Many English speakers believe that because so many people around the world speak English, there's no need for them to learn a second language. While it's true that many people speak English, I feel it's an unfortunate way of thinking. Not only does learning a new language benefit one's career prospects and cognitive health, it also enriches one's life in other ways like making new friends, building relationships, and developing empathy. Today, I'm going to share 7 ways that learning languages has enriched my life and hopefully encourage you to want to learn a new language.
How learning a new language enriches your life
#1 – Build and improve relationships
For most people, this would probably be the most compelling reason to learn a new language. Thinking that your native language is "king" and everyone else in the world should learn it rather than the other way around is an egocentric way of thinking.
If you want to have a personal or professional relationship with someone from another country, showing them that you're willing to meet them halfway by learning their language can help to build a lasting, working relationship, even if you don't become fluent.
Making the effort of learning someone's language shows them that:
- You are invested in the relationship
- The relationship will be two-sided
- You consider yourself to be on an equal footing
How languages helped me make friends in my first week at college
I went to a college in Hawaii that had students from 63 countries. This meant that at the beginning of the school year, foreign students were looking for people they had things in common with: homeland or language.
I was quite shy in my first couple of years at college. Even though I was from Hawaii and spoke English natively, I made several friends from China, Taiwan, and Japan in my first week of college due to our having languages in common. These foreign students felt comfortable with me because I could speak their language, we had a lot of good times over 4 years, and to this day, I am still connected with many of them on Facebook.
#2 – Develop empathy for those learning your language
It's common for people to get impatient with foreigners who take longer to get out a sentence. Sometimes, ill feelings develop when someone thinks a foreigner is being rude because of the way they phrase something.
I worked at a pizza restaurant for a short while after leaving Hawaii. One day, a customer came in who was originally from Taiwan. Because my mom was from Taiwan, we got to talking. He became a regular because he liked to come in and chat, and he and his wife had my sister and me over for Thanksgiving dinner that year
One day, he came in while my sister and I weren't working and one of our managers served him. Because he's not a native English speaker, the way he asked her to put cheese on his garlic bread offended her. She later complained to my sister that our friend had come in and that he was rude. My sister explained to her that he wasn't trying to be rude; that's how you'd ask in Chinese.
It's unfortunate when someone is trying their best to communicate and the native speaker writes them off because all they can see are their mistakes. When you learn a new language, you develop respect, understanding, and empathy for others who are trying to learn your language.
#3 – Learn the whys and wherefores of your language
One of the most fun things about learning a new language is discovering the commonality between one language and another. It doesn't matter if it's your first, second, or seventh language; you always learn something new, especially if you're an English speaker learning a European language. Even though I studied German for 5 years, I'm still learning new things about the English language these days through my Norwegian studies.
Why do we say it “smarts”?
Have you ever wondered why we say something "smarts" when referring to feeling pain? In Norwegian, the word for pain is "smerte," which is pronounced similarly to the English word "smart." I had learned the German word for pain, "Schmerz", in high school but hadn't made the connection due to the pronunciation being more different.
Where art thou?
We all knew someone in high school who, after reading Romeo and Juliet, thought it made them sound intellectual when they said "Wherefore art thou?" to ask "Where are you?". If that friend had studied German, Norwegian, or another related language, they'd have learned the origin of the word and realized that "wherefore" doesn't actually mean "where" but "why."
Why is a parasol called that?
If you study Spanish, you'll learn these two words:
- Parar – to stop or block
- Sol – sun
Put them together and what do you get? Parasol: something that stops/blocks the sun.
And while we're at it, why is the umbrella called that? If you study Italian, you'll realized that's where it came from: umbra (shade, shadow), -ella (diminutive). So umbrella literally means: little shade or shadow.
“Pan” is bread in Japanese, too!
Did you know that the Japanese word for bread is "pan"? If you've studied Spanish or Portuguese, you're probably wondering if that's where it came from. And you're right. The Japanese got the word for bread from Portuguese traders who went to Japan in the 1500s.
Not only do these sort of insights make language learning fun, they also help improve your understanding of other languages, including your native language..
#4 – Learn new things about the world you live in
A natural by-product of learning a new language is that, along the way, you also learn about way of life in that country.
