Why Study a Foreign Language? How It Can Benefit Your Life

By Dr. Cynthia Silvia and Dr. Karolina Kopczyński  |  12/30/2025

People often ask, “Why should I study a foreign language?” For many people, the motivation begins with curiosity.

A new language can deepen relationships, broaden cultural understanding, and create opportunities that would not otherwise exist. Speaking one or more languages can shape:

• How we think
• How we connect
• How we participate in today’s global community

Speaking a second language fosters communication and helps you build meaningful connections with other people. The more you learn about other cultures through their language, the more you will look at the world from different perspectives.

In business, knowing more than one language can be a significant asset due to the expansion of the world's economy. Your ability to communicate with foreign colleagues and leaders is easier, and business trips become more productive.

The Benefits of Learning a Foreign Language

There are many benefits to knowing more than one language, including:

• Brain stimulation through exposure to new grammar and vocabulary enhances your language skills and memory.
• Your cognitive abilities may be less likely to decrease as you age because your brain remains active.
• Your attention span, listening skills, and multitasking abilities improve as you work to maintain your focus and block distractions.
• Foreign language learning teaches you creativity and empathy for people living in other countries.
• Your problem-solving and decision-making abilities experience growth during foreign language study.
• Your multitasking skills and abstract thinking abilities improve.
• Knowing a foreign language increases your career choice, providing you with marketable skills and the ability to reach more audiences.

New Language Learning and Its Effect on the Brain

Learning a new language enhances your cognitive and academic performance. In comparison to their monolingual peers with a very basic liberal education, bilingual people exhibit:

• Superior control
• Memory retention
• Problem-solving abilities

These cognitive advantages extend beyond language tasks while impacting performance in math, reading, and standardized testing. In addition, the ability to comprehend abstract concepts, along with primary (English) language vocabulary skills, increases through exposure to new linguistic structures.

Language learning fosters metalinguistic awareness, which enables learners to reflect on the structure and function of a language. This skill supports literacy and critical reasoning as foreign languages open pathways to advanced communication and academic growth. 

In a recent study, researchers found that bilingualism affects working memory in children. According to the researchers, bilingual children outperform monolingual children on tasks that involve interference suppression and task switching.

Bilingual children demonstrate earlier and more consistent overall development as their analytical skills improve. The bilingual advantage was most evident in tasks that involved complex memory – an area where knowledge of a foreign tongue improves long-term cognitive processing.

In humans, neuroplasticity suggests that the human brain can reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout a lifetime. Second language acquisition has been linked to cortical thickness in the prefrontal cortex.

Bilingual individuals have more grey matter in regions of the brain associated with language processing and a more profound understanding of linguistic relationships as a result of their training.

Factors that affect neuroplastic changes include:

• The age of acquisition
• Proficiency level
• Immersion experience
• The duration of learning

Earlier exposure to second languages results in more robust anatomical changes, and higher proficiency correlates with greater adaptation. Living in a second-language environment accelerates brain reorganization, and longer exposure results in more sustainable changes, a natural outcome in a multicultural world.

The Cultural Benefits of Studying a New Language

Foreign language study provides improved cultural awareness. Communicating in someone else's native language is deeply intertwined with culture.

Learning a language is to understand the values, histories, and worldviews of native speakers of that language. Language learners develop intercultural competence and a greater knowledge of their own culture.

In educational and professional settings, this competence translates into empathy, adaptability, and ethical engagement across cultural boundaries. It also encourages respect.

Familiarity with another’s culture enables people to better understand cultural norms – such as politeness, idiomatic expressions, and body language and gestures – and communicate more effectively. These bilingual people understand how and when to express themselves, and their ability to interpret humor, sarcasm, and directness improves.

Foreign Language Proficiency and Career Opportunities

Proficiency in a foreign language is a powerful tool in the global economy. Bilingual candidates who can communicate across linguistic and cultural divides may have better career opportunities in international marketplaces, especially in sectors such as:

• Education
• Business
• Law
• Healthcare
• Government

Multilingual people – who speak two or more languages – may be better positioned for leadership roles, international assignments, and cross-border collaborations. As the European Commission notes, multilingualism enhances employability and economic competitiveness in the global economy.

Many employers, including colleges and universities, have a shortage of individuals with foreign language skills. According to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), 90% of U.S. employers need employees with foreign language skills.

For employers, foreign language proficiency in their employees is a distinct advantage and vital to success.

Social and Communication Skills Development

Studying foreign languages teaches both social skills and communication skills developed through long-term study. For example, students may become more attuned to tone, context, and nonverbal cues of the residents of another country, enhancing the ability to listen, interpret, and respond effectively. The process of learning a foreign language depends on four main skills:

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing

Practicing all four of these skills together is necessary for effective language learning, leveraging the Integrated Skills Approach (ISA). These skills are transferable across different cultures and settings, which can strengthen interpersonal relationships and professional collaboration.

Studying foreign languages provide the chance for personal growth and identity development. For example, foreign language study may build resilience, curiosity, and confidence, which are all essential qualities for lifelong learning. For heritage speakers, language study can also reconnect them with their ancestral roots and cultural identity, which can be empowering and transformative.

In a foreign language classroom, there are different levels of enjoyment in foreign language courses. The first level is social enjoyment – the level of enjoyment students derive from learning their target language. The second level is the positive enjoyment that teachers and students experience when something difficult is achieved.

What Can Be Done to Encourage Foreign Language Study?

The U.S. education system must do more to prepare graduates to be proficient in multiple languages and provide a competitive edge in today’s economy. Ideally, foreign language programs should provide learners with study abroad and international travel opportunities to help with:

• Understanding new cultures
• Developing proficiency in communicating with native speakers
• Acquiring useful skills

When studying abroad, students can study linguistics and take courses to learn more about the traditions and beliefs of their own country. Learning a foreign language helps enhance students' knowledge of their own language and English vocabulary skills.

The Transformative Power of Foreign Languages

Foreign language study offers a way to expand the boundaries of understanding, enabling students to think critically, engage ethically, and act globally in a multi-cultural world.

Overall, language study offers cognitive, cultural, professional, and personal benefits that align with the goals of equitable and transformative education. Anyone who studies other languages will be better prepared to thrive in diverse environments, contribute meaningfully to society, and pursue excellence with empathy and insight.

The Bachelor of Arts in Communication at AMU

For interested adult learners seeking to improve their communication skills for the global market, American Military University (AMU) offers an online Bachelor of Arts in Communication. This degree offers courses in a wide range of topics, including public speaking, social media and society, and intercultural communication. Other courses include mass communication, communication research skills, and interpersonal communications.

This degree requires students to fulfill general education requirements, which include foreign languages. Students can choose from Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, German, Japanese, and Brazilian Portuguese.

For more information about the B.A. in communication, visit AMU’s arts and humanities degree program page.