7 Powerful Benefits of Being Bilingual Thatll Change Your Life

7 Powerful Benefits of Being Bilingual Thatll Change Your Life 7 Benefits of Being Bilingual Thatll Change Your Life Want a new job?Wish you had better health?Want a more fulfilling personal life?Learn a second language!When discussing the benefits of learning a foreign language, most people think of the straightforward perks right away. You know, that its useful to be able to ask where the bathroom is  when you visit Beijing, or  to be able to ask for  directions when you get lost in Barcelona.But did you know that the  benefits  of being bilingual  go much deeper than that?Recent research on bilingualism has  found that speaking another language can improve your life in many ways. Being bilingual can provide new  career opportunities, improve your personal life and even lead to better health.Heres a review of what the current research tells us about the benefits of knowing a  foreign language. 7 Benefits of Being Bilingual Thatll Change Your LifeWorkplace Benefits of Being BilingualKnowing more than one language can give you a big boost professionally, and in todays economy, thats something eve ryone can  use.1. Bilingualism can improve your competitiveness in the job market.Knowing a second language makes your resume stand out  and can boost you to the top  of the interview list with potential employers.Companies today serve increasingly diverse, multilingual  populations at home and abroad. Managers  know that multilingual consumers are a huge commercial force and represent a significant opportunity for future business.  A recent report  goes as far as saying that marketers and advertisers who grasp and activate the multicultural edge will be poised to connect with rising super consumers.Many companies have international offices, sell their products abroad and have production facilities in other countries. These companies want to hire versatile employees who can speak other languages and navigate different cultural expectations. So  once youve got a second language under your belt, you might be fighting off job offers!Even knowing just a few words of a foreign language c an be helpful. Taylor Diaz-Rogers, a student at Florida International University, found this out when she interviewed for an internship at the marketing company  Optimum7.According to the FIU  career services department  website, Diaz-Rogers said, The COO of Optimum7, who was at the fair and with whom I got the chance to speak to, was from Turkey I had visited his country 5 years ago and still knew a few words in Turkish. Because of that, we were able to build a good rapport.It was partially because of her knowledge of Turkish that Diaz-Rogers was offered an internship at the company!2. Knowing a second language can open up new career opportunities.Foreign  language skills can be particularly beneficial if youre interested in changing  careers to a new and growing field.Jobs as translators and interpreters are in the  top 15 fastest-growing occupations in the United States, with  nearly 25,000 translation and interpretation jobs expected to become available by  2020. This estimate d oes not even include jobs in the military, which actively recruits people with a variety of language skills. (They then use  the  DLIFLC GLOSS to teach languages to recruitsâ€"which is surprisingly available to the public, so you can use it to learn a language too!)Other fast-growing fields like  travel and tourism, healthcare  and  national security  need employees with bilingual language skills and the ability to work across cultures. Fields  such as journalism, education  and international development are always in search of bilingual employees. And knowing a second language can give you an an edge if you want to apply for the  Peace Corps or become a  Foreign Service Officer.3. Bilinguals can earn  more money.The financial returns of learning a foreign language vary by language and job, but they can add up to a lot.  Salary.com  found that  jobs with  pay differentials based on bilingualism usually pay 5-20% more per hour for bilingual employees.MIT economist Albert Saiz  discov ered  that college graduates who speak two languages make an average of 2% more than those who do not. This  can add up to a lot over time, as an  article in The Economist  points out. At retirement, the extra earnings could mean an additional  $67,000 in your retirement account!Life Improvements Gained by  Being BilingualAside from improving your career prospects, speaking another language is just plain  fun, and can add great value to your personal life.4. Being bilingual opens up social and cultural opportunities.Speaking another language lets  you interact with different people and understand the nuances of another culture. This means you might have more opportunities to make friends, explore different hobbies and better understand your favorite foreign music, film  and literature.Even if you dont start interacting with native speakers right away, you can start benefiting from cultural knowledge right away by learning with authentic videos on FluentU. FluentU takes real-world vi deosâ€"like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talksâ€"and turns them into personalized language lessons.Travel  can also be cheaper and more rewarding when you speak the language of the country youre visiting. You wont be  limited to staying in expensive foreigner hotels, eating at restaurants where the staff speaks English or  traveling with a tour group.Instead, you can find your own way and experience  the country the way a local would.  