Ten reasons for learning second Language:

        I.            Know the world you live in:

We must discover and experience the diversities in the world we live in and enjoy all its colors and tastes. One must understand and learn the language of a region to truly know its people, know its culture, values & traditions, to be able to appreciate the true taste of their food and of course to get the full experience of travelling.

By limiting yourself to one language is limiting your abilities. With a new language you get a whole new perspective of life, it’s like seeing he world with a new eyes, like living a new life.

There’s a Czech proverb, “You live a new life for every new language you speak. If you know only one language, you live only once.”

   II.            Posting or Emigration to new country:

If you’re moving to a new country or region and you are unfamiliar with the local language, learning their language will help you settle soon and integrate with the new community. You’ll be better able to handle daily routine affairs without facing problems e.g. helping your kids with homework and talking to their teacher, buying ticket at a local park, asking out the handsome guy at your afterschool job without embarrassing yourself or bargaining with the shopkeeper.

You’ll be able to make new friends and build personal relations. About that there is an amusing quote:

“When you go to a country, you must learn how to say two things: how to ask for food, and to tell a woman that you love her. Of these the second is more important, for if you tell a woman you love her she will certainly feed you.” – Louis L’Amour.

III.            Business Interactions & Increase Employability:

Today businesses, economies, employs and clients are all truly global. To do business on international level and sell in foreign market, you must know the trends, values and especially the foreign language. Foreign language is crucial to make business deals, attract foreign clients and designing business campaigns in a foreign country.

Companies are always expanding their business overseas. In all multinationals, a multilingual candidate has a competitive edge over others. If you know a second language, you are bridge to new customers for your company. Whatever profession you belong to, doctor, manager or journalist, learning a foreign language will certainly help you in your career.

“Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can; there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.” -Sarah Caldwell

 IV.            Discover Art and Entertainment Treasure:

By learning foreign languages you’ll be able to read original versions of great books instead of translated versions and watch legendary movies without subtitles, because the essence of any art work is lost when translated into another language. An artist thinks in a certain language and creates something; to understand and feel it you must know his language.

You’ll be able to understand the music and poetry you love know the meaning of lyrics of great songs and do justice to the artists.

V.            For Reading/ Education purpose:

If you want to study abroad in some university or college, you must know the language used in educational mediums there, to be able to study your courses without any difficulty. If the local language is different from that used in institutes of that country e.g. Pakistan where higher education is in English where as national language is Urdu, one must know the local language as well, to be better able to communicate with your professors & fellow students. Institutes where international students apply mostly provide foundation courses to improve the language skills of the foreign students.

Even if you’re not studying in a foreign country, you might want to study a subject in which most of the research work and books are published in a foreign language. Without learning that language, you won’t be able to access the information or communicate with the experts and researchers.

“Language is the archives of history.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

 VI.            For the Love of Language:

Sometimes we just find some language sound good or look good. If you’re a fan of Calligraphy, you might want to learn Arabic language or if you find music or just the plain language attractive to ears, you’ll want to speak like that and understand it. Or you might like the people of a certain region interesting, you will want to understand their language to know them better.

VII.            To get the best out of your travel experiences:

The favorite restaurant in the new town have menu in local language, or you like food of some foreign country or region but the recipe books are in foreign language, you’ll definitely want to learn that language. People respect the fact if the foreigners or tourists try to learn the local language even a few phrases.

“No man should travel until he has learned the language of the country he visits. Otherwise he voluntarily makes himself a great baby – so helpless and so ridiculous.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

VIII.            Sharpen Your Mind:

Learning new languages not only enriches your communication skills but also enhance your thinking capabilities. Learning is a sort of mental exercise and it develops your memory skills too.

“Language is not only the vehicle of thought, it is a great and efficient instrument in thinking.” -Humphrey Davy

 IX.            Be Unique, Secretive and Cool:

Knowing a foreign language is not just impressive but it also shows that you are cultured and intelligent. It gives you a sense of uniqueness.

If you and  your best friend learn a foreign language that no one in your friend circle knows, you’ll be able to communicate in your secret language all the time, which is not just cool but will also give you privacy in public.

    X.            Expand your Horizons:

If you are assuming that your mother tongue and at most learning the global-lingua-franca English are enough for you, you are just putting self-imposed limitations on yourself. Learning has no limitations. A new language will certainly open your eyes to a whole new world that you’ve never imagined before.

“A different language is a different vision of life.” – Federico Fellini, Italian film director

A new language opens up new ways and opportunities for you.