Foreign language is a requirement in most high schools to graduate, and many college programs require students to have at least two years of another language to graduate. So why is this so important for people to learn? There are a vast majority of answers to this question, but two of the most important answers are to expand a student's worldview and to better their own English skills. Even as native speakers of English, there are always methods to improve the skills that a person currently holds.
The most common foreign language taken
For most schools, their most common language that is taken is Spanish.
This is because the United States is the closest to Spanish speaking countries and there are many people in the United States that speak Spanish as a native language. Because of the influence Spanish has had in the United States, many young children have been exposed to "Dora the Explorer" at some point in their lives and learned some very basic Spanish skills. This has become the easiest class for many high school and college students to take because they already have some knowledge of the language due to previous exposure. But what exactly is it about learning another language that helps native English speakers improve their skills?
How it helps
There is proof that speaking another dialect will make someone smarter.
This is because speaking more than one language challenges the brain to recognize, determine meaning, and communicate in a different language. By doing this, it will improve a person's ability in other problem-solving situations. Many people self-proclaim that they are good at multitasking, but learning another language will improve a person's ability to multitask because they will constantly be switching between languages in their brain -- according to The Telegraph.
People also seem to be able to put off the average age in which many are diagnosed with Alzheimer's and dementia by 4.1 years. In addition to that, because of all the "exercise" knowing multiple languages gives a person's brain, this improves memory.
People will become more perceptive, being able to analyze their surroundings and determine what is relevant and what is irrelevant, while removing the irrelevant information.
Lastly, the person's English skills will improve. The reason for this is that they will be more focused on things like grammar, conjugations, and sentence structure and the person will be more aware of language and how it can be structured and manipulated. The skills can help someone become a more effective editor and copyeditor, as well as communicator and writer.
While it may be annoying and unpleasant for some to learn a different language, in the long run, it will help in so many areas of life.
