Why is it Important to Learn More than One Language?

 

In the Pacific society, language plays a vital role in the communication between different people due to the impact it has on the way ideas, thoughts, feelings and emotions are perceived; consider the possibility that a person could accurately depict this to another in a language the latter is comfortable with. Unfortunately, many people fail to understand the reason why learning a second language is beneficial. This raises the issue of what the benefits of learning a second language in the Pacific are. 

Learning a second language is beneficial to the Pacific societies’ economy; mainly through career opportunities and foreign diplomacy. Career opportunities are wholly offered to bilinguals/multilinguals. When hunting for a career, infamous institutions usually seek to employ individuals that are capable of speaking up to two or more languages. The ability to communicate in diverse languages provides interns with a significant advantage. For instance, John White (2014) claims that “Bilingual employers are in high demand in almost every business sector: health care, law, business, education, construction, criminal justice. If a person were to concisely portray business qualities and further communicate it in multiple languages then the said person would have a much broader dynamic than anyone else being interviewed for the position of an interpreter, translator or even an educator. When compared, a bilingual has a better opportunity at employment then a monolingual. 

Another aspect of bilingualism that contributes to the economy is foreign diplomacy. When two countries seek to conduct negotiations, a common language is spoken by the respective representatives. To reduce the risk of miscommunication, ambassadors learn the language of the country they advocate to. For example, Fiji’s Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Yogesh Karan) is able to scrupulously secure diplomacy with the Unites States; despite being of an Indo-Fijian descent, Karan speaks articulate English, allowing negotiations with the US to transition with efficacy. Foreign diplomacy is successful when one speaks the ‘common tongue’. 

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In addition, an advantage of learning a second language is the cultural benefits, particularly in terms of cultural harmony and innovation. Cultural harmony is encouraged when people learn each other’s language. Most communities are made up of people who hail from all sorts of different backgrounds, so in order for the people of diverse cultures to coexist, a certain level of understanding must be achieved. This happens when an initiative to communicate in each other’s native language is taken; not only does this provide an opportunity to learn of foreign cultures but also removes bias in decision making due to the fact that empathy follows understanding. To illustrate, in her book on Peace Education, Oxford claims that “the language of peace helps us resolve conflicts, avoid violence, and reduce bullying, misogyny, war, terrorism, genocide, circus journalism, political deception, cultural misunderstanding, and social and ecological injustice. Peace language, along with positive intention, enables us to find harmony inside ourselves and with people around us, attain greater peace in the wider world, and halt environmental destruction.” (Oxford, 2013), because of this, cultural cohesion is successful when a community peacefully learns from each other. 

Moreover, innovation works best when foreign ideals are accepted. Progress is an absolute aspect of life, and so, people must adapt in order to survive and quite possibly thrive in this world. Whenever a new idea, method, or principle is experimented with, nurturing may be the key difference in the hypothetical innovation improving the quality of life. An example is when Ben Ryan was elected as Fiji’s sevens head coach, before his management was brought into practise Fiji had no former experience at the Olympic games, specifically rugby. However, Ryan’s system of training was able to prepare the players not only to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympic games but also return home with not one but twelve gold medals to commemorate their joyous win. Although most of the sevens rugby players were not able to speak fluently in the English language, they set aside their differences in order to achieve a common goal. So, the best way to explore innovative ideas is to understand it from the language originally spoken in. 

Finally, learning a second language has health benefits especially with respect to improving cognitive function and memory. Cognitive function is improved when a bilingual practise communicating between two languages consistently. Studies have shown that people who rely on a second language are able to make decisions without bias. For instance, Kostiuk claims in her website that a bilingual is constantly operating between multiple languages, ignoring certain unnecessary details and highlighting important ones. This allows the said person to perform mental tasks, solve problems and multi-task better than a monolingual. (Kostiuk, n.d.). As a result, the ability to speak multiples languages helps a person to process information more efficiently. 

Furthermore, a bilingual has an improved memory. Monolinguals are constantly forced to remember more information when dealing with data given in an alien language but because a bilingual already possesses a good understanding of the given language then not much more information needs to be known: this results in the mind of a bilingual having more room to process new knowledge due to the excess space. (Anon., 2014). Bilinguals tend to perform better than monolinguals. 

Learning a second language encourages respect amongst different cultures. A recommendation to ensure diversity amongst the citizens of a country is, the government could introduce a second language in secondary education. Perhaps, people could be better understood if an initiative is taken to learn the indigenous language spoken.