9 reasons to learn foreign languages
One of the ways to invest in your future and make life more interesting is to learn new skills. It is not coincidence that successful people learn something new and grow every day. Why not a new foreign language? Once you’ve found a goal that is close and important to you, the motivation to learn a new language is also much more stronger, which is why we’ve summarised nine advantages and benefits of learning languages for your professional and personal life.
Competitiveness in the labour market
Learning a foreign language can significantly improve career growth. First of all, language skills make you more attractive to potential employers because many companies and organisations operate in the international market and value employees who can communicate with people from other countries. Secondly, it’s an opportunity to open up new job opportunities and work in industries that may not have been available before. Tourism, engineering, communication, education, international law, economics, politics, publishing, advertising, entertainment, science, entrepreneurship and many service fields all need people with good language skills.
Nowadays, knowledge of the English language has already become a self-evident practice, so employees who can speak at least three foreign languages are valued higher. With the expansion of cooperation with Scandinavian countries, it’s important to learn the languages of the region, but research shows that German, Polish, French, Russian and other languages are also demanded by the labour market.
Education abroad
Knowledge of languages allows you to get an education in the best educational institutions in Europe and the world. Although studying abroad may seem challenging at first, overcoming such challenges provides valuable experience and life skills. Apprehension is natural at first, but stepping outside your comfort zone like this will develop all sorts of skills and boost your self-confidence.
Studying abroad helps you learn new languages, appreciate other cultures, overcome the challenges of life in another country and gain a better understanding of the world. These are the qualities that today’s companies are looking for when hiring, and these skills will only become more important in the future.
Improve your memory
Just as in sport, when you train your muscles regularly you get stronger, the more we exercise our brain, the better and more efficiently it works. Learning a new language requires getting to know new grammar rules and vocabulary. All this perfectly trains the memory, and a good memory and a sharp mind, as we know, are useful for us at work, for example, remembering to send an important e-mail or submit a quarterly reports to a colleague, and in our everyday and personal life, remembering loved ones’ birthdays and making sure the door is locked and the iron is switched off.
Improve your multitasking abilities
Time management and multitasking are skills that will always come in handy. How does this relate to languages? Multilingual people are able to think and communicate in different languages and switch between them. Studies have shown that learning languages significantly improves cognitive abilities, with people becoming more creative and better at problem-solving. In today’s fast-paced world, the ability to be flexible, adaptable and responsive is vital. These skills not only facilitate language learning itself but also help you to react quickly to unexpected situations and prioritise work tasks.
Travelling becomes easier
It’s 10 p.m., you’ve just got off a 14-hour flight, and all you want to do is go to bed quickly to gather your strength for the next day. Even with today’s technology, finding accommodation can be much slower and more complicated if you’re only armed with a few tourist terms in the local language. In addition, knowing languages to at least a good conversational level often helps you to have a more authentic travel experience by finding better places to stay, meeting people and finding cafes and cultural venues that are popular with locals. Trying to speak the language of the country you’re travelling in is a way to show respect and earn a welcoming and friendly attitude.
Openness and diversity
Knowledge of foreign languages is the foundation of modern education and liberal life views. Learning a language and immersing yourself in a completely new culture and worldview is the surest way to become an open, understanding and tolerant person; it is absolutely invaluable. Seeing the world from a different point of view, being aware of your own roots and welcoming diversity is an essential part of expanding your horizons. The fact that we’re so different is something to be proud of.
Enjoy culture and art in the original language
Learning a foreign language gives you greater access to literature, films and music in the original language. It can be a great way to learn more about the culture and history of the language you’re learning. Different language skills offer much greater access to information in general, from the arts to science and philosophy, cooking or construction.
Not only do foreign language skills improve but also those in the mother tongue
Learning a new language can actually considerably improve your mother tongue skills. It’s about the process of learning a language – when learning vocabulary in a foreign language, we also work with grammar, sentence constructions and synonyms in our mother tongue, while practise communicating with people in a foreign language improves general communication skills.
Easier with each subsequent language
Learning a language sharpens the mind and develops the brain’s synapses, which in turn facilitates the learning process in general, so breaking through the thickets of the first foreign language will make each subsequent language an easier task. Moreover, no language is unique, and noticing the most important regularities in language learning and their use can help us understand the principles of language learning more clearly. In related languages, both the principles of grammatical constructions and words, their pronunciation and meaning are repeated and overlap; therefore, for example, when living on the border areas and establishing social ties with neighbours, people often speak both Latvian and Lithuanian.
Learn languages at Skrivanek
The Skrivanek Learning Centre is a Skrivanek Baltic company and offers foreign language learning in a convenient way – in person at our office or remotely, in group and individual lessons. Our language courses are suitable for both individuals and groups who want to improve the foreign language skills of their employees. We also have language and adventure camps for children and young people, so that they can enthusiastically learn foreign languages without pressure and from an early age.
Teachers working at Skrivanek use the EFFECTO method for more effective foreign language learning, which focuses on developing active language skills and putting them into practice from the very first lesson.
Skrivanek offers English, Spanish, French, Italian, Norwegian, German, Swedish and Russian language courses in groups, while in private lessons it is also possible to learn Estonian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Polish, Arabic and more. If you want to see what our courses have to offer and find out more about them, please visit our language school website or contact us.