Knowing more than one language is fast becoming a requirement for anyone who wants to compete and thrive in a world where boundaries and barriers are becoming less relevant. In addition to the language itself, multilingual learners can take advantage of the full scope of accompanying cognitive and social skills鈥攎aking them great employees, leaders in their communities, and true global citizens.
The Benefits of Learning Languages
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The U.S. Lags Behind in Language Education
Most students in the U.S. graduate high school knowing only one language鈥攎aking it the only developed country in the world for which language learning is not a recognized priority.
In the United States, only one in five K-12 students1 (and about one in 12 university students2) is enrolled in a world language class. This is a woefully small number of students, especially when compared to other countries:
92% of students in Europe learn another language in school.
Nearly 1 in 4 Canadians can hold a conversation in both English and French.
Across Africa, more schools are teaching in both the student鈥檚 first language and English, French, Dutch, or Portuguese.
While precise measurements are difficult, many sources estimate that one out of every two people on the planet knows at least two languages.
There may have been a time in the U.S. when becoming multilingual was a luxury. But to thrive in an interconnected world鈥攚ith its expanding population, evolving technologies, and growing emphasis on competing globally鈥攊t鈥檚 a requirement. And remember, three out of four humans don鈥檛 speak English.
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Top 10 Benefits of Learning More Than One Language
1. Improve Your Career & Business
When employers list the skills they most seek in a candidate, 鈥渒nowing more than one language鈥 is listed among the top eight鈥攔egardless of the job title, the economic sector, or the candidate鈥檚 experience. In other words, whether you鈥檙e an engineer, a restaurant server, a salesperson, or a small business owner鈥攁ny role in any sector鈥攎ultilingualism will serve your professional goals well.
And while knowing more than one language is a powerful way to distinguish yourself from your peers and colleagues, it鈥檚 becoming less of a nice-to-have and more of a job requirement. A full 90% of U.S. employers report relying on employees who speak more than one language鈥攚ith one in three of these businesses reporting a significant 鈥渓anguage skills gap.鈥
2. Build Deeper Connections With More People
When you can communicate with someone in her language, you open up infinite ways to connect. The entire experience of interacting with your fellow humans鈥攇etting to know them, working alongside them鈥攊s enriched by sharing their language. You will be shaped by communities. You will be humbled by the kindness of strangers. You will build lifelong friendships.
When you can communicate with someone in her language, you open up infinite ways to connect.
3. Sharpen Your Decision-Making
Decisions made in a second language are more reason-driven than decisions made in your first language.3 When tackling a challenge in a second (or third or fourth) language, you gain the objectivity and emotional distance you need to properly assess the situation. The result? Clear-eyed choices made through sound, systematic thinking.
4. Feed Your Brain
Research indicates that people who speak more than one language develop a better memory, talent for problem-solving, ability to concentrate, and tendency to be creative than people who speak only one language. Knowing at least a second language also reduces the chances of cognitive decline as you age.
5. Treasure Other Cultures
Culture is the collection of a group鈥檚 traditions, arts, customs, social institutions, and achievements, passed from generation to generation. But the surest way to understand a culture鈥攖o know it, empathize with it, and come to adore it鈥攊s to know its language. In studies, children who have studied an additional language like and respect the culture associated with that language, as well as demonstrate higher levels of empathy and tolerance. Language learning deepens and expands the way we move through the world.
Language learning deepens and expands the way we move through the world.
6. See the World (More Fully)
When you travel somewhere and know the language, the entire experience transforms. Traveling becomes more dynamic鈥攎ore full of nuance and opportunities. Knowing the language lets you escape the 鈥渢ourist bubble鈥 and to interact with people and places nobody else could. You can read the street signs to find amazing locales, engage in more meaningful conversation, and immerse yourself in local culture, food, and art.
7. Boost Your Confidence
As you鈥檙e learning a language, you鈥檒l make plenty of mistakes鈥攐ften in front of the audience of your teacher and classmates. But these 鈥渕istakes鈥 are actually steps toward becoming a more proficient speaker and more resilient learner. Studying a language allows you to take risks and step into something new and slightly uncomfortable, offering a fantastic chance to grow and mature. And when you eventually find yourself conversing with someone in their language, your sense of accomplishment will be unparalleled.
Studying a language allows you to take risks and step into something new and slightly uncomfortable, offering a fantastic chance to grow and mature.
8. Expand Your Perspective
Learning another language means learning another culture. And learning another culture means drawing comparisons between it and your own culture. You naturally discover places鈥攑laces both positive and negative鈥攚here the cultures diverge. Your understanding of the awesomeness of humanity鈥檚 diversity and ingenuity grows in a thousand new directions.
9. Experience Art in Its Original Form
Most of the world鈥檚 history and art鈥攊ts books, news, films, music, essays, stories, and online experiences鈥攁re in a language you don鈥檛 (yet) know. With more than 7,000 spoken languages on Earth, you could spend countless lifetimes exploring the many source materials if only you knew the language. Reading a love poem by Neruda in its original Spanish, reciting Homer鈥檚 epics in their original Greek, or watching 鈥淩ashomon鈥 in Kurosawa鈥檚 original Japanese鈥攖hese are all profound experiences that only language learning can offer.
10. Become a Polyglot
When you learn a second language, two amazing things happen. First, you come to know and speak your first language better. Second, learning a third language is much easier than the second (especially for children).4 Take a bold step toward communicating in as many languages as you choose!
Footnotes:
1 American Councils for International Education, 鈥The National K-12 Foreign Language Enrollment Survey Report,鈥 June 2017, .
2 Dennis Looney and Natalia Lusin, 鈥Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Summer 2016 and Fall 2016: Preliminary Report,鈥 Modern Language Association, Web publication, February 2018, .
3 Catherine Caldwell-Harris, "How Knowing a Foreign Language Can Improve Your Decisions," Scientific American, 2012, .
4 University of Haifa, "Bilinguals find it easier to learn a third language," ScienceDaily, , last accessed November 3, 2022.