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The Benefits Of Language While Traveling
Our native language is built into us. We grow up soaking it in from our parents, siblings, and environment. Learning a new one can be a bit difficult. But we have to make an effort because learning a new language has many benefits, especially for a traveler. When you can speak many languages, you can easily interact with anyone from around the world.
Learning a new language is different for every person and every language. You might discover that some languages are pretty straightforward for you to pick up, while others seem a bit difficult. However, the more you practice, the better you get at your foreign language skills. Learning a new language becomes even more important when you're traveling. Before we discuss the many benefits, let's explore some reasons why you should travel.
The Advantages Of Traveling
Traveling is an integral part of life and offers many benefits to an individual:
It brings you a lot of happiness; it's a part of learning, and it helps you unwind and refresh.
It takes you away from the daily grind of life and gives you that much-needed rest. While travelling, you get to see the world, meet new people, see more places, enjoy more cultures, view many beautiful sceneries around, and enjoy the weather outside your homeland.
It brings many benefits to the heart, mind, and body. You can even decide to live in another country just by visiting.
These benefits outweigh any disadvantages that may occur from going on a trip. If you haven't traveled before, do so today. You can go to a different state or city in your country, another country in the same continent, or across the ocean and visit other countries in another continent. If you are a regular traveler but stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic, make a note today to start planning another trip.
The good thing is that the pandemic has calmed down, the effects are no longer being felt as intensely as before, and different countries have eased up the restrictions on border entry and exit. Besides, there are vaccines now that people can take, ensuring that the chances of getting sick is significantly reduced. So dust yourself off and turn the atlas to find a country to go to. One of the best things you can do for your mental health is to disconnect. Once in a while, go to a different place, and stay there for a few days to a few weeks.
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Why Learn A Language When You Are Traveling?
However, before you head out, there is an essential thing you need to have: a new language or two. Imagine landing in a foreign country, and you are met with a blizzard of signs, directions, characters, cultures, challenges, and different choices that you don't understand. That is one sure way of making your trip a less enjoyable one. Therefore, you need to pick up a new language. How many languages do you currently speak? More than one language, or only your mother tongue? That will not do, especially if you want to start traveling. It will help if you learn a new language. Don't stop at one; learn two or three. Doing so has so many great benefits to you, the traveler.
According to Nelson Mandela, ”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.” Here are ten benefits of learning languages while traveling internationally:
10 Benefits of Learning Languages While Travelling
1) It Saves You a Lot of Money
When you learn a new language, you can save money in a big way. Imagine being able to negotiate the rate of goods and services in the new country. That's what the language will help you do. You can get more affordable hotels and also negotiate their prices to suit your budget. You can also opt for a shared accommodation or stay with a host family. This move will save you a considerable sum of money, help you make friends, and easily integrate into their culture. But accommodations are not the only way you can save money. You can save money on local transportation, be it airfare, train, or taxi rides. You can save money by going to the local market to buy ingredients for your meals or find the local restaurants where you can get delicious food at a cheaper rate.
2) It helps you to Get a Job Abroad Easily.
There are so many great job opportunities that abound outside your country of origin, most times with better pay and working conditions. Learning the language of a different country can make it easier to land a job abroad. If you are called for job interviews, you can impress your would-be employers with your excellent conversational skills in their language. Experts say that having two or more languages can increase your chances of getting a job abroad by 10% -15%. Knowing different cultures and languages will make you an excellent candidate as it shows you can easily integrate and work well with your international colleagues.
3) Opens Many Opportunities to You
You can get in touch with the right person at the right time when you learn a new language. Doing so will help you grab opportunities that open up during your travel time. You can even maximize such opportunities before you travel, assuming you saw it online, read about it, or a friend told you about it before your trip. The new language you have learned will come to your aid and ensure you don't lose out on such opportunities. You can get options for study, work or even business when you can speak the language of the country you are visiting.
