There are a couple of important questions you need to ask yourself when choosing a language. Firstly, why do you want to learn a specific language?
There are three types of people who need to ask themselves this question;
- School students who are forced to:
If you’re a young student in school it may be compulsory to learn a language. The majority of students don’t take time when choosing that language, usually this results in disliking the language, and going into each class with a defeatist attitude. Not realising this is one of the greatest opportunities they will have to get an edge over the outside world. This is a tough decision to make at a young age, but take the time to analyse your choices. A good tip is to pick a language that you feel suits your personality.
- University students who take the opportunity to:
Expanding your horizons and becoming a part of the wider world is the arbitrary answer a lot of naive students like to give when explaining why they’re learning a language. But the reality is that a lot of students rush into the choice. A few months later, they’re left asking themselves why they even choose to learn that language, ending up dropping out or struggling unhappily through those three years of study. Make good use of your time at university; choose a language that helps you along the path you decide to take in life. That can be anything from back-packing around South America, to starting your dream career.
- People who want to:
It’s usually out of a passion for that language or ambition to develop culturally or add to their skill set; but many people tend to pluck a language out of the air without analysing what would be most beneficial to them.
It’s important when learning a language to understand that you’re choosing to invest a lot of time and energy into something so that it will benefit you in the future. Either by improving your career prospects or helping you on your travels; a second language will help you at some time in your life. So, it’s important to take the time to pick the language you think is going to benefit you in the long term.
The next question; what are my reasons for learning a language?
The answer is simple; to improve your lifestyle. This may come under employability, moving abroad or just enjoying your travels.
Some interesting facts relating to learning a language:
- Thirty three per cent of businesses want people specifically for their language skills. Multilingual employees can expect a salary uplift of up to 20 per cent.
- Top industries including tourism, engineering and marketing look very favourably on being able to speak two or more languages when it comes to hiring for a position.
- It improves your experience of travelling by helping you to make new friends, save money, see a different side of a culture and enjoy a different experience to that of a normal international tourist.
The next question is subjective. What language bears the most influence for you in 2013? Depending on what career you are pursuing or where you want to travel, the languages can differ. But here is a guide of the top 5 languages to learn in 2013.
Guide to my top 5 languages of 2013
1. English: The English language has 500 million native speakers but there are almost 2 billion people in the world that communicate in English on a regular basis. The most important factor to note is the largest proportion of these live in eastern Asia, this is important as eastern Asia has the world’s fastest growing economies, with China considered as the rising super power of the modern era.
2. Spanish: With almost 330 million native speakers and ranked third as the language most countries have adopted as their native language, Spanish is spoken all over the world as a second language. Also more and more students seem to pick it as their language of choice to study at University level. While the Spanish economy is suffering at the moment, the Latin American economy seems to be growing; hence Spanish is gaining more influence every year.
3. Mandarin: It’s important to state Mandarin has three times more native speakers than any other language in the world, with close to one billion speakers. However it’s rarely spoken anywhere other than Southeast Asia. It’s important to note that although globally Mandarin isn’t very influential at the moment, it may well be in the near future.
4. Arabic: Apart from English, French and Spanish, Arabic is arguably the most internationally recognised language, due to its position as the language of the Islamic population. The Arabic-speaking world is a significant contributor to the world’s economy. It’s rapidly growing population is putting out numerous investment opportunities as they are a huge export market for a variety of goods and services.
5. French: Still the fifth most influential language in the world, French is the official language in 25 countries and it’s the second most geographically widely spoken language. It’s the most popular language after English and is used by many international groups and organisations around the world.
Experts tend to agree there is no easy answer to which language will make you the most employable or will have the greatest influence on the world in the future. It often depends on the industry or country you would like to work in or travel to.
I hope you have taken something from this post and it helps you on your decision when choosing to learn a new language in 2013.