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I am the child of Korean immigrants, but if you tried to have a conversation with me in Korean, I might die of embarrassment. I know how to say, “I’m hungry,” “I love you” and “eat strawberries,” but that’s about it.
I might not speak Korean, but I’ve been learning Spanish since the eighth grade. And through my studies, I’ve experienced new cultures, met amazing people and been to different countries like Peru. I just finished my first semester of Spanish at NC State, and I intend on adding it as a double major, along with computer science. Spanish has truly changed my life.
Everyone should learn a foreign language. It’s Spanish for me, but here are four reasons why I think you should learn any language:
1) For a Complete Education
Foreign language has always been viewed as an essential part to an NC State education.
As a matter of fact, Fred Virgil Cahill, Jr., former dean of the School of General Studies at NC State, explains this in his 1960 Annual Report: “We have here a chance to underscore the relevance of both the liberal arts and the technologies to a complete education. That anyone ever thought that they could be separated is one of the tragedies of modern civilization.”
Although NC State is widely known for it’s engineering, we must not forget the innumerable benefits uniquely provided by foreign language education, such as communication skills, social consciousness and cultural immersion. For a balanced student, language and engineering must coexist.
In addition, learning another language has been linked to greater perception of surroundings, delayed dementia and Alzheimer’s, higher scores on tests, and better memory and focus.
So, maybe we need to be writing verb conjugations between writing Java programs.
2) Be a Part of Great Community
Out of every subject, from English to physics, Spanish has always been the most fun for me. Without question.
I don’t know entirely why, but Spanish students are always some of the most fun-loving, humorous and intelligent people I meet. Combine that with Spanish teachers who always foster a welcoming environment, and you have the best conditions to learn more about the world around you.
In addition, learning a new language allows you to converse with a whole new population of people on the planet. Whether it’s at the Spanish service at my church or in the streets of Lima, Peru, I’ve learned a lot from conversations with native speakers.
And you don’t even have to leave campus to practice your new speaking skills: “NC State is home to about 2,000 international students from more than 100 countries around the world.”
So if you speak another language, congratulations — you’re able to talk to millions of people you may have never known otherwise!
3) For the Culture
Need new music? Well thank God you know another language: you’ve just unlocked a whole new genre of music on Spotify. I’ve learned so many words and phrases just by listening to music in Spanish, and it also introduces you to a variety of sounds from around the world.
Learning a foreign languages exposes you not only to new music but also new countries, and this is vital to developing empathy and a global perspective. For that reason, I’m trying to study abroad in Spain this spring semester. In addition to Spain, NC State has programs that go to France, Peru, Austria, Italy and Mexico. (At what other point in life can we leave the country for so long, so freely?).
Mark Twain said it better than I could: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
New sights, sounds, and flavors — it’s good for the soul.
4) Stay Woke
Learning another language also encourages you to be cognizant of global affairs.
The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at NC State spells this out clearly: “Our mission is to help students not only become proficient in a foreign language, but to think critically about the world and immerse themselves in new cultures.”
This past semester in FLS 331, I researched and wrote on a variety of subjects such as Trump’s immigration policy, income inequality in Peru, universal education in Chile and other themes that have given me a much broader perspective on life.
My Spanish professor heavily emphasized the responsibilities of an informed global citizen, and how we have an obligation to know what’s happening in the world because we also have the power to change it.
If we want to see change realized in today’s day and age, we need to be aware of what’s going on in the world. Or, as Childish Gambino puts it, we need to “stay woke.”
So if you want to be a part of a great community, learn new cultures and stay woke, all for the sake of a complete education, just remember that NC State offers classes in 15 different languages. With a plethora of clubs and opportunities to get involved in the community, why not take advantage of the resources at your disposal? It might be hard, pero vale la pena.