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Three Reasons Why You Should Learn a New Language

By Kevin

Chinese characters

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!

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Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: education, foreign languages, learning

About Kevin

Kevin has left the office, and he is currently fighting the rat race by working on his own business. He enjoys exploring unvisited places around the world and gaining new experiences. He believes that by properly managing our energy and time, we can learn to invest our lives wisely.

Comments

  1. Everyday Tips says

    September 7, 2010 at 9:16 am

    Good luck on your quest. Just please remember to write in English when you are blogging!

    • Kevin says

      September 9, 2010 at 1:42 pm

      I might mix in a bit of Mandarin every now and then 😉

  2. Financial Cents says

    September 7, 2010 at 10:47 am

    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!

    • Kevin says

      September 9, 2010 at 1:54 pm

      You’ll only have to really worry about the speaking, at least! Where do you plan to visit… any plans in particular?

  3. Carol@inthetrenches says

    September 7, 2010 at 2:04 pm

    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 🙂

    • Kevin says

      September 9, 2010 at 1:56 pm

      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! 🙂

  4. Money Reasons says

    September 7, 2010 at 3:26 pm

    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!

    • Kevin says

      September 9, 2010 at 1:57 pm

      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.

  5. Roshawn @ Watson Inc says

    September 7, 2010 at 4:06 pm

    I would like to relearn Spanish as well. It would have come in helpful when I went to Cancun.

    • Kevin says

      September 9, 2010 at 1:58 pm

      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…

  6. Mich@BeatingTheIndex says

    September 7, 2010 at 5:33 pm

    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.

    • Kevin says

      September 9, 2010 at 1:58 pm

      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.

  7. Khaleef @ KNS Financial says

    September 7, 2010 at 10:14 pm

    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.

    • Kevin says

      September 9, 2010 at 2:00 pm

      That’s pretty cool. How long did it take you to learn?

      • Khaleef @ KNS Financial says

        September 9, 2010 at 2:20 pm

        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.

  8. Financial Samurai says

    September 7, 2010 at 10:23 pm

    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!

    • Kevin says

      September 9, 2010 at 2:02 pm

      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.

  9. Tiny Potato says

    September 8, 2010 at 12:37 am

    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.

    • Kevin says

      September 9, 2010 at 2:04 pm

      I should check that out… thanks for sharing!

  10. The Passive Income Earner says

    September 8, 2010 at 1:24 am

    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.

    • Kevin says

      September 9, 2010 at 2:05 pm

      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 😉

  11. Ken @Spruce Up Your Finances says

    September 8, 2010 at 1:47 am

    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.

    • Kevin says

      September 9, 2010 at 2:07 pm

      How long do you think before we have a Google Translate bud that we can stick in our ears? Now that would be interesting…

Trackbacks

  1. Friday Night Likes — Financially Poor says:
    September 10, 2010 at 6:02 am

    […] rolled around on an anthill when I was younger. So this battle made me happy :)@InvestItWisely Three Reasons Why You Should Learn a New LanguageI’m currently (for the past 5 years) trying to learn Spanish. I think it’s about time to […]

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    September 30, 2010 at 8:59 am

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