Yesterday, I talked about five different ways to learn a new language. Today, I’ll give a brief overview of why you should consider learning a new language.
Learning a new language expands your awareness of other cultures.
One can gain a better awareness and appreciation of other cultures by studying their language. For example, in Spanish there is a distinction between ser (to be) and estar (to be). In one form of using these words, the first means how you are, while the second means how you are right now (I haven’t taken Spanish in a while, so correct me if I’m wrong!). There are interesting distinctions like this in other languages, and in learning them you open yourself up to new ways of thinking.
Learning a new language exercises your brain.
There is no doubt that learning a new language involves a great deal of brain work. Not only do you have to learn how to speak and understand the language, but if you really want to go in depth, then you also have to learn how to read and write the language, as well as learn the cultural context surrounding different expressions and idioms.
Exercising the brain is good for your mental health, and learning a new language is one of the best ways to do it.
Learning a new language opens new opportunities
In learning a new language, doors open for you that weren’t open before. You can travel overseas and actually understand what the locals are saying, work internationally, and make friends with people around the world.
My own journey
Starting today, I will be taking night classes in Mandarin twice a week. This is the third course I am taking, so I am already a bit beyond the beginner level (but still very much a novice). As this will be on top of full-time work, I’ll have a bit less time for blogging, but I will still try to keep up the posting. I’ll still be around, but I’ll be just a little bit busier than before.
这个学期我很忙。 可是， 我不走了!
Good luck on your quest. Just please remember to write in English when you are blogging!
I might mix in a bit of Mandarin every now and then 😉
Great stuff Kevin. I need to brush-up on my Spanish. My wife and I are going to South America later this year for vacation. Let us know your progress!
You’ll only have to really worry about the speaking, at least! Where do you plan to visit… any plans in particular?
It’s also a fun hobby you can do with the family. Ebay has lots of the learning tools at cheap prices. My favorite is the Learnables series but I guess some phrases may no longer be considered P.C. Maybe that’s why I enjoy them 🙂
I also love how you can easily teach kids a new language. Some people think that kids can’t handle it, but I think that is bollocks. That’s the best time to teach them! 🙂
Learning Mandarin huh.
About a month ago I asked my daughter (who is 6) if she was interested in learning a foreign language, thinking show would say spanish (via the Dora the Explorer effect when she was 4), but she said Mandarin!
I was floored and think I actually said “Whoa” like Keenue Reeves. Then I remembered that she has a chinese friend that lives a street over from ours. Apparently, her friend must have had a big influent on my daughter!
Great idea! I’d be happy just to relearn Spanish again! Perhaps I’ll start watching the Spanish channel down here!
Interesting! If she does decide to learn Mandarin, she’ll be pretty prepared for the future! Spanish isn’t a bad language to learn, either.
I would like to relearn Spanish as well. It would have come in helpful when I went to Cancun.
I need to brush up on my Spanish. The worst part is that I wasn’t able to fluidly roll my Rs for the life of me…
The best thing about learning a foreign language is the pleasure of enjoying a movie in that language, simply priceless since you don’t need to count on subtitles.
With the 3 languages that you know, Mich, you can get around nearly anywhere in the world! I imagine that Spanish wouldn’t be too difficult for you to master, either.
My wife knows French and wants me to learn it as well. We both have plans to learn Spanish together, but life gets in the way.
I do know Ancient Greek – although I’m a bit rusty – and plan to learn Ancient Hebrew as well. Both for studying the bible.
That’s pretty cool. How long did it take you to learn?
I took 2 years of courses in college and also worked on it in my spare time (I love Ancient Greek). I have to pick up my Greek bible and get back into it.
Very wise of you to learn some Mandarin! I took some myself… hmmm lemme see if I can remember… u wrote:
Zhe ge xue qi wo hen mang, ke shi, wo be (zou?) le? May change the phrase to: zhe ge xue qi wo hen mang, dan shi wo hai hui zai zhe li xie dong xi (but I still will be here to write things).
If it gives you any motivation, I went to school from 9am to 6pm every Saturday for 3 years to finish up grad school while working 50-60 hrs a week!
Cool, that could work too! How did you survive that, Sam? I think I’d prefer Saturday classes though. At least I’d have a night of rest the night before. Right now I’m going straight from work to school! I like learning but I hate the schedule, though I used to do this sort of thing all the time years back.
You may want to check out free language podcasts that are available from iTunes. It helps to hear Mandarin as often as possible since lessons 1 or 2 times a week may not be frequent enough for your liking.
I should check that out… thanks for sharing!
You definitely can learn about the culture through some languages. I lived in Japan for a year and speak it a little although I forgot a lot of it now.
Good luck! Time to watch a lot of Chinese movies. I know I love to watch some old Samurai movies in Japanese from Akira Kurosawa.
Nice, what brought you over there for a year? I’m actually starting to understand some of what is said on Chinese shows now ,but they still talk far too fast for my liking 😉
Learning a new language will really open up opportunities especially nowadays when it comes to global economics. We do business with China, Japan, Latin America, etc. Here in California where it is so diversified, it would really help you to learn another language, Spanish in particular, in order to tap a certain demographics expand your business to that market segment.
How long do you think before we have a Google Translate bud that we can stick in our ears? Now that would be interesting…