Why should I learn a language?

Why should I learn a language?


Learning a foreign language takes time and dedication. The reasons
below may help to convince you to take the plunge, if such persuasion
is needed. Some reasons are practical, some aspirational, some intellectual
and others sentimental, but whatever your reasons, having a clear idea
of why you're learning a language can help to motivate you in your studies.

<blockquote>
Kolik jazyků znáš, tolikrát jsi člověkem.
You live a new life for every new language you speak.
If you know only one language, you live only once.
(Czech proverb)
</blockquote>
Emigration


When you move to a different country or region, learning the local language
will help you to communicate and integrate with the local community. Even if
many of the locals speak your language, for example if your L1 is English
and you move to the Netherlands, it's still worth your while learning the
local language. Doing so will demonstrate your interest in and commitment
to the new country.

Family and friends


If your partner, in-laws, relatives or friends speak a different language,
learning that language will help you to communicate with them. It will
also give you a better understanding of their culture and way of thinking.

Work


If your work involves regular contact with speakers of foreign languages,
being able to talk to them in their own languages will help you to communicate
with them. It may also help you to make sales and to negotiate and secure
contracts. Knowledge of foreign languages may also increase your chances
of finding a new job, getting a promotion or a transfer overseas, or of going
on foreign business trips.

Many English-speaking business people don't bother to learn other languages
because they believe that most of the people they do business with in foreign
countries can speak English, and if they don't speak English, interpreters can
be used. The lack of foreign language knowledge puts the English speakers at a
disadvantage. In meetings, for example, the people on the other side can discuss
things amongst themselves in their own language without the English speakers
understanding, and using interpreters slows everything down. In any socialising
after the meetings, the locals will probably feel more comfortable using their
own language rather than English.

Study or research


You may find that information about subjects you're interested in
is published mainly in a foreign language. Learning that language will give
you access to the material and enable you to communicate with fellow
students and researchers in the field.

<blockquote>Language is the archives of history.
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)
</blockquote>
Travel


Many English speakers seem to believe that wherever you go on holiday
you can get by speaking English, so there's no point in learning any other
languages. If people don't understand you all you have to do is speak slowly
and turn up the volume. You can more or less get away with this, as long as
you stick to popular tourist resorts and hotels where you can usually find
someone who speaks English. However, if you want to venture beyond such places,
to get to know the locals, to read signs, menus, etc, knowing the local language
is necessary.

A basic ability in a foreign language will help you to 'get by', i.e. to order
food and drink, find your way around, buy tickets, etc. If you have a more
advanced knowledge of the language, you can have real conversations with
the people you meet, which can be very interesting and will add a new
dimension to your holiday.

<blockquote>
Die Grenzen meiner Sprache bedeuten die Grenzen meiner Welt.
The limits of my language are the limits of my universe.
(Ludwig Wittgenstein)
</blockquote>
Studying abroad


If you plan to study at a foreign university, college or school, you'll need
a good knowledge of the local language, unless the course you want to study is
taught through the medium of your L1. Your institution will probably provide
preparatory courses to improve your language skills and continuing support
throughout your main course.

Secret communication


If you and some of your relatives, friends or colleagues speak a language
that few people understand, you can talk freely in public without fear of
anyone eavesdropping, and/or you can keep any written material secret.
Speakers of such Native American languages as Navajo, Choctaw and Cheyenne
served as radio operators, know as Code Talkers, to keep communications secret
during both World Wars. Welsh speakers played a similar role during the
Bosnian War.

Required course


You may be required to study a particular language at school, college or
university.

Getting in touch with your roots


If your family spoke a particular language in the past you might want to
learn it and possibly teach it to your children. It could also be useful
if you are research your family tree and some of the documents you find
are written in a language foreign to you.

Revitalising or reviving your language


If you speak an endangered language, or your parents or grandparents do/did,
learning that language and passing it on to your children could help to
revitalise or revive it.

Culture


Maybe you're interested in the literature, poetry, films, TV programs, music
or some other aspect of the culture of people who speak a particular
language and want to learn their language in order to gain a better
understanding of their culture.

<blockquote>
Most people in the world are multilingual, and everybody could be; no one
is rigorously excluded from another's language community except through lack
of time and effort. Different languages protect and nourish the growth of
different cultures, where different pathways of human knowledge can be
discovered. They certainly make life richer for those who know more than
one of them.
(Nicholas Ostler, Empires of the Word)
</blockquote>
Religion


Missionaries and other religious types learn languages in order to
spread their message. In fact, missionairies have played a major role in
documenting languages and devising writing systems for many of them. Others learn
the language(s) in which the scriptures/holy books of their religion were
originally written to gain a better understanding of them. For example,
Christians might learn Hebrew, Aramaic and Biblical Greek; Muslims might learn
Classical Arabic, and Buddhists might learn Sanskrit.

Food


Perhaps you enjoy the food and/or drink of a particular country or region
and make regular trips there, or the recipe books you want to use are only
available in a foreign language

Linguistic interest


Maybe you're interested in linguistic aspects of a particular language and
decide to learn it in order to understand them better.

Challenging yourself


Maybe you enjoy the challenge of learning foreign languages or of learning
a particularly difficult language.

