As per research conducted by the best schools in Abu Dhabi ,knowing a second language is important, not just for communication, but also to stimulate your brain, enjoy opportunities you wouldn’t have otherwise, and for the many career benefits. I’ve been learning Spanish for 2 years now. The decision to learn another language wasn’t hard however finding a great program was. What is a great program? Does it have to be expensive? Is it enough to just read books and study on your own?
Better job opportunities
Employees who speak more than one language can be more competitive when applying for jobs or promotions. In some cases, employees may even be able to negotiate higher salaries for themselves if they’re proficient in multiple languages.
Many companies are looking for employees who speak more than one language because it gives them an advantage in the workplace. If you learn another language, it could help you get hired for jobs that require fluency in multiple languages (like translating or customer service). A study from Georgetown University found that adults with at least conversational proficiency in another language made up 9 per cent of the U.S. workforce but accounted for 17 per cent of all jobs requiring foreign languages — meaning they had higher employment rates than those without fluency.
More cultural awareness
Learning another language can help you gain insight into another culture’s values, history and traditions — especially if you live in or frequently travel to areas where that language is spoken regularly by natives.
Learning a second language opens your eyes to new cultures and different perspectives. It can also help you learn more about your own culture by showing you how other people view things differently than you do. For example, if you speak French, you might find it easier to understand what a French person is trying to say instead of just guessing based on their body language or tone of voice.
Improved memory skills
Bilingualism has been linked with overall cognitive ability, including better working memory capacity and mental flexibility (the ability to think outside the box). This could be due to having more neural connections in your brain or a more efficient brain network that allows you to process information faster.
Why Learn a Second Language?
Learning another language has been proven to increase both executive function (the ability to plan and organize) and cognitive flexibility (the ability to think outside the box). Not only will this make you smarter, but it can also help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia as you age.
When people learn a new language, their brains get used to processing information in a different way than they normally would, which can actually improve their memory in general! Studies have shown that bilingual people process information more quickly than monolingual people because they’re constantly switching between languages — which means they’re better at remembering things from one moment to the next than monolinguals are.
More brain power
Learning another language has been proven to increase both executive function (the ability to plan and organize) and cognitive flexibility (the ability to think outside the box). Not only will this make you smarter, but it can also help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and dementia as you age.
Learning a second language can improve your mental acuity and make you smarter.
A study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology found that bilingual people were better at remembering lists of words, and had greater cognitive flexibility than their monolingual counterparts.
Another study found that children who learned two languages before age 7 achieved higher scores on standardized tests than those who learned only one language as children.
Social skills improvement
Learning a second language can help you become more adept at communication and interaction with others. This is especially true if you learn a language that is not your native tongue. A study published in the journal Bilingualism: Language and Cognition found that bilingual children were better at reading emotions than monolingual children. The researchers believe this is because they have to constantly translate words into another language. This helps them understand what someone is feeling without having to rely on nonverbal cues, such as facial expressions or body language.
Learning a new language can be very rewarding, but it is also a challenging process. The more languages you learn, the easier it will be to pick up new ones.
While it is true that learning a second language can help you get ahead in your career and make you more competitive in the job market, there are other benefits to learning a second language as well. Learning a second language can help improve your overall cognitive abilities and social skills.
Travelling will become easier
If you’re planning on travelling overseas, having a second language will make it easier for you to communicate with people who don’t speak your native tongue. It also means that it will be much easier to find accommodation and transport around the country once you arrive.
Learning a second language can reduce the risk of dementia
The research, published in the journal Neurology, found that people who learned a second language before age 15 had a lower risk of developing dementia later in life. The study also found that people who learned a third language had an even lower risk than those who had mastered two languages.
“Our study suggests that learning multiple languages is associated with reduced dementia risk,” said study author Dr. Ellen Bialystok, professor emerita at York University in Toronto and senior scientist at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, in a statement. “It is encouraging that the effects were found regardless of how many years ago people learned their second language.”
Writing skills and vocabulary increase from the language learning
Better writing skills and vocabulary. When you learn another language, it expands your vocabulary, which makes writing easier in your native tongue. This is partly because when you learn a foreign language, you need to use synonyms for words that don’t exist in the target language (e.g., “sun” = “sol”). Also, learning another language requires more complex sentence construction than learning your native tongue does. In fact, studies have shown that bilingual people have better writing skills than monolingual people do!*
Reduced risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.* Research shows that bilingualism reduces the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease by up to 50 per cent.* This is likely due to the fact that bilingualism improves executive function skills like planning, organizing information and multitasking.*
Conclusion
For most of us, a second language is an asset that can open doors to other cultures and allow you to see both how people speak and how the world is put together. What’s even more important, however, is that it’s a skill that will last for a lifetime, giving you something to lean on no matter what life throws your way. If you don’t have the opportunity to pursue another language now, use this chance to at least consider where one might fit in with your long-term plans.
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