Advantages of Speaking Foreign Languages
Nowadays, an increasing number of people around the world are influenced by the globalization. In daily life, people can enjoy the exotic things, including food from different countries and different cultural charms (Giddens 20). Due to the internationalization, it is important to learn how to speak foreign languages (Kramsch 296). As a Chinese student studying in the United States, I have already benefited a lot from speaking English as a foreign language in several aspects based on my own personal experience.
As a high school student in America coming from China, speaking English provides me with a lot of convenience in studying and learning. Without the ability to speak fluent English, I even could not live well in America and am impossible to study in American high school. Moreover, as a Chinese student who masters English as a foreign language, I make a lot of friends who are curious about Chinese cultures or Chinese history. Thanks to the ability to speak English, I could discuss these topics related to China with friends who are interested in China. After that, most of them have became my friends now, which should give the credit to the ability to speak English actually. Besides, I had a friend who can speak a little bit Chinese. He also benefits from speaking Chinese a lot. One obvious advantage is that he has a lot of Chinese friends and even does business with his Chinese friends, which is highly meaningful for his life. Actually, my business thinking is also beneficial from speaking English. With the help of speaking English as a foreign language, I could catch up with the latest American business trends in time by reading related English books and magazines. Currently, I have already planned my future business plan, which is based on the transnational trade. I believe that the ability to speak English will be advantageous for me to realize my business plans. Apart from making friends and doing business with Americans, speaking English is also highly helpful for me to understand the American culture. When I was learning English, I have read some English books and watched a large number of English dramas, which will show the American cultures in various aspects. Therefore, I consider that speaking English could help people to learn the American culture at the same time, which will broaden the speakers’ horizons to some extent. Then, the expansive horizons could help these English speakers including me to generate more new ideas with the comprehensive consideration based on the different cultures.
Based on what has been discussed above, it could be concluded that speaking English could help people to make more American friends, understand the American culture more deeply, and also expand their horizons in the same time according to my own experiences. I firmly believe that these advantages of speaking English are extremely important for people to be successful in the age of globalization.
Works Cited
Giddens, Anthony. "Globalization." Sociology of Globalization. Routledge, 2018. 19-26.
Kramsch, Claire. "Teaching foreign languages in an era of globalization: Introduction." The modern language journal 98.1 (2014): 296-311.