With expected graduation in 2017, Dakota Ford attends the University of Chicago, where he is studying to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Romance Languages. With fluency in four languages other than English and a conversational level in another two, Dakota Ford is passionate about language and considers learning new languages a personal passion as much as an academic pursuit at UChicago.
Whether you learn a new language for fun, necessity, or education, being multilingual proves beneficial in many ways. Here are three advantages you might gain from learning a new language.
1. Multilingual people are better multitaskers. A Pennsylvania State University study found that a multilingual person’s ability to juggle two or more speech and writing systems requires the kind of mental juggling that leads to better multitasking skills. One study measured this through a driving test intentionally full of distractions. People who spoke multiple languages performed better, making fewer mistakes than those who only spoke one language.
2. Multilingual people learn new languages easier. In learning your second language, you pick up on valuable techniques that can be applied later for learning your third language. Additionally, your brain learns to analyze linguistic structures, enabling you to see the common building blocks underlying many languages.
3. Multilingual people make more money. According to language expert and BRIC Language Systems CEO Ryan McMunn, multilingual people joining the workforce in 2014 often made 10 to 15 percent more money than their single language counterparts. Speaking of his own experience, McMunn said learning Mandarin enabled him to develop new business relationships in China that he otherwise would have missed.
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