Why learning foreign languages will change your life (and how it changed mine)

English is the lingua franca it's the language  of the Internet it's the language of Finance it's the language of Medicine of popular music  diplomacy however it doesn't mean you should stop at English and only strive to speak this foreign  language hello guys and welcome back to my YouTube channel today I want to talk about how learning  foreign languages will change your life and how learning foreign languages changed my life in so  many different ways I'm always trying to present myself as a

language learner because I'm actively  learning English Spanish and Chinese and my native language is Russian and to be honest this process  of acquiring a new language has brought so much joy into my life speaking foreign languages  allowed me to talk to new amazing people travel the world and try new jobs and professions  so the first major reason why you should be learning foreign languages is because language is  a part of of a culture and it is a very very big part of it if you really want

to get the culture  you have to learn the language of this culture think of languages as tickets this idea of viewing  languages as tickets is not my idea it's something that I saw on YouTube while watching a TED talk  so basically the reason why languages are like tickets is because they allow you to participate  in the culture and participate in the culture very actively because when you speak the language it's  kind of like your ticket you're giving the ticket to be able to participate in the

culture where  this language is spoken and that's exactly how I feel living here in Mexico City I started learning  Spanish actively seriously and consistently probably around seven months ago even though I've  been living in Mexico City for more than a year now and first when I moved to Mexico City I had a  lot of things on my plate and honestly I was just too lazy to start learning Spanish because a lot  of people here do speak English however I really wanted to get the culture I wanted to bu

ild  meaningful connections and for example every time I went to like a grocery store or a little  Mercado like little farmer's market I really wanted to communicate to people there in Spanish  because people there generally don't speak English and to be honest I feel kind of weird coming to  a country and expecting people in this country to speak English because for me I am the guest here  I'm the one who should be learning this language because I want to participate in this culture so  if you

want to imbibe the culture if you want to drink it in if you want to become a part of it  you absolutely have to speak the language I think it's one of the reasons why many people when they  move to a different country they for example don't speak the language of this country for many many  years and they don't really become a part of this culture because again to truly become a part of a  culture you absolutely have to speak the language that the culture happens to be conducted  in there are so

many people for example who move to the United States and they never really  learn English and because of that they miss out on so many American things but then if you really  think about it you have to make a choice sometimes people are too busy sometimes learning English is  not their priority but at the same time you always have to ask yourself this question do you want  to become an active member of this culture and if the answer is yes for you then you absolutely  need this ticket to be ab

le to participate in the culture and the ticket is the language before we  move on to the next way learning foreign languages can change your life I want to tell you a little  bit about Elsa which is kindly sponsoring today's video I know that a lot of you guys are currently  working working on your pronunciation in English because pronouncing words in a foreign language  correctly is important because we want to avoid miscommunication right if you want to improve your  English speaking skills I

highly recommend the app Elsa speak it is a unique app that pinpoints  your mistake in English speaking and pronunciation using Cutting Edge artificial intelligence  technology so let me show you guys how I use the app to work on my pronunciation when I open  the app I usually click on practice daily lessons and then we begin with the first sound so let's  start training my schedule is completely free my schedule is completely free as you can see the  app helps me emphasize the right word becau

se my intonation was not the best when I was reading the  sentence so let's try again stay scheduled shorter and less emphasized say completely longer and more  emphasized say free shorter and less emphasized my schedule is completely free yay it's a lot better  right now if you just want to focus on one word at a time you can click on improve pronunciation  and then start your first day so here you will be practicing each word one by one nice to meet  you nice to meet you okay wish okay let me

try to pronounce this word incorrectly which okay  as you can see the app picks up on my mistake and says that you know you have to change your  pronunciation A little bit so let's try again wish perfect if you want to learn new vocabulary  you can go to study by topic and choose let's say relationships and click on the first one  online dating and then click on start familiar familiar surprise so as you can see here we have  some words that are connected to this topic of online dating and relat

ionships surprise and as  you can see every topic has multiple lessons for example online dating we have 12 lessons here so  you can really practice all of this new vocabulary so if you want to download the asset speak app  completely for free and get 7 days free of the pro membership make sure to scan the secure code or  use the link in the description but if you want to get 85 percent off of Elsa's lifetime membership  or 40 off of Elsa's one year membership you can use this link and again all

