It’s finally summer! You might be finishing up school work or enjoying time outside in the summer sun after work. With COVID-19, you might find that you have more time on your hands. Instead of watching more TV, think of something you’ve always wanted to do. That could be anything from renting a musical instrument and trying it out for a month to playing a new board game with your family. But what about learning a new skill such as learning a foreign language? You might have taken a language in high school, but how much of it do you really remember? Here, I’m going to talk about the benefits of learning a foreign language. Even just 10-20 minutes a day can get you from novice to expert level over time.

Learning a language can be for adults as well as children or can be a fun family bonding exercise. For adults, learning a language can be helpful when searching for new jobs that require bilingual proficiency. This can open doors to new career paths. For children, learning a language could be a fun way to engage in mental activity. Evidence-informed practice shows that stopping mental stimulation through new activities and social gatherings can delay cognitive functioning and might even allow children to fall as much as two years behind in school. To get started, here are three helpful tips:

1. Practice daily! Think of learning a new language as eating breakfast. Incorporate practice into your daily routine. This can be as simple as setting a time for yourself each day to practice. It doesn’t have to be long. You’ll start seeing improvements and confidence in your abilities through as little as 10 minutes a day.
2. Make it fun! Whether you’re learning on your own, with your partner, or with children, try to make learning a new language not seem like a chore. Otherwise, you might not feel motivated to continue. If you’re going to play Scrabble with the family, try to translate the words you’re using into another language. Create a scavenger hunt for kids in which they have to identify objects outside and match them with the foreign word, for example. Have a “French only” day, for example, where the family only speaks French to each other.
3. Sign up with an instructor! You might be the type to be completely disciplined on your own in keeping up the language and that’s fine! However, for those who want to feel motivated by others around them, joining a course might be the best way to keep on track. There are free phone applications such as Duolingo for practicing on the go. Gain Contact offers virtual course instruction with a live, native speaker so that you can practice and get feedback. This will help you improve your skills, build confidence, and stay motivated!

So, I encourage you to sharpen your mind, connect with others, and immerse yourself in a new hobby. Learning a language is part of being a great global citizen and you will come to realize that by speaking a new language, you can connect with so many different parts of the world and ethnic groups. This is truly rewarding as our world is becoming increasingly more multicultural.

For myself, I have traveled to different parts of the world and being able to speak the native language brings great satisfaction and others are more likely to open up. Right now, I’m learning Cantonese through my spouse and who knows where that will take me. The opportunities are endless!

Please contact Gain Contact Group to learn more about our foreign language programs. I would also recommend researching the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) to learn more about the benefits of learning a new language.

~Nicole Fogel, Intern Coordinator