3 Reasons Why You Should Consider Learning a New Language
By: Daniel A
Tags: Life Lessons, Education, Language, Learning, Personal Growth

Language Learning Makes The World More Intelligible

According to the dictionary, a language is defined as “a system of communication consisting of sounds, words, and grammar, or the system of communication used by people in a particular country or type of work.”

That’s how we tend to characterize languages. But they’re more than that: not only are they a way of communicating with one another, but they are also a crucial vector in understanding another culture’s perception of the world. Every idiom, specific use of syntax, and grammar reflects a different interpretation of the world around us.

I realized this when I started learning Korean. Western cultures are quite used to using possessive pronouns when referring to something they own. We usually say ‘my house’ or ‘my meal’ without realizing why. In Korean, the standard use of pronouns refers to the community. Hence, it is preferred to say ‘our house’ or ‘our meal’ when speaking.

Same goes with idioms in French and English where French prefers to refer to abstract images while English is rather concrete/practical in its use of idioms.

More than simple linguistic preferences, these variations reflect deeply on the identity and the perception of the world inherent to a language. You’ll be amazed to see this happen while you study.

The benefits linked to this are tremendous. Not only does this allow you to discover new cultures, but it also translates into a new vision of history and understanding of space and time. Once you start learning a new language, you’ll realise the way you see the world will have shifted as you gain a broader perspective of it.

“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.” — Flora Lewis

Language Learning Improves Neuroplasticity

One of the main activities of language-learning is exactly that: learning. As you discover the words to describe your everyday life, you learn vocabulary, and as you practice how to build a sentence, you learn grammar and syntax as well as diction and pronunciation.

While it may seem like you are just achieving new skills through the necessary steps of language learning, you are actually also deeply impacting the structure of your brain (in a good way) as your brain experiences a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity.

Indeed, all of these activities increase brain connectivity and grey-matter, in both the parietal cortex (a crucial factor to focus and attention) and prefrontal cortex (active in cognition) according to this study.

These features all converge towards achieving better memory as learning has been proven to fight dementia. Indeed, as you learn a new language, you are also simultaneously stimulating flexibility in neuronal connections as your brain forms new pathways to connect new concepts and ideas together.

I have always been fascinated by the brain’s plasticity and this only furthered my amazement towards the phenomenon. Here’s an article you may want to read about learning vocabulary:

Learning a New Language Helps With Thought-Verbalisation

We’ve all experienced this feeling before. You’re trying to express your thoughts but no word or expression seems to completely convey what you’re thinking, right? It seems that as Kei Miller brilliantly put it in his 2014 collection: “Every language […] is a partial map of this world”.

For example, I was surprised to learn that words such as “supportive” do not have an equivalent in French just like the French expression “avoir un empêchement” does not translate directly in English.

It’s fascinating that every word has its own nuance, tone and history. This becomes even more apparent when you put them in a sentence. However, this also means each language is imperfect in conveying all for the depth/experience related to one's thoughts.

All of these gaps can gradually be bridged by learning new languages as thanks to language learning, we can slowly put together pieces of the universe. We have the opportunity to discover new ways of exploring and expressing our thoughts as well as how to communicate them to others. We have the chance to explore the nuances and points of view inherent to every language to understand the world around us under a new light.