Top ten reasons to learn English

About 450 million people speak English as their first language, but another 1.4 billion people speak it as their second or third language. Here you find some reasons to learn English: 

1. Travel
Most of airports, roads and trains stations use English as their language in most parts of the world. Hotel staff usually speak English than any other second language and it's the language used by pilots. Learning English makes travel easier.


2. Employment
Speaking a second language make you more employable. Employers are looking for you to speak one of the more widely spoken languages, and with so many people speaking English as a second language, English is the natural choice.

3.  Money
Knowing English assists you to promote your products, skills and services to a wider world. So there are strong financial rewards for knowing the language.

4. Technology 
It is estimated that 80% of the world's research and academic papers are published in English. So if you want to access technology, you need English.

5. Mental Stimulation
Learning a language is excellent mental stimulation. The brain is like a muscle, if you don't use it, you lose it. Of course you can get the benefits from studying from any language, but since it takes a lot of work and commitment, you might as well learn a language thats really useful.

6. New Experiences
Learning a language opens up new experiences. You can talk with people from different countries and cultures. You can watch their movies, listen to their music, visit their countries, read their literature and chat with them. If you learn English you could do this with 1,800,000,000 people!. 

7. Know Your First Language
The more you study another language the more you learn about your own. When you learn how one language functions, you begin draw parallels with another. When we learn a new language we end up comparing it to how our own works, so the very act of relating with another way of speaking reinforces the knowledge of your own language. 


8. Friendship
The internet is a great way to make new friends. You can chat online or communicate through social networking sites. 

9. Life Skills
Learning language takes practice patience, and persistence. You have to put in a lot of time doing routine memorizing and remain focused, thorough and analytical yet also stay open minded and be willing to risk embarrassment. Learning a new language forces you to confront your own limitations or being unable to express yourself. But all these things teach valuable life skills that build you as a person, and which you can apply to other areas of your life.

10. World Peace

The world needs more conversations between people from different parts of the world. If we can communicate with each other,  then perhaps we can gain a deeper understanding of our common humanity. The more we talk with others, the more we realise how much we share, and it sure beats the alternative of living isolated in our own linguistic islands of mutual distrust and xenophobia.

From  www. squidoo.com