Language is the most important aspect of language for humans. Because languages are alive and always changing, they are intertwined with identity and culture. As people migrate and move to different areas, some languages split and converge to create new languages, while others die out and adopt more common and popular languages. According to Park’s lecture, half of the world’s languages are considered endangered. The origin of a language is what defines it, differing based on cultural background.…
A study from Spain’s University of Pompeu Fabra revealed that multilingual people are better at…
The various parts of a person’s cultural identity are what allows them to connect to the rest of the world. These preserved cultural identities are essential for the world to progress. Linguistic diversity…
The major languages in the United States are English, Spanish, and Chinese, with these last two quickly gaining prominence, and about 17.9 percent of Americans speak a language other than English at home. Keeping this in mind, it is almost essential today to learn a second language. Being bi-, tri- or multilingual has many advantages, the more obvious being that one can communicate with exchange students, immigrants, and fellow online gamers, chatters, and forum users, as well as to bridge cultures and societies through lingual commonality and better understanding. It also can give a person a fresh eye for their own society and culture, and even improve understanding of the mechanics of one's own language, all by comparison.…
Learning more than one linguistic system is a challenge and when teaching the mother language at home is its only exposure, it becomes harder to develop those multilingual skills. With the difficulties that come with learning two languages, some children give up learning one, usually the native tongue and with advancing languages such as English in the business and political world, children might not even learn their cultural language at home. Just as quickly as these dominant languages have been growing,…
Not only would this enrich the economy and culture of the associated country, but it would allow the education of its youth to be furthered. By encouraging kids to enroll in foreign language classes in school and emphasizing the importance of remaining dedicated to the course throughout high school, those benefits can be possible. Although it may take some extra effort, the asset of learning a foreign language outweigh the amount of work that one would have to put into learning it. The cons that come with being unilingual are clear when considering all of the advantages that multilinguals have over them; while one multilingual Canadian photographer in Ecuador is successfully capturing the beauty of the Galapagos Islands with her new Ecuadorian memory card, a monolingual American photographer is struggling to translate the address of her motel into Spanish, so her cab driver can drop her off. Therefore, It is essential that English-speaking countries cease to be monolingual, for it is a grave disadvantage that is “hurting our country in more ways than we realize”(Source…
Steve Fidel once has written, “A person who speaks three languages is trilingual; a person who speaks two languages is bilingual; a person who speaks one language is — American.” In spite of the fact, that English language one of widely widespread in the world, it should not use that as an excuse for native born residents of the United States to avoid studying another language. There is a set of arguments why it is necessary to study foreign languages. Two of them it is cultural aspect and expansion of business opportunities. During studying foreign language people start to understand the culture and history of other nation and their own language and culture much better. Also, studying foreign language helps people to keep their mind opened for new things. Evona York has said that, “Sometimes learning a foreign language helps you understand your own language and culture better through comparison, or through the relationship between the foreign language and your mother tongue. For instance, studying Latin in high school taught me an incredible amount of English, because English has so many words that come from the Latin.” Someone can tell that, it is not important to know language and culture of other country and other nation. However, “globalization removes barriers between people.”(Pieracarla Santucci) If the people want to be successful in this world he or she should speak in several languages. To remain monolingual is to stunt your educational development, to restrict your communication and thinking abilities, and to deny yourself the ability to fully appreciate and understand the world in which you live. Learning another language opens new opportunities and gives you perspectives that you might never have encountered otherwise. Personal, professional, social, and economic considerations all point to the advantages of learning foreign languages.…
Oliver Wendell Holmes said “Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.” It implies all the languages in this planet play an important role in formation of diversity and cultural identity. Starting with simple grunts and moans, for a thousand years, the human species has developed a sophisticated language of gestures combined with spoken language. Today, along with many advantages that globalization has brought to us, people are faced with the extinction of thousands of languages which will lead to many issues for our further generations. Having a united world with a common language may be a good idea, but considering that other languages would no…
In a world of advancing technology and higher education, it is crucial that students take time to develop unique talents and skills which will give them a competitive edge over the average individual. Though many doubt the ability of fluency in a foreign language to advance students in society, businesses, educational systems, governmental offices, and health care departments are all eager to hire students with skills in foreign languages. As globalization becomes more prevalent, foreign language skills are…
To lead a bilingual life, one must learn how to properly unite his feelings and chosen language, so it can create an accurate way of truly expressing himself or herself through their choice of words. In the preface of the book called Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development by Alice Wierzbicka, she accomplishes to describe veridically the life of a person who knows one more language than his mother tongue.…
There are three main areas where a student can excel by knowing a second language. The first is mentally. According to Viorica Marian, being bilingual can help a student “to better process information in the environment, leading to a clearer signal for learning,” (“The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual” Marian). Cognitive and sensory processes can improve as well. Because of this, bilingual students have been known to have an easier time accessing newly learned words, giving them a more extensive vocabulary than monolingual students. Not only does knowing a second language help a person cognitively, but also socially. A bilingual person has an easier time connecting with people from other cultures; accordingly, they have a better understanding of culture and how others differ from their own. This is especially important because immigration rates in the United States are growing rapidly. Also, being proficient in a language before interacting with a foreign speaker can help break an initial language barrier, allowing the two people to connect on a deeper level. A third benefit of being multilingual is having a greater advantage career wise. The world is becoming more advanced in technology, allowing for an expansion to foreign countries for a business. This creates a higher demand for multilingual people to translate documents, conduct…
There are many languages in the world, to be exact there are 7,943 languages. Some of these languages are very common, others are becoming endangered, and many become extinct on a daily basis. A language is more than what allows people to communicate. A language makes people who they are. It is essentially a culture which gives people a sense of identity. Throughout the course of this class, we have learned about the importance of languages no matter how many speakers it has. Languages are a form of identity to its speakers. Every language has to be respected because it represents different cultures and it is a very important form of identification.…
In a nation built upon immigrants, from the Pilgrims to the influx of people to Ellis Island to today, a surprising number of Americans only speak English. The United States does not have an official language, which could lend itself nicely to bilingualism or even greater knowledge of languages, but it does not. When I stayed with a French family during my junior year, I was amazed to listen to all the different tongues spoken around me. I could barely articulate a sentence, where my thirteen-year-old host sister could rattle off paragraphs in Spanish, English, and German, without missing a beat. Though understanding, my host family was surprised that my high school only required students to learn one language, opposed to France’s two. A stereotype that plagues Americans abroad is that we expect all citizens of the world to possess the ability for perfect, unaccented English, while we only know the essential phrases like “Où est les toilettes?” and “Cuánto es…”. An essential criteria for a top ten ranking country is a majority of the population be able to speak more than one language. If America were to be one of these nations, foreign relations could be less stressful. Diplomatic meetings could be spoken in the foreign tongue, instead of forcing the international leaders to speak English, all for American comfort. Citizens knowing more than one language would improve foreign relations and improve a country’s…
English has become a very universal language and well known in other foreign countries, however here in the United States more and more students are being deprived of being bilingual. Monolingual English speakers at a huge disadvantage because not only does learning a second language help ones communication skills but it also allows one to get connected with a foreign culture and understand situations through their perspective.…
Any language plays a great role in the life of society and the problems existing in the languages still preserve attention of different psychologists, ethno graphs, linguists and grammarians.…