Children Learn A Foreign Language

Unexpected Benefits Of Learning A New Language

There are some well known text book reasons why learning another language is good for you. It’s a real asset when you’re travelling. Being able to string together just a few words in a foreign language can score huge points with the locals. And in today’s global village, mastery of a foreign language may prove a real boost to your career, even when speaking another language isn’t necessarily a key part of your role. But there are some benefits of being multi-lingual you might not have thought of.

The ability to converse with another person in a different language to others around you can be a huge asset, especially when there’s something to discuss that’s best kept secret. Many parents resort to the French of their schooldays when they want to talk about a subject they’d rather their children didn’t hear about. This works well up to the point when one’s children start learning the language themselves! The trick can also be used outside the home in social or business situations, but needs to be done discreetly otherwise it could come across as rude or disrespectful. And care needs to be taken, because you can’t always be sure that the other people don’t understand. Which brings us to the next unexpected benefit of learning another language.

There may be times when your understanding of a foreign language is enough to allow you to pick up on some extra nuances and implications. If the other people don’t know that you can speak their language, they may say things quite candidly that they think you can’t understand. This ability could prove a very useful tool, but again needs to be used with a certain degree of caution.

Studying a foreign language means getting to grips with its structure and grammar. This knowledge can then transfer across to the understanding you have of the structure and grammar of your own mother tongue. Often people have a poor grasp of the rules governing their own language, mainly because speaking it comes so naturally to them that they don’t have to think about it.

The process of learning a new language actually changes the structure of the brain, as new neural links and connections are laid down. Language study is one way of improving on your cognitive abilities and keeping the mind agile and active. It encourages creativity and higher order skills such as reasoning, conceptualizing and problem solving. It’s been shown that when primary school children learn a foreign language their performances scores improve right across the curriculum with higher grades in maths and English.

Furthermore learning another language brings about some significant changes in life skills. Students are exposed to new cultural ideas and norms and this will equip them well to make adaptations and to cope with the fast pace of today’s changing world. They learn to deal with unfamiliar situations and develop an increased awareness of diversity as they take on board the related customs and lifestyles associated with the language they are learning.

Unexpected Uses Of Learning Another Language

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