Apparently the world is still here despite the best efforts of those ancient Mayan pranksters and so what better time to begin to learn a new language than right now at the start of this new year?
Make it your new years resolution – “I will learn a new language this year!” and then get stuck in to the task at hand and before you know it you will be babbling away in some foreign lingo, impressing and confusing your friends and family along the way.
If you are not sure which language to learn or even why you should bother, here’s a few ideas that may help get you started..
Are you planning to go on holiday overseas in the summer? A couple of sun-soaked weeks in Spain or the south of France perhaps? Well think how much more fun you could have there if you could speak with the locals in their language! You have a good 6 months from now until summer which is oodles of time for learning a language – you could easily be speaking decent Spanish or French by the summer if you set your mind to it now and don’t give up too soon.
Maybe you are thinking of spending a few months or perhaps even longer in some place more exotic such as China, Japan or Korea and were toying with the idea of teaching English there to support yourself. How much better would it be if you could speak to your students in their language as well? How much easier would it be for you to actually get such a teaching job if you could impress the language schools with your command of their language??
In these trying economic times you may be considering expanding your job search further afield to countries where the job market may be in better shape, but if the only language you speak is English (even if it is widely spoken around the world) your overseas employment options will be extremely limited. Plan ahead and decide which countries you would like to work in and then set about learning the language most suited for that .
Remember that many countries share the same language (sometimes with some minor differences), for example Spanish is spoken in many parts of the world, as is Portuguese, French, Arabic and others so it may help your overseas job prospects to learn a language which is not restricted to a single country – unless that country is thriving at the moment and jobs are aplenty or you have other reasons for wanting to work and live there.
Whatever your reasons or motivations for learning a new language may be, now is the time to get started – don’t procrastinate any further! Make a choice and commit to it until you have reached the level of fluency you desire. Acquiring a second or foreign language will pay dividends in one way or another for years or even decades to come so the sooner you get started, the sooner you will reap the rewards and it is actually not as hard as you may think – you really CAN do it!
Happy New Year!