I recently started learning Russian, though I'm almost certain that I will never use it. Why is it a good idea to pick up languages you think you may never use?
1. Learning languages that are significantly different from your main language helps you think differently.
As a computer science student, I have been taught to learn programming languages in many different paradigms. The same can be said about real languages. Some languages like Russian don't have a word for "to be" nor do they have a word for "have". I strongly believe that forcing yourself to think in a language that you're not used to improves your creativity thinking.
2. Learning languages is great brain exercise.
This one's kind of like the previous one, but more health related. Continuously learning and exercising the mind regularly has been found to reduce mental deterioration.3. You can show off the cool new alphabet you now know to your friends (i.e. Д, Щ, Ж, etc).
I would recommend handwriting the letters to get a better understanding of the letter shape and it also helps you remember the letters.
4. Gives you another reason to travel.
One of the biggest barriers to traveling is the language, but if you learn many different languages, the language is not keeping you from traveling anymore. It ends up being a motivator, instead, because you want to go to the country where the language is spoken, so you can use it.5. Learning the language helps you better understand the culture.
Most languages tell you something about the culture where the language is used. For example, from Russian you can see that they value professional conversations over colloquial conversations. You can also tell that Russians are philosophical because They do not describe the word 'existence' with just a single word, they instead describe what existence means to them.
6. Learning another language helps you better understand your main language.
Learning another language will make you better at your main languages. Learning new languages forces you to look at how different it is from English.
7. Helps you make friends.
I went to China for my cross-cultural studies trip at Spring Arbor University. I wish I had learned at least a little bit of Chinese before I went there. It would have helped me interact with people and make more friends. It would have also helped a lot when I got lost more than once in one of the largest and most populated cities in the world (Beijing).
Learning a language not only helps if you travel, it helps improve your thinking processes and it will also help you make friends in your home country since the US is one of the most diverse countries in the world.
