WHY LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE?

An obvious reason to learn a new language is to be able to communicate with the people who speak it. This includes both the people you meet when traveling as well as people in your own community.

Speaking another's language shows respect for that culture, and people in every country prefer it when tourists make an effort to speak the local language, even if all you can say in it is "hello" and "please." In addition, learning another language can also help you to communicate with local immigrant populations at home. Speaking a new language helps you to get to know another people and culture, as language and culture go hand in hand. Because language simultaneously defines and is defined by the world around us, learning another language opens one's mind to new ideas and new ways of looking at the world.

Speaking more than one language is a skill which will increase your marketability. Schools and employers tend to prefer candidates who speak one or more foreign languages. The global economy depends on communication.

Also, in learning how another language differs from your own, you will increase your understanding of your own language. For many people, language is innate - we know how to say something, but we don't necessarily know why we say it that way. Learning another language can change that. Each subsequent language you study will be, in some respects, a little easier, because you've already learned how to learn another language.

Children who study a foreign language often have higher test scores in math, reading, and languages. Foreign language study can help to increase problem-solving skills, memory, and self-discipline.