3 reasons why you should learn another language
Tips from a trying-to-be bilingual
Born and raised in Southern California, it wasn’t uncommon to hear my friends speak to their parents in one language and me in another. It was the norm to attend family gatherings where one generation spoke in English and the other spoke in Chinese. This was something I had grown accustom to.
Up until 2 years ago, I had also become accustom to the following conversation:
“What are you?”
“Oh, you’re mixed. Do you speak blank, blank, or blank?”
“No…” I would shamefully reply.
This quickly changed.
Choosing to attend Scripps College, meant another foreign language requirement. After gracefully deciding not to test out of Chinese, I decided to pursue another language I had always been interested in — Japanese. Sure, I had visited Japan before. Yes, I was part Japanese.
But, I literally knew nothing about the language.
I didn’t know that the grammar is basically English backwards, that somehow you end up learning a little bit of Chinese through Kanji (Chinese characters), that onomatopoeia is commonly used in everyday conversations— I went into the process with cold feet.
One way or another, I ended up falling in love with the language and the process.
After spending roughly 8 months in Japan and having spent the past 2 years learning Japanese, I’m only leaving Japan wanting to learn more languages.
Here’s why I think you should too:
1. Learning a foreign language makes you more self-aware.
Remember those essay prompts that had to be within the 250–300 word limit? By 2 years old, babies’ vocabulary ranges from 250–300 words.
Imagine starting again from 0.
Imagine not being able to express yourself with stellar SAT vocabulary or words that already provide the listener with so much imagery, context, and emotion like:
“squish,” and “flustered,”
or even slang like:
“I’m done.”
The whole process really makes you feel frustrated. But, it’s at this moment when you realize, you can’t control how others view you. But, you do have control of your actions. This gives you time to think about,
how do my actions reflect the person I am?
2. Learning another language builds your Emotional Intelligence.
In school, I had always been aware of my ESL peers. But, I never really understood what it meant to learn another language. English being one of the most difficult languages to learn,
I’ve learned how much us, English speakers, take English for granted. Learning a foreign language is exhausting and it’s not easy.
I’m already finding myself struggling having to code-switch between English and Japanese. Heck, the other day I combined the words commit and devote to create “covote.” Now, more than ever, I find myself admiring those who grew up having to balance two languages and two cultures. It’s pretty impressive.
3. Learning a foreign language exposes you to a whole ‘nother world, you wouldn’t have encountered otherwise.
Learning Japanese has helped me navigate Japan in a lot of surface level ways. If I’m looking for something in the store, I can easily ask a sales attendant. When I’m ordering a Frappuccino at Starbucks, I can make sure the whip cream is, nashi de (without).
But something I didn’t quite possibly expect, is the number of cultural nuances I would be able to understand.
If you know anything about Japanese language or culture, you know that it’s a cultural of hierarchy. This is also represented in the language.
When speaking to those who are closest to you like best friends or family, one type of speech style is used. Then, when speaking to strangers or those who are “above” you, a more formal speech style is used.
When I first learned the idea of this concept, I didn’t understand why there should be a difference. After all, it makes it harder for those who are trying to learn the language! However, after living in Japan for 8 months, my perspective on this concept has changed.
Through the differences in speech style, as an observer I’ve been able to quickly understand peoples’ relationships.
The “friend” my roommate just introduced me to, is she an shiriai (acquaintance) or tomodachi (friend)?
Then, I’ve been able to decide what’s the most culturally appropriate way for me to address them, talk with them, and interact with them. In an especially formal setting, this language nuance and newly developed skill has proven to be more helpful than a hindrance.
I’m glad my not-so-liberal education forced me to learn another language and if time allows, I’m ready to tackle another. If this post didn’t inspire you to learn a second language, maybe this Ted Talk will!
