The Amazing Benefits of Learning Languages
There are some great benefits of learning languages that most people would never have imagined. Learning languages isn’t just for the stereotypical bookworms or intellectuals; it’s something everyone can take up.
Learning languages is an inbuilt human ability thanks to how our brains function. If your brain can learn one language (how would you be able to read this if you hadn’t?), then it possesses the ability to learn more.
Many of the benefits of learning languages stem from how you stimulate and “exercise” your brain. We’ve outlined the most noticeable ones for you below.
1 – Learning Languages Improves Memory
A study featured in the journal Frontiers of Psychology (2014 edition) found that people who learned a second language had better attention spans and memory retention. This is particularly useful for people with a history of depression or other mental health disorders that negatively affect memory.
The researchers also found that compared to monolingual speakers, bilingual students had better concentration and were less distracted by outside noises and movement.
As for older individuals, a study published in the 2018 edition of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found links between increased cognitive function and second language learning in elderly learners. Researchers noted that while monitoring brain behavior, they saw improvements in structural and functional connectivity within the brain resulting in faster memory recall.
2 – Learning Languages Teaches You More About Your First Language
It’s normal not to think about your first language, and you likely don’t even remember learning it. However, when you learn a second language, you start to notice every detailed, nuanced meaning in your first language. It’s as if discovering a second language helps you rediscover your first.
Learning a second language will make you more aware of the small nuances and details in your speech that you never saw before. You can produce more accurate, articulate expressions and communicate more effectively through this process.
This can positively impact your social and professional life by improving your communication skills and abilities in discussing complex ideas.
3 – Your Brain Develops Extra Resistance to Dementia and Alzheimer’s
3 – Your Brain Develops Extra Resistance to Dementia and Alzheimer’s
As mentioned in the first point, language learning improves memory. Research published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found that language learning in adulthood “may prevent cognitive decline in later life by approximately 4.5 years”.
Language learning environments also give older individuals a stimulating, social, outgoing experience. Engaging in a fun, regular activity is just as important for older learners as it boosts neurological health and can hold dementia and Alzheimer’s back.
4 – Language Learning Opens Extra Opportunities For You
Once you can speak and understand at a basic level, your new language skills can open many new doors in more than one sense. For starters, you can travel much more easily through countries where they speak your second language without a translator. Speaking the local language increases your ability to conduct business in more places worldwide.
Having a second language also gives you a qualification for teaching, translating, interpreting, conducting international business, and much more.
If you are a social media whiz, having an additional language means having a larger audience on any platform. You will also gain access to other platforms that are not offered in your first language.
5 – Decision Making Skills
Making simple decisions is a straightforward process, right? Well, not quite.
Researchers from the University of Chicago found that people who think decisions through in their non-native language tend to make better and more analytical decisions.
The experiments looked at over 600 people across five different languages. Researchers found that when using non-native languages, participants were more likely to take favorable risks. Since people tend to avoid risky situations out of fear they will lose, using a non-native language removes emotional bias.
Because you must consciously think through a second language, the same conscious thought patterns carry over to decisions made in your second language, suppressing emotional attachments.
This study was published in the April 2012 edition of Psychological Science.
6 – You Learn How to Achieve Larger Life Goals
6 – You Learn How to Achieve Larger Life Goals
Practice makes perfect, and learning a language is the best way to improve your goal-setting and motivational skills. Just like training your body or studying to earn a qualification, language learning takes time, patience, vision, and consistency.
If you haven’t succeeded in achieving a long-term goal before, then ALL long-term goals will seem TOO big and daunting, more so than they really are. And if your goals feel unachievable, you are more likely to quit, preventing you from overcoming many of life’s obstacles.
Learning a language provides an intermediate experience and educational opportunity, like a practice run where you can learn the emotional process of sticking with something until you are successful.
Once you learn the process of setting and achieving goals, you can apply it to larger life goals outside of learning a language. Through this method, some benefits of learning languages include an improved chance of reaching any goal, whether it’s exercise-related, running your own business, stepping out of your comfort zone, or anything else that requires time and a consistent work ethic.
7 – It Gives You Insights into Other Cultures, Including Your Own
When you expose yourself to new ideas, new ways of expressing yourself, and new ways of looking at the world, you can then compare those perspectives to your own culture.
You might learn about a particular culture’s methods and strategies for expressing emotions that differ from yours. You probably didn’t realize that your culture normalizes one style of emotional expression over another because it just seemed normal without something to compare it to.
By discovering different cultures and ways of being, you can look at yourself and discover ways you would like to improve, from how you behave to the values you hold. You’ll also discover the things you love about yourself and your culture.