Why learn English?
One of the less common questions we get asked at Advance, despite it being possibly the most important one any new student should ask is, why should I choose English?
People are told that studying English will benefit them in their career, help them when they travel and generally make modern life easier. While this is true in many cases, there are a lot of other, and possibly more immediately applicable reasons to choose English as your next language.
First it helps to understand why people generally learn another language … to communicate. Whether that means you want to speak to co-workers, understand what you see online or make friends at your local bar, you should know that you’ll be gaining a lot more in the process.
Before jumping into the details, let’s look at the headlines just to clear them out of the way.
1. English is the most widely spoken language in the world (not the most spoken, that honour goes to Mandarin). Basically - and unless you plan on visiting China - you’ll probably be able to use English wherever you go on holiday. (That said, locals will always appreciate a few words in their own language even if you have to ultimately use English to get by.)
Fact: There are more English language learners in China than there are people who speak it as a first language! That’s a lot of people!
2. English is the language of business, government, medicine, the media, etc. This is probably not a big surprise, but did you realise that even in many non-English speaking countries, companies use English as their official language? Email, meetings and conventions held in these environments are usually always in English, even if there are not native speaker present.
3. Over 50% of the pages on the web are written in English. This is a big reason why English has become so important today and means that searching for the things you like and learning using the web just gets easier the better your English becomes.
Fact: English is the official language in 53 countries. Can you name them all?
As mentioned at the start of this blog, there are also a lot of “small” things you may not have thought about, or that you would gain as a result of improving your English.
a. (Your) Further Education
Some of the most highly-regarded Universities in the world are in English-speaking countries or run courses in English. This doesn’t just include the top universities in the UK and the USA, but also some of the most prestigious institutions throughout the rest of the world.
Learning a second language also has the added benefit of helping a lot of people to understand and speak their own language better. This may sound a little strange but often seeing how another language works prompts learners to think about how they speak in more detail and make conscious changes. In addition, it doesn’t hurt to give your brain a workout, which has been proven to improve overall cognitive abilities and keeps you mentally “younger”.
b. Videogames/Apps/Software/Programming
As we move towards a more connected world and most people are online throughout the day, the need for more skilled programmers has grown, as has the desire in some people to learn how to code. Although there are non-English programming languages, the majority of those in use today were developed in English speaking countries, meaning programs need to be written in English.
This situation doesn’t change much for users either, and despite most videogames being playable in a variety of languages, English is the common language in the industry, beating out Japanese. This is a result of the USA being the single biggest market for gaming and it means that for all those aspiring Mark Zuckerberg’s out there, an appreciation of English will be important in reaching a global audience.
c. Literature/TV/Movies/Music/The Arts
“Don’t accept imitations!” Even though you can find books, movies and TV shows in every language you can imagine, it must be said that the best is still the original. Translation is considered something of an art, not just a robotic process of switching words, hence translators tend to alter stories slightly (not necessarily in a bad way).
If you want experience a story as it was intended, or with movies and TV to experience the true passion of your favourite actors, you have no other choice. (For English native speakers, the same applies to you in other languages.)
Fact: The majority of the most subscribed and viewed YouTube channels are recorded in English, including PewDiePie, who is the most popular YouTuber or them all and is actually Swedish.
d. Pop Culture
Gossip, trends and all the juicy news tend to focus around the USA and as such are written about in English. There are some exceptions, such as Donald Trump and his “Bad Hombres”; however, if you love the Kardashians, X factor or the latest trending shows and music, you’ll probably need to know a little English.
e. It’s a challenge
That’s right, learning English isn’t easy, especially compared many of the almost 7,000 languages in the world, but rarely are the best things in life. Beat it, conquer it and show everyone that you have what it takes to master it!