I started learning Norwegian on Duolingo a few months ago, so I joined the Norwegian Duoligo Learners Facebook group which also has Norwegian members who help answer questions. In the Duolingo Norwegian course, one of the practice sentences is: Don't eat raw eggs abroad.
There was a discussion about this in the group and one of the members shared a link to an article about how eggs sold in Scandinavian shops are salmonella-free and safe to be eaten raw. While this factoid might seem trivial, it's something about the world we live in that I didn't know until I started learning Norwegian.
There's never any harm in learning how people in another country live, think, and express themselves. Tidbits of information like this can act as ice breakers and come in handy when you meet new people from other countries in both personal and professional settings.
#5 – More movies and TV shows to watch
Tired of browsing Netflix and finding nothing to watch? When you can understand even just a little of another language, it significantly increases your enjoyment level of foreign shows and movies and opens up A LOT of new things to watch.
In my post about learning Norwegian on Duolingo, I shared how watching a Norwegian show made me want to learn the language. I was maybe 20-30 minutes into into the first episode of Twin when I paused it, downloaded Duolingo, and had a 1.5-hour study session (on Dulingo with ads). When I turned my show back on, I immediately started recognizing words and phrases, which made the show more fun and interesting to watch.
When I started learning Norwegian, I also started looking for videos to watch on YouTube. My favorites are by the Ylvis brothers, my favorite Norwegian comedians (and musicians). Over the past few months, I've enjoyed watching dozens of fun videos they've made. Just a few months of Duolingo have enabled me to enjoy videos that don't have subtitles. Here's one of them. It's silly, but it gave me a much-needed laugh during a stressful time.
#6 – Subtitles don’t tell the whole story
For practicality, subtitles are often terse and don't always convey the full feeling, meaning, or nuance that the original audio does. Even if you're not fluent, just a little bit of study can help you enjoy foreign shows a lot more and pick up details and nuances that subtitles leave out.
One of my favorite shows on Mhz Choice is The Art of Crime, a French TV show about an art historian who helps the police solve art crimes.
In The Curse of Osiris, Florecence, the art historian, and Antoine, the police detective who doesn't know anything about art or Egyptian history, are trapped in a replica Egyptian tomb. Florence is trying to decipher clues to get them out.
This is a translation of a little part of the orignial audio.
Florence: It's Seth! [Sounds like the word for seven "sept" in French"]
Antoine: Of what? Seven what?
Florence: No, it's not seven what. It's "Seth"... [goes on to tell him who Seth is]
The subitles, however, just changed it to:
Florence: It's Seth!
Antoine: Seth? Seth who?
Minor, yes. But you get a more complete picture of the characters when you can understand a little of the language to supplement the subititles.
Tip for Nordic noir fans: If you learn just one of these Scandinavian languages—Norwegian, Swedish, or Danish— you can enjoy shows from all three countries!
#7 – A world of memes
Who doesn't enjoy a good meme? Well, guess what? Memes come in all languages! When you can read even a little of another language, your Facebook feed is that much more entertaining.
The other day, my cousin uploaded this meme, which I shared and gave some of my English-speaking friends a chuckle.
Translation:
Stop doing this to your photos. Grandma doesn't even recognize you anymore.
Is it life-changing? No. But is it relatable and did it make me laugh? Yes.
Here's another one I just saw last night. It's funny because it also shows that people aren't all that different from one country/language to another and gives us something in common to laugh about together.
Translation:
I don't know much about birds, but I can see at once who is the wife in this picture.
It just made me laugh again. :D
OK, just one more.
Translation:
"Should I tell the waiter that the soup is cold?"
"It's Gazpacho."
"OK, should I tell Gazpacho that the soup is cold?"
If you study Spanish, you might also learn that gazpacho is a delicious Spanish soup made with pureed tomatoes and cucumbers and served cold during the hot Spanish months. If you've never had gazpacho, you have to try it!
It would be a silly reason to learn a new language just for memes, but it's definitely a fun perk of learning a new language!
These are just some of the benefits of learning a new language that I've experienced in my life. Obviously, there are a lot more, but you can find those on lots of other blogs (a lot of them are about jobs, business, and preventing Alzheimer's disease or dementia).
How about you? Have you enjoyed the same or other benefits of learning a new language? Share your experiences with me on Twitter/X @HelloCappuccino.
