Learning Foreign Languages: A Vast Door to be Opened

Outline:

      I.            Learning foreign languages has its importance in social interaction, academic and workplace achievements, and in the cultural understanding.

   II.            A.  To begin with, learning foreign languages has many benefits that fall in the social domain.

1)   being able to understand what’s happening around us

2)   widening the friendship network

         B. Moreover, learning foreign languages also have its benefits in academic and workplace achievements.

1)    having higher scores in the MAT test

2)   according to American statistics, different language speakers rate increasing by 32%

          C. Added to that, cultural understanding is one of the advantages of learning foreign languages.

1)   according to a research paper, children adapting with cultures because of multi-learned languages

2)   raising awareness through learning different languages

III.            In a nutshell, learning foreign languages benefits a person a lot, and language is one of the most important means of communication. But according to the UN, half of the 6000 languages spoken in the world will disappear by the end of the century. So, what can be done to preserve these different languages for the future?

Learning Foreign Languages: A Vast Door to be Opened

“One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way”. This quote said by Frank Smith asserts and alludes that learning languages gives a person an opened a new perspective and new chances in life.  As we know, learning foreign languages has many benefits. Learning foreign languages has its importance in social interaction, academic and workplace achievements, and in the cultural understanding.

To begin with, learning foreign languages has many benefits that fall in the social domain. For example, when a person is away from his family and familiar surroundings, loneliness can corrode his social and professional life. Speaking different languages can immeasurably help in meeting people socially and at work. One can simply be able to listen and understand what the local staff is saying. To illustrate, Benjamin Whorf, an American student had to study the American-Indian language in order to know how to talk and communicate with his friends. And after learning foreign languages, he said, “Now, I can easily understand my friends and chat with them!”

Moreover, learning foreign languages also has its benefits in academic and workplace achievements. A good example is a study that has chosen a random selection of 3^rd graders who received a 30-minute Spanish lesson three times a week for an entire semester. Spanish lessons were conducted entirely in Spanish and focused on verbal skill development. Students who participated in the Spanish program the entire semester scored notably higher on the Metropolitan Achievements Test (MAT) in language skills and mathematics than that of students who did not participate in the program. Another example is American statistics, where many communities in the United States have become increasingly diverse over the years, where the number of foreign language speakers in the U.S. has increased by 32% since 2000, and the hiring managers preferred to choose applicants who speak more than one language especially if a non-English language.

 Added to that, cultural understanding is one of the benefits of learning foreign languages. To illustrate, according to a research paper from Osaka Jogakuin College, children who are at a young age and know more than one language are replaced in a unique position for knowing how to identify the culture. For example, while learning a different language, a person can be more aware of cultural differences where he/she can come to understand why those differences exist and the importance of respecting other cultures and understanding cultural prejudices.

In a nutshell, learning foreign languages benefits a person a lot, and language is one of the most important means of communication. But according to the UN, half of the 6000 languages spoken in the world will disappear by the end of the century. So, what can be done to preserve these different languages for the future?