So I officially declared my minor in Spanish this year after being wickedly entranced by the intricacies and intellectual challenges that learning a new language brought to me. Is it the most difficult thing in the world to do? No. But learning a new language is important to me for several reasons.

In a world filled with instant gratification, learning a new language is an exception. It's intimidating, uncomfortable and daunting at first. I also believe humans have the tendency to not want to work at something if they're not immediately good at it. However, the ignorance that comes with learning a new language at first was humbling to me. Learning a new language is something that takes years to fully conquer, and this taught me patience and perseverance. Learning a language taught me to accept humility. I have, and will continue to, make mistakes while speaking to foreigners until I have completely mastered the language, and I've come to terms with this.

Spanish also helped me to grow in confidence and proficiency in speaking in my mother tongue. Because speaking in Spanish was, and still is, intimidating to me, I found that I became immensely more comfortable speaking to people in the language I knew well, which really did help ease the anxiety I usually had while talking to people. I also paid more attention to the workings and intricacies of my own language, which helped me become a better writer.

Only knowing one language also means that there remains an entire world of other cultures you can't fully embrace or relate to simply because of a language barrier. Becoming multi-lingual means you have the ability to relate and interact with a culture in far more complex ways. Interacting with different cultures really does let you see the perspective of another world. Language is a powerful and unitive force, which makes being multilingual even more powerful.

I also admired the intellectual challenges that learning a new language brought me. Though learning a new language and interacting with that culture, I learned to think in different ways. I was forced to challenge my brain. Learning another language requires an immense amount of creativity because you must learn to synthesize the new words, concepts and intricacies of the language in complex ways in a matter of seconds. You must think on your feet while speaking another language. If you don’t know how to say one thing, find another way to say it. Describe it. Do whatever needs to be done to communicate what you're trying to say. Spanish is the one subject that I think really forced me to think critically.

Learning another language also improved my memory immensely. To me, there's a difference between simply memorizing words on a flash card and actually using the language in a real-world context. Using the language in a real-world context really really does force your brain to utilize, memorize and enforce the words and intricacies of the language you are learning. It's also something you become better at with time. Once you get the hang of things, you will catch yourself gradually catching on to new words incredibly faster.

So my wish to monolingual individuals is to swallow your pride and dive into the world that’s different from yours. Learn a new language and see what you can discover about the culture you’ve chosen to immerse yourself in. Thanks!