No, this is not a political article so do not bother to debate me on this. I find that this expression is a strong point for why learning another language can be to your advantage. I was born in the USA in the city of New York. I came from Hispanic Descent. My parents are from Puerto Rico and had settled in the United States for 20 years. In our house, we spoke two languages–Spanish and English. I butchered the Spanish language, mixing it with English. I, later, found out that I was not the only one. Many like me spoke Spanglish (A mixture of English and Spanish).
My parents, later, adapted to English only so that I would not get confused. After living in the States for 13 years, my father moved the family to Puerto Rico to get me out of the streets of New York City. Puerto Rico, even though, is a commonwealth of the United States, is a place where Spanish is the more predominant of the languages. (English is the second official language) Bearing this in mind, my father took me aside and told me to forget English for a while. The priority was learning to read, write and comprehend the Spanish language.
My mother, bless her heart, gave me a crash course in the Spanish language. Now, I had an advantage—I understood it but I could not read nor write it. After many hours for about two weeks, I was reading and writing in Spanish. Spanish is not a difficult language to learn. The words are simple and if you are in an atmosphere where Spanish is spoken, you can pick it up in a very short time. So, I adjusted to learning how to speak two languages—English and Spanish. After 8 years of living in Puerto Rico, I joined the US Navy, moved to the States and served for 4 years. During that time, I got married, finished my tour of duty and settled in Virginia.
Learning how to speak another language has benefited me. Working in a few different companies, I would handle the Spanish customers concerns. Doing that made me feel good about myself. Recently, the US government has adopted English only. While I can understand the concept of English being the official language, as a one who comes from Hispanic descent, I have mixed feelings. Businesses, in order to make a profit, realize that the Hispanic Market is a profitable one. Why alienate them because of English only? They have money and they want to take advantage of the free market. Also, as a minister, when I was working in a Spanish church, that has helped me in the sense that we gave them a helping hand. I have to admit, I would encourage my former Hispanic church members to learn English and gave them some classes in my free time.
Why is it important to learn another language? Scientific research have found that learning a language can benefit the brain. Another reason is that it opens doors in the social and economic areas. The global economy is a huge market in the business world and learning two or three languages can help bring clients to any business. My cousins moved to Montreal, Canada and they had to learn French. They, already, knew Spanish and English but when their father moved to that area, they had to make a few adjustments. Learning a third language was easy because they were children. Years later, when they applied to the workplace, their pay was better because they knew three languages. Many would say that learning a language is difficult but it does not have to be.
Others would reason that it costs a lot of money but I got good news, you can learn another language for free. In this blessed age of technology, there is an app called Duolingo. When you download it, you can learn a language and have fun doing it. I am, presently, taking French lessons. I do not take too much time on learning it but the app will work with you. Just 5 to 10 minutes daily with simple exercises and you would be amazed at how you can pick up some words. It is entertaining and can be addictive. So, do yourself a favor, download that app. Have some fun and learn a language. It might open doors for you in the future.
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Yes. Learning another language is difficult. The difficulty always lies in the language you have selected. There are many foreign languages also besides many local languages. Learning local languages makes you perfect and easy to move nationally learning a foreign language eases you out internationally.
There are many advantages of learning a third language.
It makes the mind open and keeps you active always as you will be thrown for challenges with varieties of people.
It increases your job opportunities.
It gives you monetary benefits as knowing another foreign language will get you some additional perks. It will be in the International economy and in the global marketing.
I agree with you, My friend. If you have a tablet or phone, download the duolingo. It is free and why not take Spanish? I think you will like it.
Here in the Philippines, where English is our second Language, when you know how to speak English fluently, you can get nice paying jobs. Especially those jobs that really requires you to speak English since most foreign companies here are Americans.
English is being taught as early as in primary grade. Corporate offices here speak in English. That's why learning how to speak English is a must if you want to have a nice paying job, especially now that there are a lot of BPO companies.
I have a few Filipino friends who are very nice and courteous.They tell me the same thing--English is widely used in Manila. Thanks for your input. By the way,I like your lupias and other dishes. It is good food to eat. Salamat,my friend and God bless.
So, you have Filipino friends. And i think you have eaten lumpia already.
And look at that you know the word salamat. That is so nice.
I guess I am lucky to speak five languages. I had been to some places and tried the national language of these countries. English is my secondary language. I wasn't fond to English at first. But then, I was able to appreciate during my college days. It is a good tool to work in prestige companies or good to communicate with foreign people.
Learning a language can be fun. Using duolingo makes it worthwhile. You can download it on a app or go to http://www.duolingo.com. It is free, has some games and make learning a language fun. Now, in today's world, it is an advantage to know a couple of languages. It can help you job wise or socially. A powerful tool that can open doors.
To be fluent in other languages it is best that you learn it from the natives for example, learning mandarin from a Chinese or learning korean language from a Korean. This way is the most effective way to learn other languages.