There is an abundance of reasons why you should learn another language!

Learning another language makes you more accessible and relatable to more people, it adds to your character and who you are as a person, it gives you an entirely different perspective on other cultures or lifestyles; and learning another language can even get you into certain careers or jobs that you desire to have such as traveling or translating.

Many people know one, two, or maybe even three languages; but why not learn another one? The more languages you know the better. In this blog post, I will give you my perspective on learning another language and why I had such a strong desire to learn them!

What learning another language means to me

To begin with, my first language is English. This is the language that I grew up understanding and learning. When I was young I didn’t really care about learning another language because everyone around me at school, my friends, and even my family spoke English to me…why would I want to learn another way of communicating?

Many of my family members are from Suriname, a small country located in South America above Brazil; and there, most people speak Dutch. I knew some words here and there but never really cared. As I got older I would listen in on conversations at family dinners or parties; and I wanted to be able to converse with them too…I wanted to be able to at least understand what was going on even if I couldn’t speak it perfectly.

Over time I started to pick up on phrases, commands, questions, and eventually small conversations. Today I can understand a lot as long as I can hear well, and see the body language of the person speaking! In the process of learning to understand and speak a little bit of Dutch, although I will admit that Dutch is pretty difficult, I gained a strong desire to learn other languages…and it all started with wanting to relate with other people.

Fast forward a few years later when I was in high school, my desire to learn Spanish was absolutely off the charts. One of the only differences between Latin American countries and Suriname is the fact that Surinamese people don’t speak Spanish, but the culture is almost identical. I wanted “in” on that culture. I had a perspective from the Dutch side of things…but I wanted to be a part of the Latin culture as well.

My Spanish journey

Learning Spanish also eventually became something I wanted to use in my music career. This all started with…Soccer! I know…soccer! It was a year before the World Cup and my siblings and I would watch soccer videos. Many of the famous soccer players spoke Spanish…including my favorite soccer player today Messi! I wanted to be able to understand what he was saying during interviews or during games. So I would start to watch a lot of videos on how to speak Spanish…

Through this, I came across a Latino pop band known as CNCO. I had already listened to Latin music growing up…but this was different. The band members were from different countries, had different accents, had amazing voices, they danced, they were good looking, they were young, etc. And so naturally I got even more into learning Spanish.

How I learned on “my own”

I started watching movies, shows, interviews, vlogs, learning song lyrics…all to learn Spanish. Not too long after I started on this journey, my Aunt from Guatemala, Gabi, started coming around my house every day. I became super close to her…learning about her culture and hearing her speak the language I wanted to learn so badly every day…and so naturally I wanted to be able to speak to her. Over time, between movies, shows, music, Gabi, interviews, and soccer games I have come so far on my Spanish Journey.

It has been about 3 years since I started and so far I can understand a lot, I can speak pretty well…slower, but well, I can sing in Spanish, and last but not least I have a completely different perspective on the Latin culture and I love it! I am absolutely in love with Latin culture and all its diversities. I still have more to learn…but the “Spanish journey” has been amazing and I can’t wait to keep going!

Learning other languages as a hobby

It is now 2020 and I can already speak and understand 3 languages each on different levels. By now, learning other languages is a hobby! I love it! It’s fun, it’s interesting…but before I pick a new language to learn I have to sit down with myself and ask myself why. That’s how you stay motivated in the long run.

Arabic

So in 2020, I started to think about learning Arabic. Why?

Well firstly, I am part Lebanese myself and one of my life goals is to learn 5 languages from the multiple ethnicities I am made up of. Secondly, I have a big heart for the people of the Middle East and their culture and lifestyle. Thirdly, and the most motivating reason is that I want to use the language in my music career. I want to be able to sing in Arabic so I can interact with the Arab world, and that’s a lot of the world.

I started with the basics of the alphabet and the writing. And I taught myself a few words and the mechanics of the grammar. To this day, that is all I have accomplished with Arabic because Arabic out of all the languages I have learned is the most difficult..in fact, it is one of the hardest languages to learn…but it’s also one of the fastest-growing and I still want to learn it. But with Arabic, I need help from someone who speaks natively to put it all together and I don’t have direct access to that yet, so I put that language on hold and picked up Portuguese.

Portuguese

I picked up Portuguese because it is pretty similar to Spanish and I thought, “It’s a nice language, my friends speak it, why not?” I also wanted to be able to interact with my Brazilian supporters for my music, and learning Portuguese is one of the five languages that I want to learn as I am part Portuguese. Portuguese is the newest language to me so I am not that far along yet..but I can read it and understand it in its written form…I just have to work on speaking and understanding the natives. So with Arabic, it’s just a matter of getting someone to help me, and with Portuguese, it’s just a matter of time and practice!

Now you know my why

So there you have it, those are the languages that I have learned (and am still learning) and the reasons why I wanted to learn them. I learned Spanish because I wanted “in” on the culture, I wanted to be able to relate to Spanish speakers, and because I wanted to use it in my career. I learned Dutch because I wanted “in” on family conversations and I wanted to relate to my family members. I wanted to learn Arabic and Portuguese because they are two of my goals in life, I want to be able to relate to those who speak them, and I want to use them in my career. Those are my main reasons for learning a new language, or a few new languages.

Your reasons may be different, but if you haven’t given it a thought, maybe my reasons and my results will give you the desire to start learning a new language yourself. So GO and learn a new language…it will only help you in life…there is not ONE downside in learning a new language. The only way to go is up!