Language skills are a set of capabilities that enables a person to comprehend, produce and use the language effectively in interpersonal communication. This includes reading, listening, writing and speaking. These four are the pillars of language skills that one has to ace if they want to properly learn a new language. It is very important that you structure your learning based on these four capabilities. Only when you master these four fundamentals will you have fully learnt a language. A few factors that make it very important to build your language skills are:
Open up new horizons:
When you start learning a new language it opens up a whole new world for you. You suddenly get exposed to tons of more content to read or listen to. You get to learn things that you might not have in your native language. It will truly be an asset to you while traveling, communicating globally, reading new literature, watching foreign movies, and so on. Yes there are native translations available for all famous books but reading and understanding them in their original language just speaks different. You get to experience it just as it was meant to be.
There’s science behind it:
Workout of your brain is just as essential as working out for muscles to keep yourself in shape. With multiple studies it’s been proven that learning a language keeps the brain in good shape and enhances our memory, multitasking and cognitive skills. The more you learn the more your brain keeps grinding which is highly beneficial for your health.
Job and business edge:
Being fluent in a any foreign language or even on your own can give you an edge at your job or while handling business. Companies regard language skills very highly and often put multilingual people at top of their list while recruiting. It allows you to broaden your horizon and to interpret things that aren’t available in common languages like English or your native tongue. You might have a huge deal with a French company but the representative might be limited to just his own language. If either one of you knows the other one’s language the deal will go a lot smoother and you will fully understand each other. Similarly at your job, you could help out by interpreting some resource person. This instantly boosts your credibility at the workplace.
Personal development:
Learning a language and being confident with it helps significantly in your personal development. English for example is a very popular language and is always used as an intermediate language between two people with different native tongues. It acts as a mediator. If you are able to speak the language very well and put forward your ideas clearly to another person your confidence instantly goes up. You will have a control over the language which makes you more bold, sharp and articulate.
Learn how to learn:
You may have a little grasp of some language and go on to believe that you can understand anything that is written in it. However there are a lot of nuances to it. Just knowing simple terms and basics of tenses won’t get you far. To fully understand the meaning, dynamics, feelings, tone and every sense of detail of a text or audio you have to learn the language to its core. Only then will you be qualified to learn things that the reader or writer is trying to convey. You will no longer be getting half baked knowledge.
Language skills can be beneficial in various aspects of your life. It can open up a whole new world of content that is waiting for you to be read or listened to. It sharpens up your mind and keeps your brain cells active. It helps in your job or business when you have to deal with international clients. It makes you bolder, sharper and more articulate. With all this, you learn how to learn; you will be able to fully grasp the content and get the exact message given by the writer or speaker.
