10 benefits of learning a second language
Learning a new language like German has many benefits. Learning a second language is a great way to connect with others and learn more about other cultures. It’s also a great way to widen your global perspective, especially if you want to travel or study abroad. A second language can also open up new employment opportunities, or even just make you feel more confident in everyday life.
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Language learning is a huge part of our lives. We use language to communicate with others, but we also use language for creative thinking, problem-solving and innovation. It has been shown that learning German can help you become more open-minded, empathetic and adaptable. Learning a new language will also give you the confidence to take on new challenges at work or in your personal life. Learning German can improve your memory and brain health as well as give you many other benefits such as helping you to be more successful at your job, opening up career opportunities and giving you greater confidence in yourself.
1. Enhancing brain memory
Learning German is like feeding our brain the right nutrients it needs to grow.
Our brain is like a muscle the more we use it the better it gets. Learning a second language teaches our brain to memorise a new set of vocabulary, syntax, grammatical rules, sentence structures, etc which in turn helps our brain to develop a higher level of memory and concentration to absorb this new language and remember it to be able to use it. Studies show that individuals who can speak more than one language tend to gain an increase in skills such as problem-solving, critical-thinking skills, enhanced concentration, the ability to multitask, and better active listening.
Learning a second language like German also comes with the benefits of preventing mental ageing and cognitive decline. As previously mentioned, our brains are like muscles the more, we engage in it and feed it healthy mental exercises the more it expands, as we learn a second language our brains expand to keep track of new patterns and functions needed for a second language thus, increasing the size of the brain compared to those limited to just one singular language. Over the past few decades, the human attention span has decreased from 12 to only 8.25 seconds. However, learning German can help tackle that as those who are bilingual are proven to have better attention and task-switching capacities than those that only speak their mother tongue. This is due to the ability to adapt and switch back and forth between languages, which improves the brain's concentration levels.
2. Helps you understand your own language even better
Learning German can help increase your understanding of the languages you already speak, ever notice how some languages such as Italian, Spanish, English and French sound similar? It is because they are known as The Romance languages and originate from Latin, meaning that they share a similar structure when it comes to vocab, syntax, sentence structure, etc. So, if you know one it will most likely be easy for you to learn another. This means that you already have a head start when it comes to learning a new language.
Learning a second language helps you understand your first language better as it improves your linguistic abilities in your mother tongue and forces your brain to think about how sentences are created in your native language.
When we learnt our first language it was as if it came naturally to us; we didn't have to think about syntax, grammatical structures, or anything else. However, as we learn a second language like German, all of these language rules make our brain aware of the structure of language in our first language as well; our brains will then compare and contrast the differences and similarities between our first and second languages. As a result, we can better understand and converse in our mother tongues.
3. Expand your career opportunities
Our world is more connected and multicultural than ever before, therefore being bilingual makes you undoubtedly favourable by being an ideal fit for any employer. No matter what industry you want to work in, learning a second language German will always give you an advantage over those who can only understand one language. Being fluent in German gives you an advantage in any career field because it makes you stand out to potential employers and allows you to network and connect with clients from all over the world. Learning a second language opens up new job opportunities both globally and locally for those who speak the native language of your second language.
People who are fluent in more than one language have more job options and advance up the career ladder much faster in today's