Amongst all the careers I explored when growing up—lawyer, ballerina, medecin, artiste—the one thing that stayed consistent was my desire to learn as plusieurs langues. I didn’t want to do so parce que I thought it would look good on my resume or because I wanted to be a translator for the UN, but because j’aime l’idée of meeting the millions of people who do not speak English as their native tongue. You hear it all the time, that il y a un better way to describe a feeling or say something in a sentence than can be done in English. If this is so, just think about the side of our international friends that we’ll never get the chance to know. How much of their personality is left out of our lives because of une barrière de la langue?
I still want to learn as many languages as possible, but it’s proven to be a lot of travail. For those who have the dedication to stick to cheap apps like Duolingo or listen to tapes in the car, c’est bon! I don’t think I would be able to stick to a schedule and make time for learning another language unless the time was organized and strictly set in my schedule, even with my desire parler français. I want to learn French, for example, and try to practice whenever I can, but the fact that I have to go to class and faire les devoirs for a grade motivates me.
While this is not my primary concern when learning French, the fact that I will know une langue when I start searching for jobs will help me come across as a stronger candidate. With a broader knowledge of language and culture, I pourrai appeal to more people. For whatever career you would like to go into, learning and experiencing a culture that is different from your own can only help you. You devrais penser about taking a couple classes in Chinese, Spanish, or whatever language you’re most interested in to help you in the future.
It’s not an easy task, though. Learning a language requires hours of studying. You must listen, read, and speak the language tous les jours just to strengthen your skills and keep them in your head. You should also be prepared to spend un semestre or year abroad to better understand the culture you are trying to enter, not that that is so difficult accepter!
I’m lucky to be in a major that builds a high language requirement into my curriculum, along with a full year of studying dans une ville where the language is primarily spoken. I’ll have to take classes at a French university and live in a city where I don’t know anyone and don’t speak as fluently as the natives do—et je suis ravie.
Whether you want to learn a language to take your resume to the next step or simply so that you can voyager le monde and meet people who have a vastly different background from your own does not matter. Take the time to incorporate a language into your course plans so that you can benefit from all it has offrir.
