Speech on Importance of Learning a Second Language

Good morning one and all present here. Today I will be presenting my speech on a very common topic that we all know about. Any guesses? I will be presenting my speech on “importance of learning a second language’’. And I hope that you will be pardoning any mistake that I make while putting forward this topic. 

Language is the basic source of interaction. It helps us to interact with the world around us. It helps us to express our feelings. The unique and diverse methods human beings can use to communicate through written and spoken language is a large part of what allows to harness our innate ability to form lasting bonds with one another; separating mankind from the rest of the animal kingdom. 

Nowadays competition has increased to a get scale. Special skills are required to excel in every field, be it a teacher or an office goer. Hence there is need to learn extra skills by everyone. 

Learning a second language is one of these special skills that we should all master. It helps us in numerous ways. Nowadays maximum people look for jobs outside their own country. In that case it will be difficult if they do not know the dialect of that country. In order to travel the world, whether for business or pleasure, a desire and willingness to adapt to new cultures and methods is necessary.

Adaptability, of course, includes the ability to communicate with new people in various dialects. Being unable to communicate in a country is akin to living with a serious impairment; it is very difficult and near impossible, to adapt and get along with new people if there is no way to communicate with one another. 

Not only for jobs, learning a second language makes a good exercise for your brains. 

I myself used to feel learning a second language is unnecessary. Still I had to do it because it was in my school curriculum. There were a wide range of language options, to select from. I first thought of learning some local languages like Marathi or Guajarati.

Then I thought of learning some foreign language like Dutch or French. But then it appeared to me that my Hindi was weak. Not weak rather terrible. So, I decided to take up Hindi to make it better rather than learning some strange language. And trust me or not, my Hindi actually got better. 

There is no end to learning. Why learn one language only? The more you learn the better it is. Many people learn multiple languages. Learning a new language makes you conversant with the new place that you have moved into.

Dealing with another language and their culture enables you to have a better understanding of your own culture. Knowledge in foreign languages offer a better edge in career choices also.

You can impress your employers. Hence your chance of getting selected increases. Some jobs even require the knowledge of foreign languages even more than national or regional language. The job of a translator is such a job. 

In the foreign embassy department often tourists, film stars and ministers from other countries visit our country. Also ministers and people of important from our country visit their country too. In such a situation it is not expected that the people visiting will be knowing our language, neither it is expected that our ministers and other people will be knowing their dialect.

In such a situation there is an urgent need of a middle man or a mediator who has knowledge of both the languages and who will translate the language from one to another. 

Work as a customer service operator or a telephone operator requires the knowledge of many languages. Suppose you are working in a mobile company. You require to talk to a variety of people in different regions. You need to solve their problems and grievances.

This requires the good knowledge of that language to interact with them. Hence your chance of getting into this job is high if you know a multitude of languages. 

Thirdly if you have the work of a business man or a salesman. Even in that case you need to learn a few more languages to interact with people to sell your products. People will buy your products only when you can reach out to them. Hence the knowledge of language is very important in this profession. 

There is a certain difference between ‘translation’ and ‘interpretation’. ‘Translating’ means changing through text. That is changing the language to another form of language in written. Like “can you translate his text?”. But ‘interpreting’ means to change the form of speech.

That is change whatever a person is telling in the form of speech and explaining it to him. Like “can you interpret whatever he just spoke now to me?”. Here is the basic difference which many of us make mistake in. 

I would like to conclude my speech by telling that the choice of language is one’s own wish, also the wish to learn a new language. Some people do it to increase their knowledge others do it or rather have to do it for their jobs or professions. But whatever it may be, in the end it never goes to a waste. It benefits us only.