You might  enjoy cheaper access to museums because you dont  have to pay for a foreign-language guide, and you will certainly have more opportunities to meet people, engage in conversation and learn about the culture.5. Speaking another language gives you a new perspective.Even if you dont travel abroad, becoming bilingual  can help you see the world in a different way  and understand yourself better.Research  has found that bilinguals literally see the world differently. People who regularly speak a second language perceive differ ences in color variations that are not recognized by monolinguals!  Hows that for a new perspective?Many people who speak more than one language also report feeling like a different person when they speak the other language.  Research  by a professor at  the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has found that bilinguals emphasize different character traits depending on which language they are  speaking. The professor interviewed Parisian adults who were fluent in French and Portuguese and found that they acted differently when speaking one language or the other. For example, one  girl sounded like an angry, hip suburbanite in French and a frustrated, but patient, well-mannered bank customer in Portuguese.Another study found significant levels of frame-shifting, or changes in self perception, among bilingual participants. Researchers interviewed Hispanic women who were fluent in Spanish and English and found that many  classified themselves as more assertive when they spoke Sp anish. The women also had different perceptions of the same advertisements when they saw them in English and in Spanish.So if you want to understand yourself better, learning another language might be the key!Health and Well-being Advantages of  BilingualsOne of the best reasons to become bilingual is the enormous health benefits it can have, particularly for the brain.6. Speaking a second language improves problem-solving, multitasking and decision-making.Numerous studies have found that bilingualism can improve brain functions like  the ability to focus attention and perform mental tasks.A study  in Scotland and Italy found that bilingual children  were significantly more successful than their monolingual peers in problem-solving and creativity tasks.  Another study  found that people who speak more than one language can process information more efficiently and easily.As a bilingual, you are constantly choosing in which language to say a word, and this gives you a lot of practice choosing important information and ignoring extraneous details. This seems to help bilinguals do better at tasks that require multitasking and  blocking out distractions.Speaking another language can even help you make more rational decisions!  A study  conducted by a team of psychologists at the University of Chicago found that forcing people to rely on a second language when making decisions reduced their natural human  biases. The scientists concluded that using a foreign language provided increased cognitive and emotional distance that allowed people to focus on the information rather than their own emotions.The next time you want to make the most rational decision possible, consider thinking about it  in a foreign language!7. Bilingualism can slow the effects of old age.The benefits of being bilingual are lifelong, but they seem especially important  in old age.  Cognitive flexibilityâ€"the ability to adapt to unfamiliar or unexpected circumstancesâ€"tends to decline as we age, but speaking a second language can  block that decline or at least significantly delay it.Research  shows that  bilingualism can improve cognition and delay dementia in older adults, particularly related to general intelligence and reading abilities.And while bilingualism cannot prevent Alzheimers disease, it can delay the onset of symptoms as much as five years.  A recent study  found that the brains of people who suffered from Alzheimers show the same physical deterioration whether they were monolingual or bilingual. But the people who speak two languages do  not exhibit  the typical symptoms of Alzheimersâ€"such as memory loss, confusion and difficulties with problem-solving and planningâ€"until much later than those who only speak one language.Get started soon!There are numerous  benefits to gain from speaking a second language, from professional and personal to  health benefits. Moreover, learning a foreign language is just fun!The sooner you learn and the more frequently you use your second language, the greater the benefits will be. So why not get started right away? Find a class, grab a conversation partner  or get started with  a website like FluentU.Youll thank yourself both during the journey, and when youre reaping the benefits of being bilingual! And One More ThingIf youre ready to start reaping these benefits right now, youll love learning with FluentU. FluentU makes it possible to learn languages  from music videos, commercials, news and inspiring talks.With FluentU, you learn real languagesâ€"the same way that real people speak them. FluentU has a wide variety of videos, like movie trailers, funny commercials and web series, as you can see here:FluentU App Browse ScreenFluentU has interactive captions that let you tap on any word to see an image, definition, audio and useful examples. Now native language content is within reach with interactive transcripts.Didnt catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover over or tap on the subtitles to instantly view definitions.FluentU Interactive TranscriptsYou can learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentUs quiz mode. Swipe left or right to see  more examples for the word you’re learning.FluentU Has Quizzes for Every VideoAnd FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It uses that vocab to give you a 100% personalized experience by recommending videos and examples.