How Learning a New Language Can Improve Your Life

My french teacher in high-school was a complete narcissistic evil torturous nasty and sadistic individual. I quit grade 10 french, and never looked back.

I am Canadian, born and raised. French is one of our two official languages so dropping out of french was a mistake, and I still believe that to this day. However Monsieur Trés Mal’s jeering comments at my pained lack of understanding french grammar encouraged a lot of laughing from my classmates. He seemed to enjoy using my cluelessness as the bunt for all his jokes. I dropped the class. My misfortune.

I met a boyfriend in high school that moved here from Argentina. He spoke Spanish so eloquently, his family made the exotic sounds that trilled around the table enticing and I wanted to learn more. After 10+ years in a relationship with my Argentinian boyfriend I learned Spanish. It was a slightly different dialect from what I speak now, as Argentina is hugely patriotic and has its own dialect.

I decided many years later to pick up Spanish once again and much to his ‘sure to be’ chagrin, I chose to keep it mainstream and learn the Spanish from Spain dialect.

Time to brush up on my not so horrible Spanish!

There are many simple ways a second language can improve your well-being.

International Movies are Muy Fantastico

I love watching foreign movies. If you sit back for a moment without looking at the subtitles and just listen… it’s peaceful. Hearing a movie in a foreign language in your home adds an ambience that you wouldn’t otherwise have. It not only makes you feel like you’re adding a touch of culture into your evening, it also gives you a sense of accomplishment. At least a little more than watching ‘Die Hard 27’. One particular movie stands out in my memory titled ‘The Scent of Green Papaya’; a 1993 Vietnamese film produced in France and directed by Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung.

Learning is a Great Stress Reliever

Surprisingly my life isn’t perfect. When I sit down however with one of my favourite language apps, I find my stress fade away almost instantly. During coronavirus times, something I’ve noticed about myself is when I sit idle for too long I start to dwell on negative thoughts. I’m not getting anything done, and I feel tremendous pressure to make the most of my time. Facebook posts on bread baking doesn’t help my cause. Jumping onto my language app, I start to instantly feel like I am accomplishing something, and honestly, it’s just as addictive as a game. The bonus prize is learning something kind of cool and useful.

Learning Enriches Your Life

I like to travel and my job helps me to do that, during ‘non-pandemic’ times. Many places that I would like to visit, or have visited speak either French or Spanish. Making an attempt at speaking the native language will show respect for the culture and it will be easier to make new friends.

Traveling to learn a new language is beneficial but not necessary. Imagine sitting at a cafe, post pandemic of course, with new friends allowing well earned syntactics to flow freely and easily impressing those around you. Becoming multilingual also offers an advantage to improve your understanding of other cultures and beliefs.

Keeps Your Mind Sharp

Falling into a dull routine at this time is too easy right now. Learning a new language at your own pace will benefit brain health. Learning a language involves several skills such as grammar usage, articulation and comprehension. Many areas of the brain, without getting into the details of neuroscience are responsible for this learning. New neural connections continue to be developed the more you learn.

Increases Career Advantages

There is great satisfaction in adding a second language to your resume. This skill shows that you appreciate learning and that learning has helped you to develop key cognitive skills. Job recruiters tend to get quite excited when they see multilingual applicants as this skill can help improve their organization communication efforts. A second language adds a competitive edge to your resume. The need for multilingual employees is higher than ever. Keep in mind that you do not need to be fluent, noting that you have intermediate language skill adds a positive dexterity to your expertise.

Improves Concentration

Learning a second language keeps you constantly needing to switch between your first language and your second language. Before you know it, this skill becomes second nature. This by default improves your own concentration. Inhibitory control is a control mechanism that enables you to tune out unwanted actions or thoughts. It essentially helps to focus on the desired stimuli, and to discard distractive stimuli. The greater level of concentration we learn to develop, the more apt we are to want to learn even more.

Gives you a Deeper Appreciation for Others

Once you begin learning another language, you will develop a far greater understanding and respect for those who have English as their second language. It isn’t easy! People worldwide move to other countries and find jobs, careers, friends and start a new life, all while learning a second language. It’s impressive, and I found this especially true once I seriously started learning another language myself.

Increases Creativity

My personal favourite. I love creativity and the infinite number of ways one can express creativity. Bilingualism, and learning a second language increases cognitive functioning such as: planning, originality, flexibility and working memory.

These elements are essential in language learning and skills continue to improve while simultaneously these same cognitive functions are used in creativity.

Increases Confidence

Once you start learning a language, you will begin to establish all sorts of positive traits. As you continue to improve your new language, your confidence will grow. The possibility to accomplish things perhaps you never thought of before will become a natural cognition. During this time there are so many ways to learn something new that does not need to cost a fortune. Excitement in learning will boost self confidence as you begin to re-invent yourself. Perhaps learning to play a musical instrument is next!

Learning another language has improved my life in ways I wouldn’t have expected, or even thought of. I believe in myself, and I believe I can learn anything I want. It’s given me a greater outlook towards my future, knowing that I can control what I want to do, what I want to learn and who I want to be. It has given me the capacity to believe in re-inventing myself as often as I like.

I am an advocate of life long learning. I love to learn, and learning loves to be learned. Start with a new language and you will see so many benefits and advantages that automatically start to appear.

Take advantage of your ability to take advantage of your time.