The Benefits of Multilingualism Essay Example

“Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.”

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In the modern world, people are striving to learn new languages from all around the world; Globalisation has played a major role in standardising this field, as well as making it easier for people to cross boundaries and discover the culture, way of life and traditions from different countries and civilizations. Hence, when it comes to polyglots, or even bilingual people, there are countless benefits that they gain from learning languages; These benefits are of different types, however, they can be classified into two major categories: the cultural and the professional.

The first category of benefits that multilingual people gain is the cultural and social benefits. First of all, fluency in another language is an essential aspect that exposes an individual to diverse costumes, folklore and cultural backgrounds of the countries of the acquired or targeted language; being able to abolish the barriers and boundaries, to examine and experience another culture independently and to participate in it confidently is really something to admire. Additionally, multilingualism makes the travelling experience significantly easier and more enjoyable, you get to directly talk with the locals, recognise different dialects and habits and most importantly, you get to make friends from all over the world along the way. Culture is really something to appreciate, for verily it has made language learning a very delightful and marvellous journey.

Another type of benefits of being bilingual or polyglot is the professional ones. According to a research carried out by Amsterdam Centre for Language and Communication, bilingual people are more likely to outperform monolinguals on executive functioning tasks. In fact, being bilingual or multilingual boosts the proficiency in workplaces, that's because bilinguals are naturally two-way thinking individuals with a more vast, eloquent and flexible mind. Bilingual people possess the ability to instantly process their thoughts and ideas thanks to their incredible interpretation, correlation and analogical skills; their speech skills are immensely advanced, their response time is remarkably quick and their sense of pride and confidence are what distinguishes them from others, especially in the competitive job market. No-one can deny that speaking a second language has more job opportunities; being able to communicate with foreign clients confidently and eloquently is something every employer considers a high priority. Furthermore, multilingualism can improve business expansion for business executives, for being able to fluently speak multiple languages can grant easy access for customers, contractors and suppliers to reach out to you. Thus, being a polyglot is undeniably extremely profitable on a professional basis.

To sum up, the benefits of being multilingual are of two kinds: the cultural and the professional ones. The essential thing is, and regardless where anyone is from, learning one of many new languages is a must, for it definitely is a key to success in all of the social, academic and professional aspects.