Hello, I’m Am.
How many languages do you speak? One? Two? Or even more? People in country which has strong homogeneity society like Japan do not speak any language except their mother tongue. But according to the data, the number of monolingual (40%) is lower than bilingual (43%). The rest is people who speak more than 2 languages.
I was also monolingual before I became a college student. But now I have been studying English and Chinese since when I realized how important to learn another language is.
Here are advantages of learning foreign language.
- You can broaden your vision, idea and even world
This is the most obvious thing that you can feel while you are learning new language. Language is also a part of its culture, so you don’t even have to visit there, now you can feel the culture through learning the language. My first language is Japanese, so it is very easy to learn Korean and Chinese because there are so many similar grammar or even words, just like Italian and Spanish are similar. It is really interesting to know that there are so many similar points in different languages and you can literally feel its history, like where the language is from. Those people who live in homogenious society, the more people know vividly how narrow the world they belong is by actually using the new language and communicating with people who speak it.
2. You get more confidence
Learning new language will definitely be a chance to change yourself. In my opinion, the most important skill is speaking when it comes to learning language. Through communication by using the language that you are learning, you could gain very strong confidence. It is ok to make mistakes of course, but most importantly, just have a courage to speak! I would like to reccomend practcing speaking skill with people who do not speak your first language. Because, if you know that the people understand your language, that ease your tention and naturally comes out your native language from your mouth when you do not know how to speak what you want to say. By practicing with people who are not your native language speaker, you will get more chance to learn how to change phrases or words when you do not know how to express your words.
3. You will be able to know how fun to learn something new is
Once you feel your language skill is improving, it makes the learning more enjoyable. It is not only boosts your emotion, but more adrenaline comes out from your brain. It is good to use some test service such as HSK for Chinese, to visualize your skill. If you have time and afford to travel just for checking your language skill, it would be good experience and exciting (and thrilling at the same). By the way I went to China just by myself to see if my Chinese skill works. As a result, I gained so much confidence and my motivation for learning Chinese is still burning inside of me.
4. No need to translate
Have you ever confused when customers who do not speak your language visit your workplace while you are working? It is super tiring to use translation apps or a machine to interpret a word or a phrase at a time. However if you have a choice to speak other language, believe it or not your coworkers will look up to you immediately. If you have routine to use a translator, better not to because it sounds awkward. Use your words first!
5. Traveling will be 100 times easier and enjoyable than ever before
When I went to China on my own, I was too scared to speak Chinese at first even though my purpose was to see how my Chinese goes. Because I did not have confidence on my Chinese and I was aware that my Chinese sucks and English is better, so I was speaking English all the time at the beginning. Then I met the girl who is from Germany in the dormitory I was staying. And I was walking around Shanghai with her unintentionally. She speaks German, Chinese and English, so we were talking in English. If I could not speak English we would have never be friends and vice versa. Thanks to her, I had so much fun in Shanghai! And also somehow I was able to speak Chinese in the end with local people, so I proved my Chinese is ok enough to communicate with native Chinese speaker. If you know more than one language, the safety level would go up even you travel alone.
So like this, if you know more than one language, it broadens your community and world. It takes you to a place you have never seen. If I forced myself to state disadvantages of learning another language is it costs and takes time until you can use it naturally. But learning language is one of invesments to yourself. It totally worth spending money on it. And there are tons of way to master the language. For me, there’s no choice not to going to English school which costs hundreds dollars a month, so I was hanging out with people who don’t speak Japanese whom I met online like after school or when I was free, to boost my English speaking skill. This way of leaning language is still minor, yet the cost and performance is awesome!
Anyhow, the most important thing is to act on your own. I hope people to be more open minded to experience language exchange. Peace!
Life of Tokyo 