Anyone who’s survived their freshman year of college has undoubtedly responded to questions of “What’s your major?” and “What’s your class schedule?” While students’ answers to the former question occupy a host of unique responses, their answers to the latter tend to remain unremarkable, at least at the University of Michigan.
Personally, after my first few weeks of college, I grasped the standard U-M freshman curriculum: a first-year writing seminar, an introductory major course, and of course, something to fulfill the language requirement. U-M, at least in the college of Literature, Science, and the Arts, requires four semesters of a language or equivalent, which is typical for most four year universities.
Spending four semesters on a language is often met with complaint–the class slots taken up by standard language courses represent time that could be spent learning something related to one’s major, or expanding into a second field of study and earning a minor.
These arguments, though fair, miss, in my opinion, the overarching benefits provided by the pursuit of bilingualism. Here’s how the advantages imparted through learning a new language grossly outweigh the disadvantages of a crowded course schedule:
You’ll Expand Your Understanding of English
One of the most shocking things I realized upon my study of German, my LSA language, was just how much about English I didn’t understand. Have you ever really thought about how pronouns change with case? Or considered just how many irregular verbs we use on a daily basis? Neither had I, until I started applying these ideas to my second language.
What I’ve found is that with an expansion of knowledge of grammatical concepts in my first language, I’ve been able to more deeply understand why I write and speak the way I do, and am a better English writer and speaker because of it.
Connections to New Communities and Opportunities Will Arise
Although I can only speak confidently about U-M’s German department, I know from interacting with students of other languages that through our experience learning a new language, we expand our knowledge of the culture associated with it. My friends in Spanish courses have learned about the pros and cons of tourism in Latin American issues, while my friends in French courses study the impact of colonization on Africa. They’re therefore able to connect to these communities and be more profoundly aware of the world around them.
Furthermore, one can find extensive opportunities when they incorporate their second language into their job search. Spanish and Arabic are great languages to learn for those looking to interact with the greater public, and have other valuable applications in fields like business or technology as well. The study of a second language opens these doors to a deeper understanding of the world and new opportunities.
Your Brain Can Grow through Multilingual Study
Research points to cognitive benefits to bilingualism. Putting your brain in a state of effort towards understanding foreign words grows both your memory and your ability to multitask, according to information from the Journal of Cognitive Psychology and the National Institute of Health, respectively.
Think of it like playing memory games or doing math problems–exercising your mind through language learning pays off in your heightened ability to recognize patterns, recall learned information, and understand new vocabulary.
Thus, I’m a staunch supporter of LSA’s seemingly-enduring language requirement–I’ll concede that it can be annoying, and sometimes a waste of time, but at the end of the day, I believe that making connections with new people, gaining a deeper understanding of your first language, and being able to put B1 or B2 on your resume overshadow these cons.
So, next time you’re considering whether or not doing that worksheet for Spanish 102 is really worth it, look back to this article, and bear in mind that, with dedication, learning a new language can change your life.