The Best Reason to Learn a Foreign Language

I am often asked why I study as many foreign languages as I do. I have studied Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Russian, Hindi, and Albanian. I have only used four of the above mentioned languages in conversation. Are the other three languages I studied a waste of my time? Absolutely not. I plan on using every language I learn in a country where it is the native language. Why travel to a foreign country to speak the language when I could use an online resource such as My Language Exchange? I prefer to travel abroad because I know every trip will be something new, stimulating, and create a new life experience.

There are many things that contribute to creating these life experiences in my opinion: breathtaking views, sensuous flavors, new customs, and meeting new people from different cultures. The people are by far, in my opinion, the most important part of these life experiences, and I believe to truly understand a new culture, you must learn the language before you visit the country. That is why I have the Rosetta Stone Hindi CD in my computer right now.

I simply cannot imagine not being able to communicate with the majority of the world in their native tongue. Even if you were fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English, you would still be unable to communicate with over three billion people in the world. I want to create as many new life experiences as possible with as many cultures as possible, and the only way to do that is to learn many foreign languages.