Do you think learning languages benefit you in any way?

[mareebaybay]

It is actually scientifically proven that learning multiple languages can have beneficial results on your body and mind. It is said that being bilingual can help reduce risk of dementia. What is your take on learning multiple languges?

[MyDigitalpoint]

Sure that learning a new language will always serve. In general terms, it allows you to communicate with people who do not speak your own, and can provide you not just with their friendship, but also approaching to their own culture.

A new language opens up the doors to get hired when a bilingual employee is required, and if you are an entrepreneur, a second language can approach you angel investors or prospective partners.

Besides many information is only available in a language other than yours, so learning that language also opens the door to information, which is a way to empower you.

[moorecoby]

Of course. Especially for me, I'm always encountering foreigners and sometimes have to go to countries that speak a different language other than English.

[kitkat0124]

Learning new language can be very beneficial. You can communicate with other people using their language. Opportunities are better if you can speak another language. It is an edge to be hired if you are seeking work to other countries. Another advantage is that it adds knowledge and somehow it boost your self confidence.

[whatupswags]

I can't think of any negatives or drawbacks to learning more languages! I have a Czech friend who says that the more languages we speak, the more people we know. Language learning enhances cultural communication and understanding like nothing else in the entire world. Only knowing one language is so limiting, both from a personal and social perspective. I encourage everyone to tap into their mental capacity and start learning!

[DiesIrae]

I didn't know that info about being bilingual helping against dementia. @whatupswags I agree. I like how learning languages opens people up to other cultures. Even if you don't have to go to other countries, you get bits and pieces of info on how they live, with their words giving you clues on their cultures.

[Trellum]

Absolutely.  Learning english helped me to lang s really good job some months ago, I got to work from home and earnt quite well.  Sadly I had to quit because my boss tried really hard to make my life and work impossible, so I had no choice but quitting.  Other than that... that was a really great working experience!  Knowing english has given me a definitive adventage over others with similar skills who didn't know to speak english.

Right now I'm learning Dutch, and this is going to benefit me once I move to the Netherlands.  This will help me a lot to land a good job over there

[anna3101]

Learning a language opens up a whole new world for you! You learn about other countries and cultures, you get to read books that were never translated into your native languages, you discover new songs and films, and you get to meet new people that you couldn't meet otherwise.

And you boost your brain, diminish risk of old age disease, improve your memory and what else not

Agree with watupswags - do not see any drawbacks or side effects of learning a language

[jumbo]

Learning a new language has many cognitive, social and practical benefits. I'll list down some here, only to name a few.

1. You acquire a new set of knowledge. Learning a new language is acquiring new knowledge. All types of information, words, expressions constitute knowledge. Therefore, when you learn a new language, you are adding to your existing knowledge.

2. You can interact with more people. Not everyone speaks the language you do. However, when you learn a new language, you open up the possibility to speak a new group of people. If you learn Bengali, you can interact with 200 million more people than you could earlier. If you learn Hindi, you can interact with 500 million more people than you could earlier.

3. You gain cultural insight. Language and culture are closely linked to each other. When you learn a new language, you will also end up learning a lot about the culture among which this language is popular. People tend to use certain words and phrases way more often than they use others.

4. You acquire a new perspective. This is somewhat related to the previous point. When you learn about a new culture and their language, you learn how to look at things the way they do. You can then understand the reasoning behind their perspective and further apply it into your life.

The list goes on. Be proud of being a language enthusiast and a linguaholic!

 

Edited October 27, 2015 by jumbo

[sillylucy]

It totally does! I can see how it reduces your risk of dementia. You are constantly learning and that makes you use up brain power and make new connections. When you learn something new it keeps your brain young. I learned that you should write your name with your dominant hand then the other hand and then write your name with both hands at once. That will also help keep dementia at bay! 

[Lingua Franca]

I don't know if it prevents dementia but it certainly does stimulate your brain. When people learn a new language they don't only learn the language itself, but are exposed to a new culture. It also will help you with your native language as very often you might come across certain words that you normally wouldn't in other circumstances.  

[DivaDee]

Yes I think it does, not only does it allow you to get past language barriers when dealing with people of that dialect but you can about that culture better without things getting lost in translation (well not aleast lost too badly in translation), not only that but it also help you when they wish to learn your language and culture. Pretty much learning another language(s) pretty much just opens doors to other "worlds"...

[KimmyMarkks]

Yes, I 100% think those who learn a second or third language develop a certain skill.  It is very hard for many people to learn a second language, especially student who get good grades in school.  Learning a second language forces your brain to think a certain way, which I believe benefits you in other aspects of life.  In addition, learning a language makes you more culturally aware

[Verba]

Oh yes, for sure! If you could learn as many languages as you can, go for it! You'll never know when you will use them, but time will come that it will be beneficial to you. Say, you will visit or stay in a country whose national language you can speak and understand. Or you need it at work which is really a plus point for business communication and promotion. Or you simply meet a new friend with whom you will end up connected all your life. So the more languages you learn, the better! 

[pesic87]

Learning a new language for me was greatly beneficial, mostly because it just opened new areas of life to me. These areas include mostly history, geography, background, culture, ethics, moral, law, philosophy, etc.that I could acquire the knowledge of, in the language it was written, and told in. It gave me the the opportunity to grasp the meaning that is not being roughly (sometimes incorrectly) translated to my mother tongue, but rather the meaning that sprang from the native language, in this case, I am  having English in mind.

