another language can be extremely beneficial. Some reasons are, it has the potential to benefit someone’s career, it can provide traveling benefits, and it can improve someone’s cognitive thinking.
In today’s age, it can be almost overwhelming for some people to choose a career because of the abundance of options. However, something that could help with this dilemma could be knowing another language. Knowing another language could narrow down your choices but also open up a whole new field of career options. The article “7 Benefits of Being Bilingual That’ll Change Your Life” written by Katherine Kostiuk, gives a plethora of other occupations involving knowing another language. She states, “Jobs as translators and interpreters are in the top 15 fastest-growing occupations in the United States, with nearly 25,000 translation and interpretation jobs expected to become available by 2020. This estimate does not even include jobs in the military, which actively recruits people with a variety of language skills.” (Kostiuk). Later in the article, she states how fast-growing fields like journalism, travel, healthcare, and even national security need an increase in bilingual employees. All these career options include helping people, but if someone wanted more personal ways of being helpful, they could try refugee centers. Refugee centers take in people fleeing from their country and help them get settled into the United States. All these careers just come from speaking another language.
McMunn, the CEO of BRIC Language Systems and a language expert, state, “In fact, those entering the workforce in 2014 with second language fluency can expect an additional 10 to 15 percent pay increase” (Chau). To most people, money is one of the highest motivators. So when a business offers a 10 to 15-percent pay increase, it is considered to be motivation to learn another language. This way, knowing another language benefits the company and the person.
Working in a business, like marketing, is highly competitive. Most people would jump at the opportunity to give them an edge when it comes to this type of workforce. Some businesses have gone on record saying if a person speaks another language, it is more likely they will get hired versus someone who doesn’t speak another language. In the article previously mentioned “Why You Should Learn Another Language”, it gives examples of businessmen recounting their experiences with speaking working with bilinguals in marketing. It mentions a man named Arvind Chary and it states “Arvind Chary, managing principal of Atlas Real Estate Partners, has been more focused on hiring multilingual employees as his company expands into markets with large Spanish speaking populations. He says, "We have been raising more capital from abroad and need employees who can communicate with our foreign investors. I would encourage anyone to learn a second language in order to advance their career opportunities." (Chau). Another reason that bilinguals are highly desired in marketing is because it helps in reaching a new target market, one with bilinguals. It has the potential to build and keep those relationships. Afterall, communication is the foundation of a relationship.
Susan Shain, she explains that learning another language can help with traveling by saying “First off, it makes travel so much easier. Being able to read a sign or ask someone where the bathroom can turn a near-disaster into a fun travel experience.” (Shain). It can be stressful planning the vacation, working out expenses, and figuring out flights. There is no need to add to the stress by not being able to ask where the bathroom is.
People travel for all kinds of different reasons, one of the more prominent reasons being to experience other cultures. When somebody is in another country, it can be very fascinating because they are in a completely different and foreign way of life. In the article “The Benefits of Learning a Second Language” written by Jennifer Smith she says, “You will have a much better experience as you can effectively communicate with much more people, which will ultimately open up your mind and put things into different perspectives regarding the different cultures of the world.” (Smith). Other cultures aren’t just behavior and food. Other cultures also entails movies, books, traditions, religion, and many more. Since another culture can be so
overwhelming to some people, speaking another language is definitely a way to put themselves at ease and make it easier and where they can experience the culture better.
When traveling, the relationships that are developed can be a large part of determining if someone has a good time. These relationships involve speaking another language for two
whenever they’re trying to communicate. People might not have the best time in another country if the locals are rude to them and they would also probably be less eager to come back.
Another perk on the traveling side of learning another language is some financial leeway. In a lot of markets, the salespeople will raise the price for tourists because they think they can get away with it. However, if a tourist were to come up to the stand speaking their native language, they could bargain and not be fooþled as easily. Another benefit of speaking another language is safety, especially in the market. It is much safer when someone is in another country. It is a lot less likely to end up in a bad situation and they are able to ask where they are or where they’re going. In the article “The Benefits of Learning a Language Before You Travel” they mention, “An awareness of environment equates to an improved chance of remaining safe inside it. For instance, to wander around a busy marketplace, dazzled by the alien language, signs and accents will instantly render any tourist a more attractive mark for pickpockets. If, on the other hand, the tourist is walking from stall to stall confidently, acknowledging signs, referring to prices and chatting with vendors about their produce, chances are they’ll avoid a potential robbery.” (The Benefits of Learning a Language Before You Travel). Traveling is something that comes up in all different aspects of life, and in order to continue to get the most out of it, people should think about learning another language before they travel to different countries.
Lizette Borreli in Medical Daily she says, “A 2014 study published in the journal Brain and Language found people who speak more than one language are better at filtering out unnecessary
words than monolinguals. The brains of those who only knew one language had to work harder to complete the same mental tasks. The researchers believe this is because being bilingual is a constant brain exercise.” (Borreli). When knowing how to speak another language, the brain can sometimes get confused as to what it is going to say because there are so many different
possibilities. This is something bilinguals and monolinguals struggle with, but this also forces them to figure it out which keeps the brain active and healthy and helps them practice decision making and problem solving skills for real world problems.
While knowing that learning a second language can improve cognitive skills is
impressive enough, scientists have also figured out that learning a second language can actually delay dementia and alzheimer's disease. This is a big deal because so much of the total
Language). Dementia and Alzheimer’s are awful, slow diseases and they affect many people . If they are able to be delayed from learning another language, it might be worth it to learn.
Learning another language can affect more than decision making skills, problem solving skills, and delaying deadly diseases. Some statistics show that learning another language can improve test scores and memory. In the United States, a majority of test scores are below average, this could be linked to educational systems not requiring students to learn another language. According to Ranking Countries by the Worst Students, they state, “In the United States, by contrast, 29 percent of students scored below a basic baseline level in at least one subject, and 12 percent students score below a basic baseline level on all three tests – math, reading and science.” (Ranking Countries by the Worst Students). In other places like Europe, there is a pressure to learn how to speak another language because of the major diversity in languages. For example, in Finland, they speak Finnish or Swedish. Whereas, in Russia, they speak russian. These two countries are right next to each other. In the United States, the number one language around the entire country is English.
Since knowing another language can improve so many thinking strategies in the brain, it might correlate with how low the test scores are in the United States. In Europe, most of their test scores are average or above average, this could be because in Europe, most people already know 3 languages by 8th grade. In the article “24 Countries That Have Smarter Children Than
