❝One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.❞
‒Frank Smith
We live in a multicultural world. The possibility to travel to other countries and interact with other people is amazing.
But to be able to communicate to others, you need to have a common language with them. In our own country, it’s easy. We all learn the language from birth, but a foreign one… that’s a whole other story.
At the moment English is the Lingua Franca of the world, meaning that many people in the world are using it as a means of communication. Even here on Steemit most of us are writing in English, although we don’t have English as a primary language. But there are seven billion people in this world and not all of them know English. And here is where learning a foreign language(other than English) intervenes.
Why is important to know a foreign language?
I am Romanian. Born and raised into the carpato-danubiano-pontic space. So obviously I can talk Romanian. Beside my native language, I can speak English and un peu du français. And I like to think that I have a good understanding of Spanish from all those telenovelas that I was forced to watch as a kid with only one TV in the house.
Knowing a second language, it’s changes your perspective of the world. Each language is unique and each word has different meaning. A second language expands your horizons. And every time you change your perspective, you can learn or see new things in this world of ours.
Learning a second or a third language could give your brain a boost. There are studies that proved that learning a new language will improve your cognitive capacities.
Meet new people, expand your horizons, understand the culture of a place, there are many reasons why you should try to learn a new language. It’s challenging and, we have to admit, it’s fun.
How to learn a new language?
Although the best period to learn a new language is as a child, starting from 3 or 4 years old, it’s never too late to learn anything.
There a many websites that offer lessons, some free like Duolingo, or paid like Rosetta Stone or Babbel. Try signing up on one and start to learn new languages.
Practice. Try practicing your new language in every way possible. Look for clubs in your town where you could talk in the language you are learning or just go online and look for forums where you can chat with natives. It’s important to practice, because with repetition, the words will remain imprinted in your mind.
If you have the time and money, you could go directly into that country. Let’s say you want to learn French, you had an online course and you and to see how good you are. Go in France, in you have possibility, and use french as often as possible. Ignore the strange looks and talk as much as possible.
As I mentioned English is a widespread language, with many people using it as a second language. And If you know English, I recommend you... no, I challenge you to learn another language.
It’s hard to learn a new language, I know this, but a challenge is always welcome, isn’t it?
If you want to learn a new language and don’t know what to take on, here are some suggestions: Mandarin and Hindi (there are almost a billion people of speakers for each language that you could talk to), French or Spanish (languages of passion and love), Russian (well, you never know when Russian might come in handy in the future). What language would you like to take on?
❝If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.❞
‒Nelson Mandela
Image source: Pixabay
This is Day 19 of the 30 days writing challenge during January 2017 launched by @dragosroua. If you want to join the challenge, here's the introductory article.
Essential skills in life is a series of articles regarding skills that I consider everyone should try to develop them. Some of them I have, some of them I'm working on. Please follow me @sstefan if you want to check the next post of the series.