50 Amazing Reasons to Learn a Language Now!

There are thousands of benefits to language learning, but below are some of the TOP, most proven, and most researched reasons to learn a foreign language.

It does not matter which specific language you are learning, what your age is, what your language level is, what method you are using, etc. The only thing that matters is that you are studying and/or using your learned language fairly regularly!

That is more than enough to impart these amazing benefits on your life. From increased brain activity to decreased disease rates to faster stroke recovery time to memory improvement and so much more.

Learning a language is like the gym for your brain!

So get to training today!

Read through all of the benefits below and leave a comment below sharing which reasons stuck out as the most beneficial (or shocking!) to you. Some of these really surprised me – in a good way!!

1.) Once you learn one language, you are able to learn more languages much more easily! (and then reap several of the benefits listed below x2 or more!) (study).

2.) Learning a language can help delay symptoms of dementia! (study).

3.) Language learning will also help delay Alzheimer’s disease! In fact, those who speak more than one language require, on average, twice as much damaged brain matter to even start showing symptoms as monolinguals (study).

4.) You can travel all around our beautiful planet and speak with so many more amazing groups of people with each language you learn.

5.) You will become a more creative and stronger storyteller! (study).

6.) It is easier than you might think! Yes, you heard me. Language learning is not as hard as many people tend to think. Check out my guide to self-studying and my other blog posts here for tips to make it as easy as possible.

7.) You will improve your memory and focus. (study).

8.) You will, quite literally, see the world in a new, expanded way. (study).

9.) Traveling is so much easier. You’ll have a much easier time avoiding tourist traps, getting advice from locals, reading menus, and so much more!

10.) The more languages you speak, the more job opportunities you will find and be qualified for!

11.) It will literally make your brain grow! (That’s a good thing!) (study).

12.) Learning a language can help you connect with your own heritage. For example, is the family on your mothers side Italian? Did your grandfather emigrate from Croatia? Connect with your roots! (And then have the fun opportunity to speak with your whole family in their native language!)

13.) It’s easier to pay attention to relevant sounds and block out irrelevant ones. (study).

14.) You can bond with some amazing people over the act of language learning. Polyglots are some amazingly fun people!

15.) Learning a language if you are a child (or teaching it to your children) provides more cognitive development and statistically gives children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds a measurable boost in life! (study).

16.) You will have greater self–control. (study).

17.) You will recover much quicker and better, overall, after a stroke than monolinguals! (study).

18.) It is a hobby that you can do anywhere, anytime!

19.) You will process emotions differently and be exposed to different types of emotions in each language you study. This improves emotional development! (study).

20.) You get access to so many more TV shows, movies, books, and media!

21.) You will perceive time differently! You will measure it differently and become more attuned to perception and time. (study).

22.) Tandem language partners! You can make a new friend (or many), learn a new culture, get direct feedback, and more.

23.) You will likely have slightly different personalities in each language you learn! This can help you become more confident overall and you can certainly use these personality and language quirks to your advantage. (study).

24.) You will make more rational economic decisions. (study).

25.) Learning a foreign language will teach you so much about your native language. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said it best: “He who knows no foreign language knows nothing of his mother tongue“.

26.) You are able to pick up on social cues better (study).

27.) Your cognitive processing (AKA the way you take in all information and process it) will become more flexible. (study).

28.) A shocking 9 out of 10 employers rely on employees who can speak a language other than English! Want to get in good with your boss? Learn a language! (study).

29.) You will become more empathetic due to seeing and learning about more perspectives. (study).

30.) You’ll get a boost in overall creativity! (study).

31.) Multilingualism is the norm in this world nowadays and monolingualism is the exception. Join the (fun) club of multilingual learners!

32.) You will make, on average, 5-20% more in terms of salary than monolinguals! (study).

33.) You are supporting languages! Every two weeks a language dies. By learning a language, especially any lesser-known languages, you are helping to keep that language alive. What a magical and amazing thing to do!! 🙂

34.) You’re better at processing information about who is talking and you are better at recognizing voices. (study).

35.) You really get to know yourself. What makes you tick, what you love vs. what you hate, how you study best, etc. This helps you in every aspect of life!

36.) If you teach your child(ren) a second (or third, etc) language, they will have a measurable “edge” in school over monolingual children due to much larger vocabulary and cognitive developments! (study).

37.) You will have a better attention span and be able to better focus on tasks. (study).

38.) Translation apps still are not perfect (or even just good sometimes!) and you should not have to rely on them anyways. Be your own translator and interpreter! Travel with more peace and accuracy.

39.) You can analyze situations better and therefore make better decisions. The gray matter in the area of decision making in your brain literally grows! (study).

40.) Language learning can be so much fun! You can read your favorite books, watch hilarious movies, binge amazing TV shows, meet fascinating people, study via cheeky and sarcastic textbooks, etc. You customize your study plan to your life and interests!

41.) Bilingual and multilingual jobs are on the rise! In fact 56% of employers in the US report an expected increase in multilingual jobs in just the coming years. If you want an easier time finding a job in this job market, being bilingual (literally) pays off. (study).

42.) You can help more people. Think of all the good you can do around the world and in your own neighborhood if you can communicate to more people in their native language(s).

43.) If you learn a tonal language, you will have a greater ability to process musical pitch and tone! (study).

44.) You are more attractive to most of the world if you speak more than one language! (study).

45.) Your brain will become better equipped to process various types of information. (study).

46.) You are able ignore distractions much better than monolinguals. (study).

47.) You become more open–minded and worldly.

48.) You will become better at multitasking! (study).

49.) If you are younger (or will teach your children), people who speak more than one language will reach adulthood with more gray matter in the brain! (study).

50.) You will become more logical. (study).

Were any of the benefits of language learning unexpected to you? Which ones were your favorites?

I think that the benefits to decision making and analyzing were some of the most beneficial in my life and line of work. The fact that multilingual people tend to make better financial decisions was surprising to me, but I will gladly take this benefit!! Haha.

If you have read this and are determined to either start learning a foreign language or keep learning one, perhaps check out the printables shop here on Plurilingualism! It contains tons of helpful printables to print or use digitally that help all types of language learners studying any language! 🙂

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