Effie Kyrikakis, adult educator, neurolearning coach
With the evolving business landscape, and thinning borders it would be a huge disadvantage for you as an individual or business-person to be limited to just one language. You’d be doing yourself a whole lot of disservice. Why?
Besides the ‘growing popularity’ of foreign languages, learning how to speak a foreign language fluently could also open you up to be more aware and accepting of the culture and traditions of others. This in turn can help you tap into opportunities for diversified business and educational pursuits in countries that have hitherto been out of your reach.
So in this article, we will be looking at benefits a foreign language could bring to your business and personal life.
1. New Languages Upgrade Your Personal Network
Without any dispute whatsoever, in today’s global world, learning a foreign language is essential to your success in another country bfor a multitude of reasons.
- It widens the door to know more people because people generally trust you more if you can speak their language
- It removes the initial ‘strangers barrier’, and apprehension potential besiness partners might have of you. So knowing how to speak their language, makes you appear ‘like one of their own’.
- It earns you more trust than it could earn a typical stranger who doesn’t understand the language. Why? Because understanding a language also means that you do understand its cultural norms and etiquette.
- It opens you up to a large swath of professionals and individuals who speak the same language. Considerably widening your network of helpful contacts..
2. A Second (and third) Language Improves Your Decision Making
Bilinguals have been shown to have the ability to gain a more logical and rational thought process, than their monolingual counterparts.
Anyhow you look at it, learning a foreign language does take a considerable conscious effort to master. It employs the whole rational faculty you have. A marked benefit of this is, it improves your decision-making process and quickens the rate at which you come to a meaningful conclusion.
You are better able to toggle effortlessly between two languages without a break in your thought processes. This is an ability many monolinguals do not have.
3. Your Perception Is Increased
With a foreign language, you become adept at observing and focusing on relevant proceedings in your area of business interest. Language learning can
- help you filter out irrelevant and unnecessary details.
- make you an adept at spotting misleading information
- enrich your negotiation skills, which is especially essential in contract negotiations and meeting with potential partners and clients.
It’s an exercise that benefits your brain immensely and here are a few of the reasons:
- It improves memory recall, you’re able to recall people’s faces, names, inventory prices etc.
- It improves your multitasking skills because you can switch effortlessly between two differing activities.
- It staves off the effects of age-induced dementia and alzheimers.
- It makes you a better communicator.
- It helps you to develop a better ear to listen….which makes you a better listener than your monolingual colleagues.
Learn a foreign language, and watch your mind grow sharper with time.
Oh, and learning a foreign language does not need to be a difficult, and exasperating activity. With Neurolearning Language Coaching it can be as simple as you learnt to speak your mother tongue, simply because your brain is hardwired to constantly be learning new things.
Here is a very interesting infographic on the benefits of language learning for the brain
