Powered By Blogger

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Top 5 Reasons to Learn a Foreign LanguageTop 5 Reasons to Learn a Foreign Language

Over the past years, English has become a global language. With some 380 million native speakers, it is currently the most widely spoken and written language in the world. However, this doesn’t mean that English is the only language that must be learnt by people who want to make their life easier, and transform it into a great experience. I say this whilst bearing in mind the statement of American President, Obama- that he is embarrassed by the fact that he doesn´t speak a foreign language. English is his native language, but in the 21st century, speaking just this language isn´t enough anymore.Foreign Language
So, if someone’s ever said to you that learning another language is a waste of time and it´s unrewarding, you should know that the person telling you this did to you a great disservice. You should take advantage and learn a language as long as you´re still young…Here are five reasons to convince you of the importance of foreign language learning.
1. To increase your employment potential
Knowing languages will open up employment opportunities that you wouldn´t have had otherwise. Most companies nowadays are multinational and international companies who do business abroad. Therefore, they need bilingual or even multilingual employees. In fact, all sectors demand people with foreign language skills, and having these kind of skills will certainly give you an edge over monolingual people, who are competing for the same job as you do.
2. To enhance your travel experiences
I’m not saying that it’s impossible to travel to foreign countries without speaking their native language. Just that by speaking the language spoken in the country you travel to, you can get the most out of your experience. When you know the language, you don´t feel embarrassed anymore, and are able to communicate and participate in their daily lives and to understand their cultures by surpassing the language barrier. Moreover, people are much more receptive if they see you making an effort to speak their language, and that can only turn your experience into the trip of your life. Nowadays there are many possibilities to combine traveling with learning a language. For example, there are many language schools spain that offer the possibility to learn Spanish and they organise sightseeing trips throughout the country.
3. To improve your chances of studying at a great college or University
The majority of universities believe that knowing a foreign language (and, of course, a bit about its culture) is a requirement for admission, so they ask for language diplomas or they give you exams to test your knowledge. Most educational institutions require you to have studied a foreign language for at least 2 years, as this is a part of what every educated person should know.
4. To make friends
By learning other languages you can communicate with a great number of people. Through meeting foreign students while studying abroad or through establishing a connection with a pen-pal, you connect to another world, to other traditions and cultures, and you become friends of these people, in one way or another.
5. For your personal satisfaction
Any process that requires all your effort and hard work will at the end bring you a lot of joy and a feeling of having achieved something. Learning a foreign language isn´t easy at all, you´ll have a lot of small issues and problems to tackle along the way, you´ll have to focus on spelling, grammar, reading, and so forth, but at the end, you will be pleased and proud of yourself as learning a foreign language is one of the highest intellectual goals that one could have, and you have achieved it.
Are you still thinking of learning a foreign language? What are you waiting for? Do it!


Source: http://www.educationguideonline.net/