By: Arthur Hall
Submitted: 2011-06-20 09:54:13 | Word Count: 814
Here I listed some reasons why we are supposed to learn foreign language. Hope can help the one who are learning foreign language or is about to.
My love of languages and capability to study them comes from the child years. By as early as pre-kindergarten I was already somehow imitating other peoples' accents. While my ability to learn languages fast might be partially genetic as my mother is a speech therapist and has a great ear for sounds and accents, I strongly believe my abilities today come more from my personal efforts and passions.
Here I listed some reasons why we are supposed to learn foreign language
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Firstly, It's well documented that learning foreign languages enhances cognitive and critical thinking skills. Kids studying foreign languages do better in other subjects including English, mathematics and science. Also, later in high school students do better on college acceptance exams such as the SATs.
Secondly. Benefits for English speakers: A huge percentage of the English language is heavily influenced by vocabulary from foreign languages. I cannot count the number of time's when I've automatically known a new word of English vocabulary thanks to my French studies.
Thirdly. Finding a job: If an employer needs to fill a position,he will be much more likely to pick the candidate who knows a second language. Foreign language speakers are cultural liaisons and have to ability to bridge the link between a company and its customers. Employers in all fields ranging from the US State Department to Silicon Valley companies all need employees which are proficient in foreign languages.
Fourthly. Making new friends & dating: I have met so many friends and nice people around the world with whom I would not be able to communicate with if it was not for my foreign language abilities. The ability to speak a foreign language offers unique opportunities to make new friends and enhance one's dating and social life.
Fifthly. Travel: When visiting other countries the ability to speak in the peoples' native language not only makes the trip more convenient, but also much more enriching.
According to the report from England state Department for native English speakers:
1. The "easiest" languages for speakers of English, requiring 600 hours of classwork for minimal proficiency: the Latin and Germanic languages. However, German itself requires a bit more time, 750 hours, because of its complex grammar.
2. Medium, requiring 1100 hours of classwork: Slavic languages, Turkic languages, other Indo-Europeans such as Persian and Hindi, and some non-Indo-Europeans such as Georgian, Hebrew and many African languages. Swahili is ranked easier than the rest, at 900 hours.
3. Difficult, requiring 2200 hours of study: Arabic, Japanese, Korean and the Chinese languages.
I also share my experience of foreign language learning in past years
1. Pick a language that you like: I cannot stress the importance of this first tip. I prefer to study languages that sound nice to me. If a language sounds ugly to my ears I will resist it and when trying to learn I'll resemble somebody who's "bad at learning languages."
2. Listen, listen and listen some more: Let the sound of the language sink into your ears and brain. One can spend months doing this. This is how babies learn languages and it works. The more you listen the better your pronunciation will be when you attempt to speak.
3. Pick a language that is useful for you: When deciding what language to study I recommend you strongly consider your goals in life. While studying one language might be fun it may have no relevance to your career or other plans.
4. Start with the "big" languages: Languages are grouped into families. For example, there are the Latin-Based languages like French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese and Germanic-Based languages such as German, Swedish & Norwegian. Within one family pick one language and master it. Then, the other languages within the group or family will almost be like freebies!
5. Make friends with native speakers: This tip is overlooked by so many people. I'll share my experience. I started learning Mandarin Chinese in college. I tried so hard to make friends with native speakers on my campus. But, the problem was that they all wanted to practice English and my Mandarin did not advance. So, when I arrived in Asia I made it a point to make friends with people who did not speak English and who took little to no interest in learning languages. The results far exceeded my expectations.
6. Take advantage of the Internet: There are so many sites today which connect speakers of foreign languages with people who want to learn them. Use the technology! Also, there many websites offering great pod casts for learning languages. I like Touchchinese as they offer excellent podcasts for learning French, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin course.
At last, I hope you guys can outline the experience and find best one method for yourself.