4) It Increases Safety
Do you remember how you were very conscious of your surroundings when you started driving? That's the same way you have to be aware of your environment when you speak two languages and find yourself in a new environment. This enhanced awareness helps you know when to switch your greetings, mannerisms, and character to suit the people you are visiting. Doing so also has the added advantage of making you safer. This way, you can walk around a famous market without the fear of pickpockets, since you can read all the signs and words very well.
5) Makes Getting Around Easier
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Knowing the language of the place you are visiting will make it easier to get around. This will make your travel more enjoyable. Whether you want to read signs or ask for directions, knowing the local language makes it a lot easier for you. You can easily order food from a local restaurant, book a hotel, and even negotiate fees and deals. You can ask for directions to the library, museum, park, or even to the stadium to enjoy a football match. Indeed, learning a new language makes it easy to get immersed in the country.
6) Understanding a Different Culture
No matter how many travel diaries you read or documentaries you watch about a country or city, it will never be the same as being physically present in that country. When you are in a country, you are better able to absorb the culture of the people, and you can learn from them and with them. And knowing the language of that country will help you to understand the culture better. Since you know that one of the significant reasons for traveling is to see and understand other people's culture, it is better to learn the language of the place you are going to. Knowing the native language will help you to have a richer experience of a people's culture.
7) Avoid Cultural Faux Pas
Sometimes you travel to a place and use your method of greeting to say “hello” to someone, and they do not respond. Maybe it is a hand sign that means hello in your country but means a different (and potentially the opposite) meaning in another culture. This is a cultural faux pas, and it could have been avoided if you had learned their culture. And the best way of learning a people's culture is through their language. When you understand their culture, you can use all the appropriate terms needed in whatever scenario you find yourself in. You know the words of respect applicable to their community, which will help you avoid making a fool of yourself. Learning about the culture of a new place shows that you care about the culture of the people, and they will love you for it.
8) Creates New Connections
Most of the enjoyable experiences you gain from traveling come from the diversity of the people you meet. Knowing their language will help you maximize these experiences and create deeper, lasting connections with others. Making friends with people from different cultures is a big deal, and learning their language facilitates this friendship and connection effortlessly. You can meet new business partners, investors, students, clients, and maybe even a life partner, just from developing a relationship with others. With the new language, you will communicate with others in ways you never thought possible.
9) Explore Local Spots in a New City
When you can speak the local language of the place you are visiting, it will be easy to know the local tourist spots. You will find the exciting places in the city, hidden attractions, the best tourist sites, holiday spots, and the most exciting places you need to visit before you leave that country. That way, you will have excellent memories from that visit, and you will enjoy your trip. When you go back to your country, you will be discussing this place as a local, not just as a tourist, because you took the pains to learn a new language.
10) Train Your Brain
Who would have thought that learning a simple language to aid in your travel dreams would significantly help your brain and improve your memory? Yes, it does. Learning a new language enables you to strengthen your thinking, your mind, and your memory. A study carried out by Antoniou Mark in the Annual Review of Linguistics has shown that learning languages makes children brighter and helps adults reduce the incidence of Alzheimer's disease. He says learning at least two languages delays the onset of the disease and improves your brain and memory function as you age. Learning anything changes your brain, same with learning a new language. Who knew traveling could improve your health?
Conclusion
Learning languages has excellent benefits. No amount of guide books or online materials can replace the experience you will get when you can speak the language of your host community. It can positively impact you and make your journey painless. And the great thing about this is that you don't even have to be an expert in the language; you just need to know enough to get by.
So there you have it. Ten excellent benefits of learning languages while traveling. So what language would you like to learn first? ReDefiners World Languages offers online classes in English, Arabic, Spanish and Mandarin. Pick one and start today.
Our classes teach you how to converse in the language, as well as how to navigate cultures. For more information or to register, please visit www.redefinerswl.org or email us at info@redefinerswl.org.