❝If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.❞
‒Nelson Mandela
Have you ever tried to communicate with someone you cannot understand? There are many ways that we can understand another person. But to know them the best, attempting to share a language can be a great way to truly understanding somebody, and a direct route to their heart. It can also be an incredible way to further yourself as a human being, and it can create much more empathy within us as people. We can experience an absolute shift in our emotional range, when our horizons expand through new languages. Understanding another’s culture means understanding each other as an entire race – the human kind.
It strengthens your mind and makes you more receptive to others’ emotions and personal experiences
Studies have shown that we can train our brains. Like any muscle, your brain is trained and developed into good health when you expand your knowledge. Our minds need constant feeding to be kept healthy, and to be able to continuously grow. The best way to connect our emotional growth with our mental health is to expand our knowledge and our learning. This means more than simply exercising a muscle, it means opening up our hearts too. When we learn a language, it makes us more intelligent; we are more creative, and more receptive to others’ emotions and personal experiences. We are also more connected with our fellow human beings; this happens when we learn to understand our differences.
A study on infants and children that learn at least one other language during their development showed cognitive benefits as opposed to children who did not. Other studies report that there may be scientific evidence for the protection against diseases like Alzheimer’s and Dementia in patients that have learned more than one language in their lifetime. The theory is similar to the idea of flexing a muscle; the brain is kept healthy with the knowledge of multiple languages- even into old age.
It allows deeper kind of self-reflection
You cannot learn a language in one day, it’s just not possible. Just like how you can’t learn all there is to know about the world in a day, a month, a year or even a lifetime. But there is something in the heart, mind, or the soul one might say, that connects us more deeply when we communicate through certain languages; through a persons native tongue. It shows a kind of respect and common ground, allowing a connection that runs much deeper than the surface.
Being bilingual for example, means tapping into further parts of our brain, like a stretched and flexed muscle. We become open to furthering our creativity, which then allows us a deeper kind of self-reflection and insight into our world. We also better understand our beliefs, and our passions by having a view of this greater picture we develop. We are boosting our brain power and boosting our ideas.
It enables you to integrate with other cultures and understand people’s lifestyles
This asset is second to none. Our world opens up in so many new ways when we know another language. Obviously, we become more capable of understanding others, but we are also able to integrate with other cultures and understand people’s lifestyles. A language is like a universe, and so the more languages we know, the more universes open up to us. Studies further this theory by indicating that there is richness, depth of understanding, and knowledge, within children who are bilingual. Their minds are stretched beyond a simple one-track focus- beyond the mere understanding of their own immediate surrounds and single culture.
❝One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.❞
‒Frank Smith