Sounds/looks good to me


Perhaps you just like the sound of a particular language when it's
spoken or sung. Or you find the written form of a language attractive.
If you like singing, learning songs in other languages can be interesting,
challenging and enjoyable.

One language is never enough!


If like me you're a bit of a linguaphile / glossophile / linguaholic or
whatever you call someone who is fascinated by languages and enjoys learning
them, then one language is never enough.

<blockquote>
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.

If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
(Nelson Mandela)

</blockquote>
Your reasons


If you have comments on the above or have other reasons for learning
a foreign language, let me know.

To better understand our thought processes (from Judah Kay)


All of our thought processes are conducted in language, so really our
entire existence or essense or soul, however we phrase it, is inextricably
bound up to and with the languages we speak. Try to think without language
for instance. However, we see that the language is in essence superficial,
since many languages exist. To understand the true roots of our thought
processes, the real nature of the human soul, a knowledge of several languages
may be necessary.

To become someone else (from Janet Gil)


As a teen, I wished I were someone else. Learning Spanish let me be part
of my best friend's family and have friends in college from South America
whom I may not have met had I not had such an interest in learning Spanish.
I liked myself with these other people more than I liked my American self
(if that makes sense). I have known of people who learned another language
at age 19 and above who now speak their second language almost without an
accent but speak their first language with an accent!

To understand your own language and culture better (from Evona York)


Sometimes learning a foreign language helps you understand your own language
and culture better through comparison, or through the relationship between the
foreign language and your mother tongue. For instance, studying Latin in high
school taught me an incredible amount of English, because English has so many
words that come from the Latin. Same with Greek.

<blockquote>
Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen
Those who know no foreign language knows nothing of their mother tongue.
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
</blockquote>
To keep your mind healthy (from Harvey Schmidt)


Learning a second language has been proven to delay the onset of dementia.

To find your future husband/wife (from Rico Suave)


Learning a new language and culture increases the size of your selection pool.

To better understand the rest of humankind (from Philip Lightfoot)


Language is an aspect of humanity, and learning what a fellow human speaks teaches
you more about humankind as a whole. The more languages you know, the more you
understand our species, and that is beneficial no matter what the situation is.

To talk to friends without others understanding (from Elizabeth)


If you and some of your friends learn a foreign language, you'll be able to talk
to each other without other people having a clue what you're saying. This works
best if you choose a language few people study, such as Japanese.

To learn songs in other languages (from Michelle Kelleher Tietz)


Michelle has been learning Irish and Scottish Gaelic because she likes to sing
and has founded an a cappella group that sings in Celtic languages. They sing
old work songs, lullabies, etc. This hobby combines her interests in languages,
history and story telling.

To help people in need (from Nuntawun Yuntadilok)


Learning other languages increases our chances of providing help to people
who seriously need it, such as those in hit by the tsunami of 2004, many of
whom can not communicate in English, especially children.

Friendship (from Bill Conwell)


My best friend is French and speaks English, Spanish and some German as well.
I am trying to learn French to enhance our communication, though he doesn't demand
nor expect it.

Venting your feelings (from Dick H.)


Another reason why one might want to learn a foreign language is to insult/cuss
out people without them understanding what you're saying. It works best if you choose
a language few people study. Avoid the Big Two (Spanish and French), because too
many of us learned them in high school. And you never know who has a German, Finnish,
Italian, or Greek grandmother!

To help you understand how other people think (from Orionas)


Language influences culture, so learning a language helps you to understand how
other people think, and it also helps you to get a general understanding of our
world and the many people and cultures that inhabit it.

Because I love learning languages (from Cody Warren)


My reasons for learning foreign languages is because I just love to do it,
it's all the different ways people express themself, and it shows that there
really are other people out there (to a teenager who's always stuck at home
in a small farm town). Its also a way to learn how people interact and socialize
with each other, and how each society works.

Also, I like conlanging, and learning different languages help me to understand
how things work so i can build conlangs, and vice versa, creating the conlangs
help me to understand how all different languages grammars work (Im always a
sucker for using a lot of moods, cases, tenses, etc).

Learning languages to me, is much more than making myself able to communicate
with others. To me it's like getting some nice new surprise and a whole new level
of understanding.

Showing respect (from Nicole Signer)


I believe that when somebody at least tries to learn the language of the country
they are visiting it shows a lot of respect. People really appreciate it.

It's fun (from Shelley Khadem)


Learning a language is fun and can provide a shared interest with your husband
or partner. It also satifies perpetual students' urge to study.

To express things that are difficult to express in your native language (from Tenacious Mel)


Learning a foreign language can provide you with ways to talk about things that might
be difficult to express in your own language. It's also a way to get in touch with other selves.

To better understand your own language (from Kaiti)


In order to learn another language, you need to learn the different titles and functions
of sentence parts. Learning these things can make you a better student and a more articulate
person. Also, many of the root words used in foreign vocabulary will help you later on as
you struggle to comprehend or analyze new words in your native language.

Understanding people (from Adam Briceland)


I believe a great reason to learn a foreign language such as Pacific island
languages is so that you can understand what the native speakers are saying to
each other when the'yre speaking their own language to each other. So you can s
it there and not talk to them but completley understand what they're saying in public