How Important is Learning a Foreign Language for Students in 2019

Today’s world is interconnected and named a global village for a reason, everything is attainable and accessible easily. Considering the dynamic changes all around, learning a foreign language is crucial if you want to have a competitive advantage and an edge over others.

Learning a foreign language is not going to be an easy task initially because it requires a lot of practice and patience in order for the native speakers to not give you weird looks and gestures but once you’re able to speak and understand a second language, the benefits will make it all worth the effort.

Mostly people learn a second language because they made it their resolution to do so while majority go through the hurdle to gain business incentives and some go through it just because it’s their course requirement. In order to keep your head above the water, you need to develop skills, help yourself to standout in order to fit in this modern yet crazy world.

Meet your education counselors and mentors to take the first step towards clearing your confusions.

Here are just a few reasons that discuss as to why learning a foreign language is important for students, which will make you want to learn one too.

The Personality Goes Through a Positive Change

Learning a language that isn’t your mother tongue makes you have a less stereotypical and discriminatory view of others and you tend to have a positive attitude towards people who are different which is non prejudicial and healthy for both the parties. Moreover you get to have an insight into the culture of the natives as well as into their history which just adds to your stash of knowledge. While you’re considering the perspectives of others through learning the language, you have a deeper connection and empathy towards them as well. Exchanging the knowledge through language will not only shape your personality but will make you more receptive to accept change in the future.

And once you start learning a new language yourself, you have a newfound respect towards people who speak in an incoherent way or don’t speak a specific language as well as you do.

You Can Easily Travel Internationally

Students mainly travel internationally to pursue further studies and the native country has courses in its language as well for which the students are required to have an insight of the language. If you are comfortable speaking the native language, you have opportunities to land a job in that place as well.

However, it’s not only about the study or work place you’ll be confined to, in order to travel locally you will be required to know the language in order to avoid wandering unknowingly amidst a crowd of new faces and have nobody to talk to.

It also aids in building trust more quickly as compared to the situations where people aren’t on the same page, it’s not necessary to speak fluently, what matters is that you understand and can communicate your reply effectively accompanying words with actions.

Language Learning is Good for the Mind

Your cognitive functioning is more likely to enhance because several studies have shown that learning another language will boost your ability to multitask, have a good memory retention and improve your decision making abilities making your brain healthier.

With so much of burden during the university sessions, students strive to be able to retain the course material and to multi-function as well. Moreover, the onset of brain related diseases like Alzheimer and dementia can be delayed till 4-5 years because bilinguals develop a cognitive reserve that helps delay them.

The brain’s functions are actively involved in encoding, processing and retrieving the information and in order to store the language, all of the functions will be used that will make your brain more active and will make it used to towards handling new information and retaining it.

It Boosts Test Scores and Ability in Your Own Native Language

According to newfound researches, students who study other languages and are multi lingual have a higher probability to score more on SAT verbal scores and ACT (American College Test). The domains in which bilingual students majorly excel in are vocabulary, mathematics and reading tests.

It also counters the misconception that students will get confused once they learn another language, the new language won’t interfere with the prior one but instead it will act as a new skill through which the student can be more creative and can broaden their insight.

Now since we know learning a second language is healthy for the mind, it is understandable that it will help improve the performance in studies and the research mentioned above are proof to that.

It Helps to Improve Your Socialization Skills and Build Up Self Confidence

In order to master your second language, you’ll need to speak to native speakers so that you can polish your language skills and pronunciation. You need to either leave your shyness behind closed doors or become stranded in the new university, the choice is yours.

Overcoming the language barrier can be used as an opportunity to interact with people and getting to know others better.

Students in foreign university or colleges that are away from their home have a hard time opening up and coming out of their shell and if there is a language barrier then this situation tends to last longer.

Bilingualism will help you to have higher self-efficacy because you’ll have a newfound sense of belief in yourself and your capabilities that will motivate you to overcome other insecurities as well.

Once you have learned the foreign language then it’ll take less time to make friends and socialize with the people around, and since your future is determined by your present, you need to have a good first impression.

Can Impress Possible Employers

In today’s economy, if your CV dictates that you are fluent in a second language then your chances of getting employed surpass others. The organizations nowadays have multicultural employees and the intake is generalized globally so if you have the skill to communicate within multiple communities, it’s assumed as a valuable asset to your skill set and most organizations are on a look out to grab such employees. With this you can elevate your chances of career advancement and promotion and heighten your future prospects as well.

Not only does learning another language gives you a competitive advantage over the other job applicants but it also conveys that you’re the kind who is motivated and capable of learning new skills and who has successfully done that in the past too. It makes the employers consider you because you’re likely to have the drive to adapt according to the environment and requirement of the organization.

A Second Language has Become Essential

Nowadays majority of people do stress on the importance of a second language but there are still few of them who disregard it and refer to it as something useless.

With passing time, the dynamics of this world are changing, it’s becoming interconnected with every passing moment, people are valuing others based on their skills and one mustn’t deny the value of a second language.

In order to keep up with today’s world, as people have started to value bilingualism more, others who are not in this race are being left behind. The students who are currently enrolled are being taught different languages because the world isn’t the same as it was, with globalization it’s very difficult to maintain communication and survive in terms of business overseas, the benefit to communicate with the potential customers or employers directly in their language has its own perks including satisfaction.

Helps You Avoid Certain Situations

When you’re abroad you can come across countless situations that you are unprepared for. People can randomly come up to you and initiate a conversation in their native language and mind you, it can happen at the university, the subway or even a small pub and if you’re unaware of what they’re saying, you can be wrongly assumed as a rude or an egoistic person but in all reality, you had no clue what they were saying in the first place.

There can also be instances where there’s an emergency and you need to converse immediately but since you don’t even know the basics, you just remain miserable.

Even the shopkeepers benefit through your inability to speak the native language by selling on varied prices to the locals and foreigners assuming them as tourists, and as most students, you’re already running short on money, so you better avoid losing the extra bucks.

To concise, students must emphasize on learning a foreign language, most people back out because they fear giving up or dropping out midway, but once you set your mind to something and when you’re aware of the benefits it brings along, you just get motivated to do so.

Meet your education counselors and mentors to take the first step towards clearing your confusions.

Commitment is all it takes to kick start a new beginning, learning a foreign language is not just a perk anymore but instead it will define your future.

Author Bio

Faiza Farooqi is an Online writer at Simply Studies who help students pursue career enhancing certifications and talks about career counseling around the internet.