There are numerous cultural advantages to learning a foreign language. I can only list a few here, but I’ve tried to highlight the major ones.

• Learning a foreign language helps you to get insight into the culture associated with that language. Once you understand the language, that opens up a whole world of ways to access information about the culture and to learn how people discuss a variety of different topics. You can read books, magazines, and newspapers as well as watch news reports, television programs, and films. Most importantly, however, is that learning a foreign language allows you to converse with people in their native tongue, which will provide you with a much deeper understanding of their world.
• Secondly, learning a foreign language gives you a better chance of survival in the area where that language is primary. You can read the signs and learn if there are dangers like slippery floors, wet paint, high voltage, strong undertow, or vicious dogs. You can understand when someone gives you important information such as: don’t go to this area at night alone, the grocery store will be closed between noon and four pm, or the bus will be delayed for twenty minutes. You could end up stranded, hungry, or in trouble if you don’t have an understanding of the language.
• Learning a foreign language will also enable you to perceive the varied etiquettes of that country and its people. These could include basic manners and be essential to your success in that country.
• A language gives you a competitive advantage. It opens new venues for employment as well as education. Many employers are looking for people who can speak different languages so that their company is appealing to people all over the world! It also makes it easy for you to travel to many places.
• A language additionally offers you a short summary concerning cultural nuances of such things as relationships (marriage and family), clothing, and food. Having an understanding of the way things are typically done will increase your comfort level and help you assimilate into society more easily.

So learning a foreign language offers access to a different culture. Learning a brand new culture is like having the ability to relate and participate in a totally different world.

Photo by Quinn Dombrowski / CC-BY

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• The first advantage of being bilingual is that you can connect with a larger population. Let’s say I am very fluent in my native language then I would only be able to communicate easily with those people who can speak that one language. The most powerful tool in this present world is networking and to do that you should at least know one additional language. This is especially true if you live somewhere that there are two primary languages.

• If you know more than one language, the number of opportunities you have in this world increases exponentially. In order to study or work somewhere that the primary language of instruction or communication is not your native language, it is essential to learn it fluently. Knowing that vernacular language will help you a lot in terms of your success, comfort level, networking capabilities, and general progress. Multiple languages, if you reach the level of translation and interpretation in the second language, are in great demand by employers and give job seekers a real advantage over the competition. Languages that are spoken widely in a number of countries are the most valuable assets you can add to your resume.

• Learning another language helps you gain more knowledge. When you know only a single language, you are restricted to what is published, broadcast, or translated into that language. An additional language opens up a whole new body of literature and knowledge, which gives you a more diverse world view.

• Being bilingual also widens your thought process in general, because you can actually think in two languages. Each language is connected to a system of values and a distinct world view. This helps you to perceive things in different ways and also allows you to draw on two separate knowledge systems, which gives you a competitive advantage in performing tasks over your peers who are monolingual. Bilingual people have two avenues to come up with solutions for problems.

• People who are bilingual are also often bicultural. They can get sarcasm, humor, cultural references, and idioms in two distinct languages. These nuances of language help bilinguals to more sensitively handle particular situations. Different languages have different connotations, and sometimes saying exactly the same thing in a different language can entirely shift the meaning and the way the speaker comes across. Bilingual individuals typically use their two languages in two different contexts, with two different sets of people, and who they are when they speak each language varies.  Thus the language you are speaking not only affects the way you think but it also affects your personality.

A language is just not something we speak but an extension of ourselves. So being bilingual person is not only is advantage for you socially, professionally, and academically, but it also expands your psychological side. I conclude with an old quote: “To have another language is to possess a second soul.”

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Photo by Jasvipul Chawla

If you have any plans of expanding your business in India it’s always better to know an Indian language. It will help you to understand your customers and employees better as well as give you an opportunity to connect with their emotions. A language is more than just a tool for communication. It depicts the culture of a place with all its values and beliefs. It not only helps you to know who your foreign employees or customers are, but also what they want. As an entrepreneur it’s essential to know what your customers want so you can cater to their changing needs. You also need to understand your employees so that you can effectively communicate your needs and expectations. You might think that because people speak English, you can just use that to talk to and understand them. The problem is that when you to talk to most Indians in English you are marking yourself as an outsider or stranger, and they may or may not trust you. But when you speak in an Indian language you will be recognized you as one of them. So why target India to expand your business to? Two reasons. One, the Indian market is very vast, with the second largest population in the world. Two, there are many educated, competent employees to be found, and the cost of living is much less than in the West.

Moreover, there are Indians all over the globe, including the second in charge of Google (Sundar Pichai). So it not only helps you to target people in India, but also to make excellent business connections in the rest of the world. After Chinese, Spanish, and English, Hindi is the most widely spoken language in the world. It is spoken by around 260,000,000 people, a number that is likely to increase in the upcoming years. This will help you have a new entry point into the market.

And if you come to India on a business visit, you definitely need to know Hindi to survive here unlike other foreign countries. As many people in India are illiterate, you can’t converse with them unless you know a local language and preferably Hindi.

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