6 Benefits of Learning a Second Language
In today’s life when the entire world has become one big digital family, it makes even more sense to learn a second language. Here are a few benefits of leaning a second language.
The great Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said, ‘ the limits of my language means the limits of my world’. Rightly said and so apt. We all verse in our own mother tongue and national language all the time without giving much gravity to the fact what if we can learn a new language that is quite foreign to us so far but will be no more if we learn that language and start speaking and probably writing it fluently. In today’s life when the entire world has become one big digital family, it makes even more sense to learn a second language. Here are a few benefits of leaning a second language:
- Boosts brain power and sharpens your memory - Learning a new language will challenge your brain as learning a new language implies that your brain has to cope with complexity to make sense and absorb new patterns. It also improves your cognitive thinking and problem-solving. This boost in brain endurance and power will benefit you on both personal and professional levels.
- An Alternate Career Option - learning a second language will open up new horizons to altogether a new career option for you. Given you are now equipped with a foreign language it becomes so much easier for you to look for alternate career options that you can pursue part time or full time based on your preference. A second language can hugely benefit you if you are a part of the Coworking industry, few of the best Coworking spaces in South Delhi attracts a lot of ex-patriots as their members given most are freelancers or on a stipulated period assignment and if you kind of know a language that few of the members speak can hugely benefit in further attracting similar members based on recommendation given one feels at home if there is someone round the corner who understand you and verses in the same language. So you see, learning a second language can prove beneficial as an added income source too.
- Your Primary Language sense improves - Yes, for learning a second language it is a prerequisite that you have a good hold of your primary language. It pushes you to improve and attune the little but previously ignored nuances in a whole new way. The words or grammar you never gave much attention to in your primary language before are now precious more than ever as you cannot be adept on your foreign language if your basic language is not sorted.
- Higher Verbal and non-verbal intelligence - In 1962, Pearl and Lambert published a study where they found those who are bilinguals have an edge over those who only speak one single language. Bilinguals showed significant advantage especially in non-verbal tests that require more mental flexibility.
- Lessen the risks of Dementia and Alzimers - Its been proven that those who are bilinguals or multilinguals are in the low risk groups when it comes to brain degeneration and conditions like Dementia and Alzimers given learning is an ongoing process of recognizing and understanding a new language, it boosts the brain function and continues to improve the cognitive function of the brain, so learning a new language is like work out for your mental health and brain function.
- Improved Creativity - Learning a foreign language improves not only your ability to solve problems and to think more logically but also increases your creativity. It improves your skills in divergent thinking and ability to identify multiple solutions to a single problem.