Learning languages is hard. I get it. You have to tear out your old associations and bring in new ones. The warm, comfortable words you know are replaced with strange-sounding ones. Sentences and ideas come in different orders. And mastering your accent instead of sounding puro gringo is a tough one. It's a long task, but taking a second or third language is something you will never regret, and I'll tell you why:

1. Opportunities opportunities opportunities!

There are jobs, homes, and even whole countries which will open up to you if you speak the right language. This seems like exaggeration, but very few Americans nowadays have taken the time to learn a foreign language. Experienced translators have consistently outperformed machine interpreters, and I don't think that's about to change soon. I believe there's something about subtext and emphasis that humans will always do better. (Hospital interpreters, as I have heard, are paid handsomely.)

2. Long-lasting friendship.

I have friends now which I would never have if I didn't speak Spanish. They have enriched my life, made me wiser, and shown me ideas I never could've cooked up in a million years. I have pen pals and friends from Mexico who have strengthened my faith, challenged my assumptions, and truly inspired me to become closer to the person I know I am made to be. And on top of all that, conversations with them do count as Spanish practice.

3. It's good for your brain.

As The Atlantic and numerous sources affirm, learning another language improves cognitive function. According to the article, multilinguals score better on standardized tests, are better at memorizing sequences, and are likely more perceptive to their surroundings. What's more, it may even keep dementia and Alzheimer's disease at bay. This same article cites Dr. Thomas Bak, a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. A study he conducted "found that level of education and intelligence mattered less than learning a second language when it came to delaying cognitive decline." It's pretty much a win-win-win-win-win.

4. Other countries have beaten us to the punch.

Because English is the unchallenged international language, most of us who live in anglophone countries don't see the need to learn another language. In Mexico, for example, I remember seeing buildings for English education in every city we visited. The European Commission, since 2002, enacted the goal of native tongue plus two. An estimated half of the world's population is bilingual. (Read that last sentence again if you want it to sink in.) Though much of the world is learning our own language, it speaks of nothing but privilege if we make no effort to reciprocate and learn the many beautiful languages of our world.

I know, I know, I know. Languages are genuinely hard; I'm not attempting to mitigate that. What I do submit to you, however, is that learning another language has more benefits to provide than frustrations. I have never regretted investing time from my life to learn other languages, nor do I think you ever will. No matter how slowly, if you keep at it, you'll have a basket of linguistic opportunities in your hands in a couple years. Here are a couple resources to get you started:

DuoLingo - online translation and listening drills that feel like games!

Quizlet - a tool to help make vocabulary memorization less terrible.

Living Language - not free, but thorough and certainly worth the investment.

Best of luck!