“In a certain way, the learning of a new language is always a love story.” I believe that now, but when I first started learning another language, during my sophomore year of high school, I thought it was pointless. It wasn’t until my junior year in college that I realized how much I loved learning another language. I enjoyed it so much that I changed my major from English to Modern Languages with a concentration in Spanish. As a Modern Languages major, I also have to take at least twelve hours of French. Learning multiple languages at the same time takes a lot of time and effort, but even during my free time, which I unfortunately have very little of, I’m also attempting to learn Nepali and Korean. Some of you might be wondering why you should study another language and honestly, there is no simple answer, but I believe learning about other languages is important.

The United States of America is a culturally diverse country. Many people have immigrated from all over the world to the U.S. These immigrants have made a great impact on our economy, and they have also aided in the blending of cultures. The problem is that, although these immigrants are doing a lot of good things, many people choose to blame them for Americans having to work harder to find jobs. Many people in the United States speak multiple languages, and “the number of people who speak a language other than English at home reached an all-time high of 61.8 million, up 2.2 million since 2010.” This means that Americans that are unable to speak multiple languages are at a big disadvantage because many businesses will choose someone who is able to communicate with foreign clients and companies over someone who can only speak one language.Those who can only speak one language are also missing out on higher pay raises and potential promotions.

“Foreign Language study creates more positive attitudes and less prejudice toward people who are different.” Because the United States is becoming more diverse, we need to learn to deal with changes when they arise. By learning about other cultures, we learn to be more accepting of others and their differences. This past semester, I attended the International Banquet at ULM and along with getting to experience the culture through food and dance, I also learned some information about our international students. As of last semester, ULM had students from 54 countries. I’ve fortunately been able to become friends with some of these students. It’s been a mind-opening experience to learn about the similarities and differences between my culture and theirs. Learning about someone else’s culture and language has allowed me to learn a lot of things that I didn’t know about myself. I’m thankful that I’ve been able to meet people from around the world because meeting these students has helped me grow as a person.

I’m sure many of you feel like you are unable to learn a new language, but you can if you try. Our life experiences can help us in learning a new language. By the time you start college, you have an idea of what study habits work best for you. Use that to your advantage when studying another language. If you want to learn another language, you can start by taking a language class. ULM offers Spanish, French, Chinese, and Latin, but that varies from university to university. If, for some reason, you are unable to take a foreign language class, you can do a self-study of a language. You can buy a book about the language or culture online or at a bookstore to help you learn. There is also an app and website called ‘Duolingo’ that I’ve found really helpful. There are 27 different languages you can choose from. If you have an extra 5 minutes during the day, use that 5 minutes wisely.

Learning another language can open up job opportunities, and it helps you be more open-minded about other cultures and people. I challenge all of you to take the time to study another language and to learn about that culture. Learning a foreign language isn’t for everyone, but you might surprise yourself like I did and fall in love.