Imagine losing everything in life. There are people who go bankrupt. They lose all their wealth, properties, cars, and other material possessions. What essentially remains with a person in such a state? It is the intangible things in life that are everlasting – our identity, our health, and our education.

Can Learning Languages Help Understand Ourselves?   

Knowing our native language or mother tongue has a big impact on understanding ourselves. With language, we acquire direct access to our heritage, culture, traditions, beliefs, and history that is irreplaceable when attempted through a different language. In fact, fluency in our mother tongue is a big factor in preserving and constructing our self identity. 

Loss of native language is a factor in a loss of identity especially among the second and third generation immigrants. An extreme case of such identity loss can be studied in the loss of identity of African Americans over the centuries of slavery in the United States. As they lost their African languages by adopting the host language and culture over generations, they lost their identity in the melting pot of America, only to be reawakened by Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and other African American activists to rediscover their roots in the 60s. 

Today, we see an extreme form of the same phenomenon in the societal breakdown in inner city African American as well as other second/third generation immigrant gang members in the West who have similarly lost a connection with their native language and culture in the macroculture of their host societies. Even if we lose every material possession, if we can cling on to what makes us uniquely ourselves, it is a priceless resource. Early native language acquisition is a key to preserving our identities.   

Some world religions have a certain language associated with them and effort exerted early in a child’s education can help preserve the identity and well being of the child. In Judaism, children have bar mitzvah in which Hebrew plays an important role. Similarly, in Islam, Arabic is a religious language of Muslim scriptures that is vital for the preservation of faith. Only a small percent of Muslims speak Arabic as their native language as most are ethnically non-Arabs. For the vast majority, it is another language - a language of religion – that if they invest in acquiring, they can prosper in their faith tradition. Chinese plays a similar role in Confucianism, as does Punjabi in Sikhism, and Hebrew in Judaism. Knowing it helps one “know oneself” better. 

“Even if we lose every material possession, if we can cling on to what makes us uniquely ourselves, it is a priceless resource. Early native language acquisition is a key to preserving our identities.”

Can Learning Languages Improve Our Wellbeing?

Many people learn a foreign language for fun. There are polyglots who are adept at multiple languages. For them language acquisition is a pastime they enjoy. They derive pleasure in analyzing and comparing languages, their similarities and differences and how they have impacted one another throughout history. 

Hobbies like language acquisition, which use the mind have a very beneficial impact on mental health. It is observed that people who know multiple languages are more likely to avoid mental illnesses like Alzheimers in their old age. The mind becomes more flexible and grows as new neuron connections are made and others are made stronger as the person exerts effort in changing gears to communicate in different languages with different audiences. Playing language games like crosswords puzzles and Scrabble or interpreting/translating keeps senility at bay.

What is the Most Beneficial in Education?

Out of all formal learning, perhaps the most useful skills we can directly apply from our education are languages. A newcomer to our country is not as likely to apply the formula for calculating an area of a circle, or knowledge of how light travels. Rather, they need immediate language skills to order food and arrange accommodations. Thus knowledge of languages and their correct usage are perhaps the most valuable knowledge and experience we can get from our formal educational journeys.  

Nobody can divest us of who we essentially are, i.e. our identity, our health, and our education, even if we seemingly lose everything. Time, effort and monetary resources invested in language learning is thus a worthwhile personal investment. Even if we are robbed of everything, the vestiges of language learning have everlasting intrinsic benefits for our wellbeing that we can continue reaping.

ReDefiners World Languages

ReDefiners World Languages is a non-profit organization that offers language education programming in Hillsborough County, Florida. Its mission is to equip and empower people to have access to new opportunities – from academics to careers – by learning a second language. 

Invest in yourself – in your identity, your wellbeing, and your education. Commit to the most valuable intrinsic investment you can make today by scheduling your private online language class at ReDefiners Live Academy. For more information, get in touch with ReDefiners World Languages at 813-530-2313 or info@redefinerswl.org.