We live in a world that is constantly becoming more and more globalized each day. With that being said, many of us have already begun reaching across language barriers and learned one or more that are not our own. As I'm sure you're aware, becoming multilingual has endless amounts of benefits in all parts of our lives. Here are just a few of my favorite perks of knowing several different languages.

1. Travel (duh!)

If you've got a ton of wanderlust like I do, you probably already know how great it is to be able to utilize another language when traveling in another country. Not only does it make the whole vacation a hell of a lot easier, but it also adds another level of immersion to the experience.

2. Making connections

Have you ever thought about how many relationships you're missing out on because of language barriers? Just imagine the number of people you can connect with, befriend, or maybe even fall in love with by learning a new language and opening all of the doors to those strangers.

3. Resume building

As I said earlier, we live in a very globalized world. With that in mind, there are endless career opportunities that will be seeking out individuals who can communicate with a wider variety of people to open up opportunities for business. Not to mention the fact that there are careers entirely based on being multilingual, including teaching, translating and interpreting.

4. Art appreciation

Learning a new language not only opens doors to encounter new individuals and relationships, but it also allows us to delve into the art worlds of other regions and cultures across the world. Literature, music, visual artwork, and dance are just a few examples of the incredible art forms that another language can help you not only get introduced to but also better appreciate.

5. Recognizing privilege

Especially in the United States, it's very easy to recognize how much of a stigma there is against non-native English speakers. Being a multilingual individual, I have the ability to recognize just how much work it is to learn another language, and with that, just how incredible it is that these individuals have put in so much effort to now also be multilingual. This is beyond admirable, especially when many face constant discrimination for their accents and broken English, encountering countless occurrences of shunning and invalidation of their presence here in the U.S. However, at the very same time, I am praised for learning other languages, yet have never once faced criticism from native speakers from elsewhere. It's an interesting dynamic that needs to be recognized.

In addition, as an individual learning American Sign Language, I find it incredibly important to recognize just how much of a privilege it is to be hearing. The deaf community is such an inspiring, incredible collection of amazing individuals, and the work they put in to thrive in a society catered to hearing people really puts in perspective how fortunate many of us are for having that ability.

6. Gossip

I'm including this just because I have so many people ask me about this all time. Many individuals who hear others around them speaking in another language like to assume that they are the subject of some sort of criticism or gossip. However, from my experiences and knowledge, this is often not the case. In my life personally, I totally use other languages to point out how attractive somebody is in the room, and that's about it. No harm done!

I encourage you all to learn another language. It will do more for you than you could ever imagine.