Why are languages so important?
In an increasingly globalized world, just getting by with your home language is no longer enough. Those who can speak one or more foreign languages, as well as their native language, have many advantages.
- From a business perspective, it can be quite beneficial to know foreign languages in order to connect and network with people from all over the globe.
- From a Cultural perspective, learning a language gives you a chance to experience an entirely different culture in a very intimate way. A culture is deeply integrated with its language, so to truly experience it you have to speak the foreign language.
- From an Individual Perspective, Speaking language can be a highly enriching experience. Learning a foreign language can also be a lot of fun, and give the student a great feeling of accomplishment
What is Language?
Language is the ability to acquire and use complex systems of communication Language is thought to have originated when early humans started gradually changing their early communication systems. The structures of language have evolved to serve specific communicative and social functions. Language is not the creation of one person or of one period but it is an institution, on which hundreds of generations and countless individuals have worked on. Language is thought to have originated 10,000 BC
Language is one of the most fundamentally characteristics of the faculties of Humankind.
Importance of Languages for the Individual
1. Importance of Languages for Personal Communication
Language is not only a mode of communication between individuals but is also a way for the expression of their personality.
We use language to:
- inform the people around us of what we feel
- what we desire
- question/understand the world around us
We communicate effectively with our words, gestures, and tone of voice in a multitude of situation.
Would you talk to a small child with the same words you would in a business meeting? Being able to communicate with each other, form bonds, teamwork, and it’s what separates humans from other animal species. Communication drives our lives and better ourselves.
Even with the ability to communicate with each other. Misunderstandings happen. Remember, communication is a two-way street that should be embraced and not ignored.
2. Importance of Languages for Personal Development
Believe it or not, some people can be arrogant to believe they can’t go to foreign countries without knowing anything about the language or culture of the people in the places they visit.
The importance of language is beneficial regardless if you do it for fun or for your career or even just for personal travel. They expect the indigenous people to accommodate them and know their language.
3. Importance of Languages for Career Development
improve your career with new languages. The importance of languages really shines in your career and business with companies trying to reach global audiences and markets. More and more business leaders recognize to compete you have to have knowledge of many foreign languages.
Your colleagues/clients will be more likely to trust what you are saying and there will be a more intimate relationship than if you were to conduct all communication through a translator. This could be an important step in building strong and lasting business relationships that help ensure the success of your own business.
More and more schools are recognizing the importance of language. Some schools begin offering to teach a second language as early as middle school.
4. Importance of Languages for Understanding Culture
Knowledge of other languages, as well as their culture, shows that you respect the ideas that they bring to the table and you understand their needs and wants better than somebody who does not have this background. Through language, we can connect with other people and make sense of our experiences. Our language is the most important part of our being. It’s important to learn other languages besides our own because it helps us to learn about other peoples and cultures but the most important one that we can learn is our own mother tongue as this is one of the most basic parts of our identity.
5. Importance of Languages for Developing Children
Imagine what it must be like for your child to develop these skills that we take for granted.
As a parent, teacher, or other type of caregiver, you shape a child’s language development to reflect the identity, values, and experiences of your family and community. Therefore, it is up to you to create a warm and comfortable environment in which your child can grow to learn the complexities of language. The communication skills that your child learns early in life will be the foundation for his or her communication abilities in the future.
Important of Language to Society
The importance of language to society is clear. It has led man from a mere clumsy animal to a human being in the real sense of the word. It has simplified the conveyance of ideas, smoothed social contacts, conserved our culture, and transmitted it to future generations.
1. Importance of Languages for Improved Social Contact
Society, as we have seen, is a web of social relationships which imply the development of social contacts among individuals with language contacts become easy to be established because men can easily exchange their ideas.
2. Importance of Languages for Culture-Carrier
Ideas require language. Sometimes an idea or concept is hard to translate because the language has no words with which to express it.
Language conserves our culture which it passes to posterity. Language may be called culture-carrier. The culture that exists at a given time and place has come from the past and is the result of the accumulation of things, attitudes, ideas, knowledge, error, and prejudice.
We get the cooperation of other people by using the language which expresses our feelings, thoughts, and passions. Through conversation, we get mental and emotional satisfaction
The animals as we have seen are incapable of speech except for a few sounds and so incapable of having any culture and civilization. It is a man alone who through language has acquired a high degree of culture and civilization.
3. Importance of Languages for Spreading Ideas
A language gives a capacity for spreading ideas about a great variety of things. People get benefits from the knowledge and experience of one another in the same language. Media of the same language will enhance the knowledge of the people of the society.
In times when there was no language, the ideas were transmitted by signs or cries which were not easy to interpret. Humans felt great difficulty in the clear expression of states of emotion or signs.
But with the invention of language now a number of ideas and states of emotion can be conveyed in an easy and simple way.
