Why bother learning another language?
Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2018 12:28 pm
It struck me recently that for the average person, read "my family", have no reason, need, or want to learn another language. I did a quick trawl through google links for reasons to learn another language, and they mostly boil down to these:
To be honest none of these are selling points to the average person, and in fact some of them are inaccurate as near as I can tell. For example, why would anyone hire me to speak French when they can just get a French person to do it? The job thing really only works in your native language, people would rather hire a native where possible. So if I want job opportunities I'd be better off looking for a job in France for English speaking native. The only time I've ever met anyone who was hired for the language they speak was at a customer support centre and we always hired native speakers never 2nd language speakers.
While there is some evidence language learning helps hold off dementia, there is as much evidence that reducing or eliminating sugar from your diet would have more effect for less effort.
Enjoy art "in the original" is pretty much just an argument for snobbery in my opinion, most of the translated works I have read have been faithfully translated and you don't miss much.
I have made some friends with people because of learning languages, but mostly it is people I have become friends with because we have the same hobby, which is learning languages. So if I had decided to go with wood-working or wéiqí or boat-building I would have made friends with that hobby too. The reason I continue to learn languages is because it is a hobby.
Many people like the "idea" of learning a language, but when told that they are looking at a commitment of 1-2 hours per day for a couple of years the shine wears off really quickly. So is there any compelling reason for Joe Public to learn a language?
- More job opportunities
- Hold off dementia
- Enjoy books and films "in the original"
- Make friends
To be honest none of these are selling points to the average person, and in fact some of them are inaccurate as near as I can tell. For example, why would anyone hire me to speak French when they can just get a French person to do it? The job thing really only works in your native language, people would rather hire a native where possible. So if I want job opportunities I'd be better off looking for a job in France for English speaking native. The only time I've ever met anyone who was hired for the language they speak was at a customer support centre and we always hired native speakers never 2nd language speakers.
While there is some evidence language learning helps hold off dementia, there is as much evidence that reducing or eliminating sugar from your diet would have more effect for less effort.
Enjoy art "in the original" is pretty much just an argument for snobbery in my opinion, most of the translated works I have read have been faithfully translated and you don't miss much.
I have made some friends with people because of learning languages, but mostly it is people I have become friends with because we have the same hobby, which is learning languages. So if I had decided to go with wood-working or wéiqí or boat-building I would have made friends with that hobby too. The reason I continue to learn languages is because it is a hobby.
Many people like the "idea" of learning a language, but when told that they are looking at a commitment of 1-2 hours per day for a couple of years the shine wears off really quickly. So is there any compelling reason for Joe Public to learn a language?