Moreover, learning English opened various new paths for me in being able to be a part of some bigger picture, follow the links, forums, blogs, websites, written in English, but not translated into my native language, become more knowledgeable and smarter, even.

It helped a lot with my cognitive senses, allowing me to think clearly, see things from different perspectives, dwell upon different matters, reason with them, and see things in a critical way, also learn better and remember, too.

Acquiring the new language also led me towards learning a great deal about the culture, make some comparisons with mine, discover the true meaning of a cultural shock, learn about people coming from that culture, and understand their behaviour better.

[hungary93]

Learning languages or just learning new things is good for your memory.

So, yes learning languages is really good for you, especially after a certain amount of languages, it gets easier and easier. I like to read about older people starting to learn new things, even languages after becoming pensioners.

 

[djordje87]

Of course it will benefit me many ways. I am not going to talk much about that, We have a saying in Serbia that says something like this. 'How many languages you know that is how much you worth.' It is a hard translation so i will put some more proverbs about languages from all around the world.

The stength of a person is in his intelligence and his tongue. Arabic proverb

Sweet language brings much. Aromanian proverb

The more languages you know, the more you are a person. Bulgarian proverb.

To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world. Chinese proverb

 

[languagelaura123]

Yes, of course. Learning languages is sometimes very hard, especially in the beginning. I learned french and english in school and I'm glad that I chose it. Now, after some years out ouf highschool I really enjoy travelling in different countries and speaking with native speakers. Learning another languages makes you feel a lot more self confident and forces you to study a lot.  For me it's really fun to learn a language in a group with other motivated students. I try to visit language schools regulary to improve my skills and to meet other people from different countries. I've been in England, France some years ago and visited South Africa last year. Learning languages is definitly so important. Try to meet locals and go to language school. I can only recommend to do so.  I think that my last school in Cape Town offer a lot of special courses depending on what you are looking for. Just visit http://www.ailolacapetown.com/en/english-school to know what I did last year. It really helped me to improve my skills, staying in a host-family and joining activities was really a lot of fun and important for me.

[reverserewind]

Sure!

First off, If I didn't speak English I wouldn't have been able to understand people from abroad. I'm an open minded person, so it's very important to me. I have so much to learn from people who are very different from me. English is the only way to establish a connection, as it's some kind of a universal language.

Second, I teach English. It's my source of income. Not the primary one as of yet but I hope soon it will be.

Third, I'm just in love with the way it sounds.

[Trellum]

4 minutes ago, reverserewind said:

Sure!

First off, If I didn't speak English I wouldn't have been able to understand people from abroad. I'm an open minded person, so it's very important to me. I have so much to learn from people who are very different from me. English is the only way to establish a connection, as it's some kind of a universal language.

Second, I teach English. It's my source of income. Not the primary one as of yet but I hope soon it will be.

Third, I'm just in love with the way it sounds.

For me it was almost the same   I am so thankful I learnt English when I was young, otherwise I am completely sure i'd have completely missed a lot great opportunities. I also taught English for a while, but I didn't like the teaching experience.  But if I hadn't learnt English then I'd not be able to make my living the way I am now. 

[VinayaSpeaks]

People learn language for various purpose, some people learn a new language for better job opportunities (in order to work as a translator, tour guide, language teacher,  writer etc.). Some people learn new language to gain knowledge on other language and literature. Whereas some people learn a new language just fir fun. I want to learn new language in order to adapt into the culture of the country where I will be traveling.

[lingualbabe]

Here are some of the benefits of learning languages to me:

• It helped me become sharper. Just a few years ago, I was quite forgetful of things. Since I started learning languages, my memory became sharper and you won't find me losing things in weird places (happened to me a lot of times before).
• It helped me connect with a lot of people. Since I started learning different languages, I am able to interact with Korean and Japanese foreigners in my country. Although they do know how to speak English, they are amazed when they hear me speaking to them in their native tongue.
• It boosted my self-confidence. Being able to communicate in different languages, something about it just boosts your self-esteem and confidence. 
• It helped me understand certain television series without subtitles.
• It helped me understand song lyrics in that language as well.

:)

[wolfette]

Languages can be beneficial to everyone. I think if your native language is one that isn't spoken by people in many countries aside from your own especially then you"d benefit from learning additional languages so that you'd be able to communicate with people if you left your own country. Similarly, if you're traveling somewhere generally it's beneficial to know phrases in that country's language.

[FenWoFon]

It all depends, for example, I currently live in a country where 0.5 of 10 citizens can speak english, not proper english but they try, I dont consider myself as an english speaker but I've learn a lot and I can actually say that I CAN speak english properly, everybody tells me that it is going to open many doors for me, job offers, girls will like me as soon as I start talking and stuff like that, I could really use that as an inspiration for my self person, however it will benefit you depending on the use you give to it, if you're learning because you wanna get a girlfriend go ahead and do it if you want but that is not a proper motive to learn, we gotta learn because we love it and we're somehow going to make a living out of it, at least that is what I think about that so yes, it benefits you a lot in many ways.

[sillylucy]

It does if you are looking for a job and it will help make you seem like a well rounded character. Sometimes there are jobs that have international markets and they want to find people who would be able to communicate with corporate offices that are overseas. I have seen some jobs in marketing and in international relations that need people to be bilingual.