The main ways humans communicate is through language. Whether you’re using body movement or your voice, having a way to communicate with one another is very important. It helps us understand one another, break down barriers, and knowing more than one language broadens your understanding of other cultures. As citizens of the United States, somewhere down the family tree, we came here from another country with a different language native to another land. Being ignorant of other cultures and their language only creates unnecessary discrimination, prejudice, and other misconceptions. But, things have changed today, and opportunities to learn new languages are expanding, which would lead to learning about other cultures. So, when the advantage of having such a great opportunity is there, it should be taken into consideration. But what are some advantages of knowing or learning more than one language?

Learning a new language is said to be more difficult than growing up learning one from a very young age. Jasmin Jones, a senior, who grew up in Germany on a military base, learned English from her father, German from her environment, and her mother. Maiyah Morgan, another senior, who knows Tagalog as well as English, says that being immersed into a second language makes it “hard to understand the language,” but using context clues she figures out what people are saying. Knowing more than one language also depends on a lot of other factors. Children are said to learn different languages better if they are in a language immersion environment rather than the way they learn in a class room. Adults are said to learn languages better in a classroom setting with books rather than an immersion environment because they have passed the preoperative and sensorimotor stages. Senior Esha Satam, who speaks four different languages, Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi, and English, was born speaking her mother’s language then picked up on the other languages she knows while growing up. French teacher Mr. Vassiliadis had to be multilingual living in Morocco and he knows French, Spanish, and English very well. He naturally speaks languages he knows without translating between them. The only difficulty he comes into contact to occasionally is higher level vocabulary. For him and other learning languages speaking at a level that’s useful for your occupation and interactions with people around on a simple level is ideal.                                                                                                                                                                                America is lacking in bilingualism. American citizens are bilingual most likely because English is very universally beneficial. A lot of people are bilingual which could be due to the history of many other languages embedded into their countries that are needed to converse There are so many benefits that people never take into account with being multilingual as well. An interesting theory concerning people who are at least bilingual it that they are believed to have cognitive benefits over most monolingual people. Also being bilingual is said to reduce chances of dementia when aging.  There are certain things that you cannot do comfortably without knowing another language like working, going to school, and living a foreign country.

Culture is important and understanding a language and the culture attached to it and bracing for culture shock is very essential. Jones stated that compared to America she personally views German culture as “a little less prejudice” in her experience living there for majority of her life. Mr. Vassiliadis also is still adapting to cultural differences as well. Learning another language gives you better job opportunities and an ability to make a career from being bilingual. Knowing German, Jones said she finds being bilingual useful because it not only keeps her in contact with her family, but it opens up many job opportunities for her to tackle. Francesca Bianco, another senior, who learned Italian from her mother, the English later says that “Already knowing another language can help you learn a new one” and for those wanting to excel at learning a new language they should “immerse themselves into the language”, if possible and practice very frequently.