9 Reasons Why YOU Should Learn a New Language in 2019
It’s oh-so-easy to bask in the cozy post-Christmas glow and scribble out New Year’s resolutions for the year ahead. So easy, in fact, that all too often you may end up with a gift basket’s worth of resolutions that are impossible to fulfill without giving up on your job, your downtime, or your sleep! That’s why, according to a study by the University of Scranton, a whopping 73% of us either fail on our resolutions every year or have infrequent success.
What’s a resolute person to do? One option is to resolve not to make any resolutions, which admittedly has a high chance of success. The second, and less easy but more fun, option is to choose one resolution to stick with through thick and thin in (and beyond) 2019!
So what one resolution can help make you healthy, wealthy and wise? Learning a new language! Here are just 9 of the many reasons why:
1. It’ll turn you into Einstein
Okay, not quite. However, a raft of studies over the past couple of decades has uncovered a surprisingly broad variety of benefits belonging to bilinguals. For example, studies have found that bilingual people are better at solving puzzles, they show improved skills in both math and their native language and can more easily switch between mentally demanding tasks. All of these benefits are thought to be a result of the mental workout that learning a language gives your brain.
2. It’ll turn you into Leonardo da Vinci
Again, not quite! But it is becoming widely accepted that language learning gives your creativity a turbo-boost in two key ways. First, learning a language creates new neural pathways, essentially rewiring your brain. Second, language learners are exposed to new cultures, new ways of thinking, and new beliefs. So they see the world from a whole new perspective. Want to get out of a creative rut? Start learning a new language!
3. It’s a drop from the fountain of youth
A growing body of studies has shown that speaking at least two languages delays aging effects on the brain, pushing back the onset of Alzheimer’s by up to five years! While science is still developing ways to explore the mysteries of the brain, one hypothesis is that the physical effects of Alzheimer’s on the brain are the same in monolinguals and bilinguals, but the bilingual brain is more able to compensate for these effects. Three cheers for brain exercise!
4. It can help you find that special someone
Ten years ago, a journalist contacted 270 dating agencies in the UK and discovered that an incredible 97% of them said they asked their members whether they spoke a second language. The reason? Because the agencies found that clients saw people who spoke another language as more intelligent and sexier. Given the proliferation of online dating apps and sites since those early days and the increasingly international nature of our lives, it’s safe to assume that this informal survey still rings true.
5. It enriches travel
Navigating your way around a new location is not only easier when you speak the language, but much more fun, exciting and educational too. Chatting with locals and discovering that best-kept-secret restaurant and the off-the-beaten-path park allows you to uncover a place in a way that sticking to the tourist spots and the hotel’s vicinity simply can’t. Plus, the work and study abroad opportunities available to you open up when you speak a new language. Study at the Sorbonne? Trade in Tokyo? The world is yours!
6. It boosts your confidence
Simply improving your skills at something can send your confidence skyrocketing and help you realize that you do stand out from the crowd. But often, attempting to learn a new skill and giving up through frustration can do the opposite. This is particularly true for those who did not enjoy their language-learning experience at school and now feel that they are just “no good” at languages. This simply isn’t true. Everyone can learn a language. In fact, we guarantee it!
7. It could give you more money for retirement
It’s generally accepted that speaking another language can increase your earning power, particularly as the global village becomes smaller and smaller. According to The Economist, being bilingual boosts your earning potential by about 2% per year. This might not sound finance changing, but can add up to six figures over a lifetime. If you’re diving into a brand new language this year, you may want to consider German: Its 4% pay premium is double the average!
8. It’ll impress other people
Who can honestly say they wouldn’t love to wow companions by talking to locals abroad or ordering an Italian dish with the correct accent or talking to business associates in their native language? People who say they wouldn’t, may be telling une petite mesonge (That’s French for little fib!). Warning: If impressing other people is your primary reason for learning a foreign language, it’s more likely you’ll quit by February!
9. It’s fun!
Entering a new world, discovering new music, movies, TV shows and books, exploring new places and meeting new people—What’s not to like? But other aspects of language learning are also fun: stumbling through a conversation and the hilarious miscommunications which can result, trying to bend your tongue around a very alien phoneme and dastardly false friends which lie in wait to trip you up are all guaranteed to produce some laughs. The feeling when you’ve had a breakthrough, had your first five-minute conversation or could understand an overheard sentence without effort? That’s the most fun of all!
