Why Learn A New Language?

How many people attempt to learn a new language as an adult? The truth is not a lot of people. There is this assumption that it is extremely difficult to learn a language as an adult. It is based on studies that suggest that brain plasticity reduces with age and thus, reducing the inherent ability of learning new things. However, this isn’t necessarily true. As adults we have gained experience and awareness through the years that we have lived. Being aware of ourselves in terms of strengths and weaknesses can actually serve as an asset to use better technique to learn new things – like a new language.

Since we are talking about starting to learn something new it is only practical that we make a pro and con list.

 Merits of learning a new language 

• Learning a new language always comes with learning a new culture, its like hitting two birds with one stone.
• It boosts the brain power in terms of memory, multi-tasking and knowledge.
• It keeps the mind healthy and sharp. Research has also shown that learning a new language keeps the mind healthy longer and might even help tackle symptoms of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.
• There is always the benefit of widening your career opportunities and networking skills. A new language can open the door to a whole new world of people with whom you can communicate.

Demerits of learning a new language 

• It can be time consuming especially if you are someone who tends to be busy.
• It can seem difficult. Some languages can be difficult to learn especially when not given the opportunity to immerse yourself in the culture or language that you are learning. Research has shown that exposure to the language is the best and fastest way to learn any language.

The merits and demerits list seem to suggest that learning a new language show to have more pros as compared to cons. So why is it that so many people turn away from trying to learn something new?

Xenoglossophobia

Xenoglossophobia is the clinical term for the fear associated with learning and/ or using a foreign language. Of course, it is important to understand that phobias are clinically diagnosable illness and thus, should not be confused with a layperson’s use of the word to describe their own anxieties and fears.

The fear that people refer to, that prevents them from learning a new language, is practicing of the language when talking to native speakers.

Learning a new language can be quite intimidating since it involves learning a whole new- script, words, syntaxes, sentence structures and grammar. Thus, it probably takes time to build the confidence to speak to a native speaker in that language. It also takes time and understanding to make sure to look at mistakes made while talking as learning opportunities rather than embarrassment.

The process of learning a new language is just that- learning. Making mistakes is normal and should not be feared, rather, accepted as part of the process. I am sure we have heard it at some point in our life- One can’t learn without making mistakes first.

How to overcome the fear of speaking a new language

There are three main areas that people fear learning a new language:

• Courage to speak – Most people struggle to muster up the courage to start to speak and interact in the new language. It is because of being very self-conscious of speaking the language and speaking well. Many even say they would want to start to speak the language only when they are a 100% sure. This is a catch 22. Practice makes perfect and until one actually attempts to converse in said language, it is difficult to perfect the language. The first step will probably be difficult but, only if you start can you realise that it isn’t necessarily that bad.
• Fear of not understanding the other person– Let’s say you have mustered the courage to finally speak the language and use it to interact, then there is the fear of not understanding the other person. When learning a new language, it is obvious it will take some time to understand it and during the initial stages one might have to talk slow for you to be able to comprehend or understand. The best way to confront to this fear is, be honest. There is no harm in asking the other person if they can talk slower. Only if you expose yourself to the language can you learn and attempting to converse with a native speaker of the language is the best way to learn.
• Losing motivation or being discouraged– We have all probably had a point in our lives where we have started a task but left it half way through because it was too ‘difficult’ or because ‘life got in the way’. In such a scenario there is nothing that I say, or write in this case, that can help you. Finding one’s motivation is subjective, it differs for person to person. So maybe before you start it can be a good thing to understand what motivates you to learn something new!

Now that we have addressed all the difficulties and problems that relate to learning we can begin to discuss tips you can employ to learn the language better. The World wide web is a beautiful place to find the technique that best suit you as well as useful apps and websites that cater to learning new languages, but below are the techniques that are the most popular and proven to be useful.

Tips to learn a new language

• Make it a daily habit. Making it a part of the routine allows you to learn little bit at a time everyday without being tempted to take a break or stop.
• Learn the most commonly used words first and words that are similar to your own native language.
• Using mnemonics and associations can be a life saver. E.g. Shiro in Japanese is white, Shin Chan named his white dog ‘Shiro’
• Make notes, flash cards or whatever writing mechanism that best suits you. Writing things down is the best method to remember things.
• Make sure you expose yourself to the language even if you don’t have native speakers around. Watch movies and tv shows, try to read books in the language. You can even attempt to see if google translate is able to understand when you speak in the language to check if your pronunciations are right.
• Expose yourself not only to the language but the culture of it. You can attempt to understand its origin, the culture that surrounds it and even the history of the people who speak the language.

The Cognitive benefits of learning a new language are innumerable. We have probably discussed most of them in this post. But the beauty of understanding a new language and the culture surrounding it is invaluable.

“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things” – Flora Lewis