Is Learning A Foreign Language A Waste Of Time?
I heard someone wondering recently if learning a foreign language was perhaps a waste of time. Is it a waste of time? I’ll cover this answer in this article.
As far as some of the benefits of learning a new language, I don’t think it is a waste of time. This includes the personal benefits from having a new world of entertainment opened up to you including movies, television, magazines, books, etc. It also includes the possible job benefits of being a more valuable worker, getting better pay or receiving a better position. It also includes the medical benefits of keeping your mental skills sharp and preventing the onset of brain diseases like alzheimer’s and dementia.
So, all these reasons make it clear that learning a foreign language is not simply a waste of time. However, I do believe that on the individual level, learning a new language can be a waste of time. For example, if you absolutely hate learning languages, then you’re going to have a very hard time going down the long road to fluency in a second language. Also, if the way you study a language is to do so for an hour every week, for example, then you could say that you might be wasting your time since the amount of learning you will do and actually retain will be very minimal.
Also, I should note that learning a foreign language to a certain level and then stopping and never reviewing will also make it a waste of time since you will quickly lose what you worked so hard to learn before!
In this way, learning a language is not inherently useless but it can be to you if you are not learning the right way, don’t have a good reason to want to learn it or don’t enjoy learning the language. I think that most of these problems can be fixed. That is, if you don’t enjoy learning the language, it’s probably because you are using the wrong method. If you’re interested in the fastest and most fun way to learn a new language, I would recommend taking a look at my book on the subject.
If you want the fastest method to learn a language so that you will become fluent in a foreign language in a matter of months, learn thousands of words without worrying about forgetting them, master grammar and do all of this in an enjoyable, painless manner then you need to read Learn That Language Now!
Learning A Second Language Can Help You In The Long Run
I heard someone say recently that learning a second language can help you in the long run. Now, this sentence is perhaps a bit ambiguous but it is an interesting topic so let’s examine why this might be true.
In some cases, learning a second language can be tremendously helpful. For example, it can improve your job prospects or get you a larger salary in a job you already have. Economically speaking, knowing a second language can be quite beneficial if you market the skill.
Additionally, knowing a foreign language can open up new doors for you in your personal life. You can create new friendships that you otherwise would not have had access to before. You can travel to new places and enjoy a better trip there because of your language ability. You also can enter a new world of entertainment including television programs, movies, books, newspapers, magazines, etc. in the foreign language that you are studying.
From a medical standpoint, it’s been shown that knowing a second language can prevent the onset of brain diseases like alzheimer’s and dementia. Studying a foreign language can be a good way to give your brain a work out and prevent the loss of cognitive ability as you grow older. It’s also a fun way to keep learning.
Ultimately, learning a second language is beneficial in the long run because it is helpful in all three arenas: economic, personal and medical. But, this is not to say that I recommend forcing anyone to learn a new language if they do not really want to. Learning a language is a hard process and if you try to force yourself to learn a new language, not only will you not progress very far but you will also drive yourself crazy learning new vocabulary and grammar. So, make sure the language learning process is a fun one and that learning the foreign language of your choice is really what you want.
And, if you want the fastest method to learn a language so that you will become fluent in a foreign language in a matter of months, learn thousands of words without worrying about forgetting them, master grammar and do all of this in an enjoyable, painless manner then you need to read Learn That Language Now!