Recent scientific research on the brain suggests that learning foreign languages makes students smarter overall. Among the many benefits, it increases students’ mental focus, reading and writing abilities, and even improves mathematical skills. I do not know if my geometry or calculus grades jumped up because I was studying Spanish or Japanese, but it did sharpen my critical thinking and broadened my perspective about the world. It opened my mind to new cultures and new ways of thinking. It gave me the chance to consider foreign cultures against my own values and traditions and gave me a deeper respect for our multi-faceted world.

Through language learning, I was exposed to a different set of aesthetics, cuisines, philosophies, politics, histories, and traditions. All this classroom learning naturally became the catalyst for me to travel and study abroad to further enhance my international education through seeing and experiencing foreign cultures.
One of the most rewarding parts of learning foreign languages is that it helped me to make connections with people overseas. It is amazing how people’s perception of Americans abroad change when they speak the language of the host foreign country.

In a world of Globalization, any young citizen should consider learning foreign languages. Since the late ’90s, the internet has helped the world getting closer and gave the chance for people around the world to talk and exchange.
Being young doesn’t mean we’re not a part of this world. Therefore, the necessity of being a multilingual speaker is growing bigger day after day. Having the possibility to speak at least 2 foreign languages can have a tremendous effect on one’s life.

Cultural exchange is one of the main advantages of learning other languages, there are thousands of cultures to know about, and this cultural exchange is the path into a more ambitious goal: world peace!

Besides culture and studying abroad, on a national level, lots of economic benefits can emerge from having a multilingual country, because the tourists are more likely to go into a country where people understand them, rather than some random place with no possibilities of being understood by the local population.

In short, if we are serious about educating global leaders for tomorrow, we need to have students who can engage in many different societies and be able to build cooperation between them. Foreign language must be an important part of this endeavor. The pursuit of foreign language education should not be considered a luxury to be sought by a few. Rather, foreign language instruction should be a core element to our education and taught as early as possible.