1. Travel travel travel
When you learn a new language your ease and openness to traveling will increase. Yes, navigating as an anglophone in this world becomes easier every day and technology is available for translation (it’s usually not all that accurate) but there is an undeniable rewarding feeling lying at the end of your destination when you know that your new knowledge of a language successfully led you there. From all the people you speak to while traveling, all the road signs and navigation's you understand, and all the phrases you hear spoken all around you during these adventures, your mind and spirit will be growing and glowing!
2. The culture
Countries often have a lot of cultural devices that can only truly be understood through the use of a native language. Phrases and sometimes even just words hold meanings that often lose their pureness and aesthetic and are often simplified from the beautiful complexity when translated into languages. These meanings often reveal a lot of culture showing what they value most. Cultural experiences within countries are often in need of full immersion which includes speaking and interacting in the language. A noticeable different often occurs when you are a part of the fluency.
3. Bountiful business opportunities
You’ve heard it all before, having a second language on your resume makes you way more applicable that the other guy. The world of business is constantly looking for ways to make a worldly appeal and it’s something you can make happen on a personal level!
4. A Clearer Understanding of your own Language
Believe me you may think you know it all, but until you sit in an intensive two hour foreign language grammar class picking apart each segment of a typically spoken sentence you will realize that you have never thought about why and how you form sentences the way you do in your first language! You will have new findings of duality in your comprehension of sentence structure, grammar in total, and in all literature. And it won’t go to waste!
5. Multilingual Community (both at home and in the world)
It’s no secret that foreign language classrooms are typically small in size. We just don’t gather the same crowd that a Bio 101 lecture does or an economics classroom (something I have never understood). But the community that is built through this is strong and supportive from student to teacher and also from student to student! Learning a language is about communication and getting to know one another and you will make new friends, foreign and native. And it’s no secret that foreigners are usually impressed when they see an American who went out of their way to learn an additional language since our education system doesn’t exactly give us prime opportunities for it at a young age!
So consider these benefits and give your mind an opportunity to bloom. Apps like duolingo are making it easy to pick up a few words a day, after that you’ll be on your way to making connections, applying your skills, and even learning more about yourself!
