3 Reasons Why You Should Learn a Foreign Language
The life skills language learning can provide and enhance
The benefits of learning another language can be useful to just about any aspect of your life. Plus, it can be fun and give you the motivation to strive for further knowledge! I personally love learning about different languages and cultures. I’ve come to realize how valuable it is to be able to speak more than one language.
So I wanted to share the potential benefits of learning a foreign language. The benefits of learning another language go beyond enhanced critical thinking skills, memory, and concentration, but for now, we will focus on these three.
Enhance your critical thinking skills
You probably hear it often — critical thinking. It refers to your ability to analyze or evaluate issues, situations, and information. Additionally, it refers to your ability to form judgments, opinions, and connections.
As you can imagine, critical thinking is an essential part of your work and personal life, and it can continue to be improved as you encounter and go through complex processes to solve problems and make decisions. But how does learning a foreign language help improve your critical thinking skills? It’s all in the learning process.
When you take on something new, it generally requires more effort and energy from you. This goes with language learning as you are setting yourself up for a challenge. Learning a new language always comes with the need to practice listening. Active listening, in particular, is one of the ways you can improve your critical thinking skills.
Listening to dialogue, phrases, and vocabulary words is all part of learning another language.
When you are learning a new language, you are likely to ask questions. Asking questions also enhances your critical thinking skills. When you ask questions, it shows that you are paying attention, seeking clarity and understanding of the information you are learning so that you can use it to form your own thoughts and techniques to retain the knowledge. This also increases your self-confidence and motivation to continue learning the language.
Improve your brain activity and memory
Learning a language helps keep your brain sharp. This is because language learning increases brain activity, thus, improving the brain’s overall functioning. You can think of it as an activity where you have to solve something by picking your brain to come up with ideas for a potential solution, and when you do complete it, it feels rewarding.
With so much new information to take in and remember, such as pronunciation, grammar rules, and key phrases or sentences, it takes a lot more for your brain to process it all. With that, your memory is likely to be improved as well, making it a little easier to learn even more languages and other skills.
There is a common misconception that you need to learn a foreign language before you get “too old.”
Research shows that learning a language at any age is proven to improve your brain functionality and working memory.
Of course, it may be a little harder for older folks or take just a little longer for them to remember vocabulary words or perfect their pronunciation. That does not mean they can’t succeed! It’s all about the reason you’re learning this particular language and how motivated and persistent you are.
This goes for everyone, regardless of age. Acquiring a foreign language can open up many possibilities, whether work-related or meeting new people and learning about another culture.
Attain better focus and concentration
Critical thinking, brain activity, and working memory all have a role in helping you sharpen your overall focus and concentration. Better focus helps you improve multitasking skills, as you are essentially able to take on more daily tasks productively.
Learning another language increases your brain’s ability to focus or concentrate on various tasks, such as cooking, painting, and writing. It’s not only in terms of work and communication. It helps you apply these benefits to multiple areas or aspects of your life.
To understand what happens to your brain more deeply and how that affects your thought processes and focus, check out the video below!
It gives an excellent summarization of how these skills and benefits are acquired as a result of learning a new language. It just may motivate you to start learning a new language or at least get you interested in possibly considering the idea of doing something good for your mind and brain.
If you choose to take on this beneficial challenge, make sure you first figure out which learning method works best for you. For instance, you could learn a language through video lessons, one-on-one private lessons, online courses, podcasts, etc. I recommend a combination of at least two to three methods of learning. Learning another language should also be fun and productive. It should not feel draining. The key is to dedicate a certain amount of time to learning and creating a schedule that works for you!