_Kyleigh Polston is a freshman journalism major at MU. She is an opinion columnist who writes about student life for The Maneater._
Language has been around for approximately 150,000 years, and there are around 6,000 different languages spoken worldwide.
In high school, I took two years of Spanish, and became familiar with simple conversational sentences. Since I have started classes at MU, I have enrolled in the honors section of French 1100.
The course is much more accelerated than I was used to in high school, but the way that I have begun to draw similarities between the different languages has made me realize how much information I have retained.
Today in U.S. colleges and universities, foreign language requirements are being removed from many general education studies. In doing this, there is much more harm being done than good, as there are personal, professional and psychological benefits to learning a second language.
At MU, there are only a few different schools and majors that require foreign language. Among these are the School of Journalism, School of Nursing, and School of Health Professions, along with hospitality management and animal science majors. All of these prioritize communication by requiring a foreign language, but there are more majors that could utilize this skill to prepare students for the workforce.
As technology advances and our country continues to increase its global presence, foreign language skills are needed more than ever, especially for business majors.
The market is continuously becoming more competitive. In order to effectively communicate in international affairs, Americans involved need basic communication skills in other languages.
Other majors at MU that would benefit from adding foreign language requirements include education and social and behavioral majors.
Educationally, many schools throughout the nation are projected to become even more diverse over the coming years. One of the selling points of MU is its above average rank in overall diversity. So, making it a requirement for educational majors to have some background in foreign language is very reasonable.
Reducing the influence of some language barriers would help them develop deeper relationships with students and other faculty.
This also goes for students majoring in social and behavioral sciences; in order to connect and truly understand their patients or the groups of people they are studying, it would benefit them to have some knowledge of foreign language under their belt.
Communication and strong relationships with others shouldn’t be just another class to cross off your list of requirements — it should be worth putting your efforts into learning a new language.
These days, employers are becoming more and more inclined to hire workers that can speak multiple languages. It could be the deciding factor between two otherwise equally skilled individuals.
Along with the fact that you are more likely to get hired if you are bilingual, studies have shown that people who speak English and Spanish earn a salary 1.5 percent higher than the national average.
There has always been a tight relationship between language, culture and how we think, and this relationship has proven to be one way to keep your brain healthy.
People around the world have come to view language as a verbal expression of culture, and the way that we express many of our emotions and thoughts. Therefore, it’s only natural to assume that much of our thinking is shaped by the languages we use and our connection to the values and customs of our culture.
Neuroscience research has also shown that when learning a second language, the vocabulary acquisition portion of your brain grows stronger. Learning and acquiring new information stimulates the brain for growth, therefore increasing gray matter and overall brain function.
Promising research has also suggested that learning a second language could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia by up to four years.
Just as a child learns to speak and communicate their understanding of the world around them grows, as you learn a different language your understanding of others does the same thing.
Working and improving the functions of your brain will help you throughout the rest of both your educational and professional career. Adding another language to your skill set is simply smart.