Should You Learn a Foreign Language?

By Samantha Asher

Learning a foreign language takes a lot of hard work and a bit of a time commitment, especially if you want to become fluent. If you just want to learn a few words for your trip to Italy, it might not be that big of a deal, but if you want to be fluent in Italian, that's a different story.

Should you learn a foreign language? That depends on why you want to learn it. If you want to learn a foreign language for your career, you should probably start studying, especially if it's required for your job. If knowing a second language could help you get a job, it would be a good idea to start learning as well.

Are you a lover of languages? For some, that is good enough reason to start studying, but for others it is not so easy. Some people have trouble learning and some just have trouble with languages. If you ever took a language in high school, you probably new a few students that just could never grasp Spanish or French pronunciation. Other people just have a lot of trouble remembering the vocabulary words.

If you have trouble learning a language, should you decide not to learn one? That's entirely up to you, but if you really love foreign languages and have always dreamed of speaking one, or two, or more, you shouldn't let a little learning trouble stop you. You will have to put in a little more effort than a natural learner, but it will make knowing that language that much more special to you. Don't let a few troubles stop you.

Do you want to learn a language because your parents or your spouse thinks you should? You should never study a second language unless you really want to. Unless you are moving abroad and are going to be living with native speakers of another language in which you must learn the language to get by, don't learn any language you don’t want to know. Studying a foreign language is a big time commitment and will take many years to master, depending on how much and how hard you study. If someone is pushing you to learn a second language because they think it will be good for you or are sure you'll like it, just dismiss them. Decide for yourself if you will really like it. You can even give it a try, and if it's not for you, don't go on. Learning a language should be fun, don't let the fun be sucked out of it.

If you want more information on the importance of foreign language study, go to LearnLotsofLanguages.com for more information.