If you speak English, why bother learning a second language? After all, English is spoken pretty much all over the world, a trend that’s increasing. You don’t need French to order a sandwich in Quebec City or Paris, or to be understood in Canada. However, learning a second language is not limited to ordering a meal in Quebec City, France or even Belgium. It’s a matter of perspective.

A language is a lens. Supposing when you came into the world someone had put in rose-coloured contact lenses that you couldn’t remove, you would assume that everything around you is pink, without even realizing that it’s simply one colour. In the same vein, if you only know one language, it’s difficult for you to admit that you see things from just one perspective and that the world can be different from what you imagine it to be.

Speaking another language gives you an opportunity to see things differently, which can help you realize that some things you see actually belong to another world, even when you are using your first language.

Imagine the number of newspapers and books you could read, the music, films and TV programs you could understand, the websites you could visit and the places you could really learn to explore, simply by knowing another language!

1. Catch untranslatable humour.
2. Increase your employability.
3. Open a door to another culture.
4. Stimulate the brain, preserve memory, and help protect from memory loss.
5. Widen your perspective.
6. Develop a new self.
7. Become a bridge between speakers of the two different languages.
8. Perhaps go back to your roots, a voyage of re-discovery.
9. Acquire a better appreciation of the subtleties of words and their origins.
10. Show respect for those who speak the other language.