I have been speaking French for almost two years, and it has been life changing. I went into it not expecting to be very good or like it very much, but I have had exactly the opposite experience. I primarily talk about French in this article because French and English are the only languages I speak (well, I speak bits and pieces of several, but only so much), but these experiences can be applied to any language. I encourage everyone to try to learn a new language, there are so many reasons that learning a new language is rewarding, but here are the ones I have witnessed myself, and their stories.
1. There is a whole new population of people to meet.
There is 7.6 billion billion people on this planet, that means there is 7.6 billion people just waiting to be met, but not everyone is going to speak English, so taking another language is automatically going to add another population of people to meet. Having friends of other cultures has so many benefits, I'd have to make a whole separate list, but speaking another language automatically opens you up even further to having friends all over the world. It is a great way to learn about other cultures, especially on that deeper level beyond the food, music, and traditions. You get a closer look on how they act, the way they view the world, and how they interact. A lot of people think that you have to live abroad for a while to get that experience, but you can still experience it from home, you just have to find the right connections.
Speaking another language has already brought me to meet (or at least talk to) so many new people, from my exchange student, to pen pal, to the numerous people I have met in Instagram comments on French pages I follow, and that's just the first ones I thought of.
2. Your English could get better.
Before I started taking French, I wasn't good at English. I didn't know the difference between an adjective and a verb, or what a pronoun was, but taking another language helped me learn those things much easier than learning it the first time. My vocabulary has improved immensely, I write better sounding sentences, and I just have a better knowledge of English in general. My English scores in class are significantly higher than before I started French, and even just in the last six months. There have been times where my English teacher has asked us things like "What is a direct object pronoun?" and nine times out of ten my hand shoots up to answer, "The who or what in relation to the verb." because we had just finished spending a month on it in French. I'm not going to bore you with a very specific example. but just having the other way to look at it, and having it explained how it is in another language versus English has made me significantly better in my native language.
3. There is a whole new world of art and literature to discover.
I have been exposed to so many other artistic wonders of the world. There are certain kinds of art that a lot of people know about, but when you learn another language your eyes are opened up to even more. I have learned to appreciate French music, playwrights, writers, and artists, so much, and I am always finding more and more to discover. As soon as you find one, especially with the convenience of the internet, more just comes to you. I could give you a whole list of artists I've found, just from finding one about a year ago, but that is another article for another time. For Christmas 2016, my mom bought me the english album of a French artist called MIKA, there was a song called 'Emily', and I had learned that he had a French version of the song as well, and I fell in love. Shortly after, my French teacher had referred a song to me called 'Dernière Danse' by Indila, and I also fell in love with that song, and after adding these to my spotify playlist, I started to get more French music recommended to me, and the rest is history. I continued to find more, and more every day.
4. Travel
When you are traveling, you want to blend in as much as possible, unless sticking out like a stereotypical tourist with the white sunscreen nose, Hawaiian shirt, socks and sandals, and fanny pack is your thing, in which case, be my guest, but you will have a more authentic experience if you blend in. Speaking the language of where you are can make the authenticity stay. Say you are in a shop or restaurant particularly in a not as touristic place, knowing the language can be rewarding in two ways. The first one is that you will be treated with better hospitality, because having the locals switch language can ruin the authenticity and the mood. The second being that not everyone speaks english, and the after fact of having an entire conversation with someone who knows no English, and you know little of their language, and it went well (or maybe it didn't) is so incredibly rewarding.
In Germany, the first day we were there, we were in a small village, walking around a cemetery looking for ancestors, and we stopped to talk to a local. No one with us speaks very much German, so throughout the trip, we did have some language barriers, but really not many, except one. So, this local, his English was very good, I don't remember what we were talking to him about, but I remember there was this guy across the street, and he wanted to talk to us so bad. When we finished our conversation with the first man, we went over to him, and he spoke zero english, he was trying, but it was't working out. I wish that one of us spoke at least a little, so we could have had that authentic conversation, so, I have yet to have a success story on how my language skills have succeeded in my travels, but I just have a feeling that it is to come.
5. Global Awareness
Knowing a foreign language has forced me to gain so much more knowledge about the world. If two years ago you gave me a list of countries or major cities to find on a map with no titles, I would maybe get 50% correct, maybe. But now, I would probably get closer to 90%. When you learn a language you typically learn some history, cultural differences and backgrounds, practices, religious beliefs, traditions, and so much more. Especially with some of the more major languages, there is many places that speak that language, and that in itself is even more you can learn. For Example, there are 29 French speaking countries, and I haven't even learned a bit about half of them, and my global awareness is so much bigger than it was before.
6. Words make more sense
Okay, so this one could kind of fall under how it makes my English better, but it is so significant, it deserves it's own rank on this list. In my opinion, English is a complicated language, is it a Germanic language, is it Latin (no, it's not, I have 10th grade root quizzes to thank for knowing that, more on that later), what is it? It is structured like a Germanic language, but a lot of words use Latin roots. So, my story on the roots, I've been studying roots for quite some time now, I think I started in eighth grade, but it wasn't until my sophomore year that I really started taking them seriously. They were useful in both English class and French. My English teacher this past year has been amazing, she has us do these quizzes on not just what roots mean, but words associated with them, so it is improving my English vocabulary, but also my French vocabulary AND comprehension. Most of the roots are Latin roots, so if I ever see a word I don't know in French, if I just look at the root, I at least get the connotation of the word, add the typical endings, and I know even more. Okay, so maybe this one is more praising on my knowledge of English (and my English teacher, who will probably read this, so, thank you for teaching the roots, most kids hate them, but not me!), but it has made me better at languages nonetheless!
There is so many more reasons to why everyone should learn a new language, whether you speak one, or four, in my opinion, it is never too late, nor too many you can learn! Even if you don't intend to become fluent, if you spend a little time to learn a little bit of the language before you travel, it can make all the difference! Even if you can't afford to travel, or don't have time, start learning another language, you will be surprised the amazing things you will learn from your own community, and the opportunities you will be given just because you are learning another language.
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