3 underrated benefits of language learning
I recently discovered a newfound passion in language learning. I’m not new to it, but my appreciation for it didn’t come until the last few years.
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Having become bilingual at a young age, I never thought too much about people’s motives behind learning a new language, aside from needing it for daily life. I grew up speaking Mandarin and moved to the U.S. with decent knowledge of English when I was 14. As I adapted to the new environment, knowing English was a requirement, so I never stopped to question why.
Fast forward 10 years, I had been learning Japanese for a few years, when I began seeing the benefits of learning a new language, the ones I rarely hear anyone speak about. I quickly became aware how different and how meaningful learning a new language was for me this time around.
Learning English, as useful as it was and continues to be, felt like a chore at a young age. Japanese, however, was an endeavor motivated by pure interest. I’m not Japanese, had no plans moving to Japan at the time, and had nobody around me who spoke it. I had gone to Japan one summer, really really liked it, and decided spontaneously to try to learn the language afterwards. It wasn’t something that would help me much, but I wanted to do it anyway.
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It’s hard to believe 7 or 8 years have passed. What started out as a chase after my curiosity turned into the most enduring hobby I’ve ever had. I’m still doing it, and I haven’t gotten sick of it. Upon some reflection, it became clear to me that learning a new language has rewarded me in tremendous ways. In this blog I want to share 3 that have stood out to me and that have kept me on this journey.
I have become better at taking in new perspectives
Other languages likely work differently from our native ones. For me, as I learn more in my target language, it naturally puts me in the shoes of people who speak it. It’s almost as if I have to switch on a different brain with new ways of thinking. Over time, it has challenged me and made me more receptive to different ways of thinking and styles of communication. When we meet someone who differs from us, or maybe we disagree with, it can be easy to get defensive of our identity and beliefs and to dismiss others as bad. But learning a language almost forces us to accept there is another way things work.
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A new language is expected to be different from what we know, and as a result in language learning we might naturally be more accepting. Having been on the language learning journey for some time, I notice this receptiveness starting to carry over into my character, where I am becoming more open-minded and better able to listen to different points of view. Language learning offers a humbling and eye opening experience.
It trains my brain
Learning a language is no easy business. Unless the language is very similar to a language we know, it’s almost like relearning how everything works around us. That can feel counter intuitive because it’s like this new knowledge is defying the existing rules our world is based on, in what we speak, read, write, and hear. Even with languages that are similar to what we know, the learning curve might be more gentle, but in exchange there is the risk of mixing things up.
Needless to say, we can get confused or feel frustrated. This makes language learning a testing process. It trains our brains a long list of soft skills— patience, resilience, consistency, focus, just to name a few.
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Remembering a whole new set of grammar rules and words takes a lot of patience. Like many other kinds of learning, progress in language acquisition is not always linear, so when our learning slows, resilience helps. On those bad days, it’s much easier to give up, so when we choose to push through and stay consistent, we should be extremely proud of ourselves. Learning a language well also requires us to allocate focused study time in our schedules. It’s not possible without discipline. Furthermore, the actions of speaking and listening to a new language make our brains work pretty darn hard. It really is like muscle training…but for our brains.
It enhances and deepens my understanding of other cultures
It’s nice to travel to places, but the experience is completely different when you know the language. You will have deeper conversations with locals, you will be amazed by how much you comprehend, and you will understand every detail in your surroundings at a much deeper level. Instead of just seeing the tourist side of things, you can get a taste of being inside another culture. The whole travel experience becomes more dynamic.
When I reached more advanced Japanese, going past the grammar and rules that have a right and wrong, I began to notice language-specific context. In other words, I started learning how to read between the lines. I can better understand jokes, pick up signals from change in speaker’s behavior or tone, and even express myself in a deeper and more nuanced manner. With knowledge in the Japanese language, I gain way more from Japanese content I consume, and build deeper connections through more extensive conversations with Japanese friends.
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Simply put, knowing a language—even a small fraction of it—brings a whole new layer to any exposure we have to the culture of the language. This broadens our view on the world and ocean open doors for us. Each language we learn brings us closer to different cultures in different corners of the world, and many more people we can now connect with.
Closing Thoughts
There are many reasons someone might want to learn a new language. For me, English had become part of my day-to-day overnight when I moved to the States, so there wasn’t much deliberation on that one. Japanese study, on the other hand, started lightheartedly from me just following my heart.
I didn’t always see clearly these benefits of language learning though. It was at a point in my life when I was so stressed that I realized Japanese study is one of the only things that brought calmness into my mind amidst the chaos. I feel content every time I learn something new in Japanese or engage in Japanese conversations with my teacher.
I came to appreciate the sense of fulfillment and growth I feel on this journey. The learnings go way past just knowledge in the language. What’s more, it’s pretty much a risk-free activity. It opens our minds, broadens our view on the world, and nourishes our soul. There are so many benefits that can come out of it and really not much for us to lose.
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Just for this reason, I’m grateful to have learned these languages so far. I’m also determined to keep learning other languages no matter how old I get and how busy life becomes. In fact, I already have an idea which ones I might learn next. For anyone thinking about learning a new language, I highly recommend it and hope this blog convinces you to take that first step.
