others' languages sure gave us a lot more to talk about when we first bumped into each other. And it's really sexy sharing two languages with someone you love ;)
ENJOY THE CULTURE
When you learn a foreign language, it opens you up to a whole ton of neat culture in that language. Depending on the language, there might be literature, video games, movies, dramas, comics, plays, poetry, even clothing.
And if you use the language to travel- I mean really travel, not just visit an American luxury hotel which happens to be located in Paris or Sydney- that'll make you a person of culture. I can go just about anywhere and all I have to do is start talking about my Japan trip and suddenly everyone's listening in rapt attention. And I was only there for a month!
UNDERSTAND YOUR OWN LANGUAGE BETTER
Nothing will super-charge your understanding of English (or whatever your first language is) faster than studying a foreign language.
This is especially true of idioms. Before I studied foreign languages, I was completely blind to the incredible richness of English idioms. Now I see idioms everywhere.
IT GETS EASIER AND EASIER
The first language is probably the hardest. If you're a native English speaker, it might be worth studying a little Spanish, or even Esperanto, before diving into the language you're really passionate about (or hey, maybe you're passionate about Spanish or Esperanto. They're both cool in their own right) Studying an easy language is a great way to "break your cherry" so you can go on to some harder and sexier languages.
Here are some other articles I've written on related topics.
Autodidact: Be A Self-Teacher
Trivial Knowledge
What I Gained By Travelling
Five Ways To Be Better At Math
Introduction To Urban Exploration
TRAIN YOUR MIND
If you can teach yourself a language, you can teach yourself just about anything.
Anything you do which is new and unusual for you, is going to make you more intelligent. Intelligence is not some innate thing we have from birth, it's the result of the experiences we've had in life. Learning a foreign language exposes you to a ton of new experience and unusual ways of thinking.
When you encounter a new situation, your mind will try to figure out a response by looking back at your past experiences and finding patterns. One great way to ensure there are a lot more patterns to choose from, is to study something full of complex patterns. A foreign language is perfect.
TRAVEL
If you speak English, you can do a lot of travel without knowing any foreign languages, but knowing the language will make the trip so much more real. When I travelled to Japan last Summer, my knowledge of the language let me do things that tourists never do. Like get inducted into a crazy Buddhist cult, talk to a geisha, and stow away in youth hostels without paying.
If I hadn't known Japanese, my trip to Japan would've been much less exciting; it would probably be like going to a tacky Japan theme park in the USA, except more confusing.
MEET PEOPLE
A lot of the most awesome people I've met, I met through my language studies. When you study a language, you open yourself up to a whole community of other people who share your love of that language.
My Japanese studies even helped me and my girlfriend meet each other. I'm sure fate would have pulled us together somehow either way, but studying each others' languages sure gave us a lot more to talk about when we first bumped into each other. And it's really sexy sharing two languages with someone you love ;)
ENJOY THE CULTURE
When you learn a foreign language, it opens you up to a whole ton of neat culture in that language. Depending on the language, there might be literature, video games, movies, dramas, comics, plays, poetry, even clothing.
And if you use the language to travel- I mean really travel, not just visit an American luxury hotel which happens to be located in Paris or Sydney- that'll make you a person of culture. I can go just about anywhere and all I have to do is start talking about my Japan trip and suddenly everyone's listening in rapt attention. And I was only there for a month!
UNDERSTAND YOUR OWN LANGUAGE BETTER
Nothing will super-charge your understanding of English (or whatever your first language is) faster than studying a foreign language.
This is especially true of idioms. Before I studied foreign languages, I was completely blind to the incredible richness of English idioms. Now I see idioms everywhere.
IT GETS EASIER AND EASIER
The first language is probably the hardest. If you're a native English speaker, it might be worth studying a little Spanish, or even Esperanto, before diving into the language you're really passionate about (or hey, maybe you're passionate about Spanish or Esperanto. They're both cool in their own right) Studying an easy language is a great way to "break your cherry" so you can go on to some harder and sexier languages.
Here are some other articles I've written on related topics.
Autodidact: Be A Self-Teacher
Trivial Knowledge
What I Gained By Travelling
Five Ways To Be Better At Math
Introduction To Urban Exploration
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