of the links with all  the information are going to be in the description under this video now let's move on to the second  reason why learning languages will change your life for the better the second way learning  foreign languages can change your life for the better is because your brain will be healthier  yes it is absolutely legit for example if you speak two languages dementia is less likely  to set in and you're also probably a better multitasker it turns is out that bilingualism is  ext

remely healthy a group of scientists in Canada revealed that bilingual people who are fluent in  two languages show symptoms of several forms of dementia five years later considered with their  counterparts were monolingual language learning develops critical thinking skills and improves  memory so this is obviously extremely important for those who take care of their brain health  and I think it's crucial to take care of this important organ and if one thing that really  helps is language learn

ing then sign me up I'm ready well I'm already learning like three foreign  languages so I think I'm good here I'm hitting all of my goals and I think the second thing that  is also connected to your brain health is your critical thinking skills and your memory I can  speak here from my experience I think thanks to language learning my memory is so good right  now obviously my memory is not perfect I'm not some superhuman however right now I know that my  memory is a lot better compared to what

my memory was like when I could only speak Russian my native  language and also my critical thinking skills I think the reason why my critical thinking skills  are a lot better right now is because I know so many different things about different cultures  and I can think critically because I'm not too fast to jump to conclusions because I know that  for example in my home country this is how people usually live how they react to certain situations  however maybe in Mexico people are different yo

u know their culture their language the way they  live everything is different and that's why I can analyze situations better and make better  conclusions and also bilingual students have better concentration compared to those who can  only speak one language again I can attest to this guys because I think my concentration right  now is a lot better because when I have to sit down and learn Chinese after I just spend an hour  learning Spanish a lot of content concentration and dedication is requ

ired to do that I think  right now I can ignore different distractions a lot more actively and that really helps me when  I film YouTube videos for example because language centers in the brain are so flexible learning a  new language develops a new area in your brain and strengthens your ability to focus number three  you will change the way you think I truly believe that each language is like another personality and  have a lot of distinctive ways of expressing your ideas for example even when

we talk about grammar  different languages have different grammar when I'm learning Spanish I have to spend a lot  of time on grammar because sometimes grammar is quite complicated a lot of conjugations a lot  of different weird verbs that I have to memorize however when I'm learning Chinese the grammar  there is quite simple compared to English or Spanish or even Russian my native language so  usually because of that I can relax and I can feel more confident however there are other more  chall

enging things about the Chinese language for example the pronunciation and also obviously  spelling you have to memorize how to spell all of the characters correctly so I think that's why  a part of language learning is embracing this new personality and not shying away from it and that's  why people who are fluent in a foreign language they feel a lot more confident for example  switching between languages because they know that okay here they sometimes make mistakes in this  language but it's

fine because this is how they usually speak in this foreign language and it's  fine they don't feel embarrassed about that they feel confident because they know that this allows  them to communicate their thoughts successfully and again build meaningful connections and  get access to a new culture because again a foreign language is like a ticket when I speak  English for example I feel very confident and so assertive nothing can stop me I know that I can  use the language well and that gives me

a lot of confidence when I speak Spanish for example I  don't feel that confident because you know I'm not that advanced in Spanish yet however I feel  more fun you know I feel like the world is a more exciting place because I just love the way Spanish  sounds and I love all of my Mexican friends when I speak Chinese to be honest I feel very smart  because I know the Chinese is a very hard language to learn and it takes a lot of patience it takes  a lot of time so if I'm able to construct even

one sentence successfully in Chinese I Pat myself on  the back and I say good job Veronica you did it air number four guys please don't laugh right  now but it has been proven scientifically that if you learn a foreign language you become  a more attractive of person yep you heard me right there is this language learning app called  Babel and they conducted this cool survey asking people what they think about other people who  are learning foreign languages and 71 of the participants said that t

hey think those people are  extremely attractive and what makes them extremely attractive the fact that they're learning foreign  languages and I was like okay if I can make myself more attractive by learning foreign languages yep  I'm definitely gonna do that but guys seriously of course you should only learn foreign languages if  you want to no peer pressure you know don't think about other people it should only be because you  want to not because someone else is going to think you're more att

ractive of course this is not a  very healthy mindset personally my interpretation of the city is the following I think the reason  why people think that people who are learning foreign languages are more attractive is because  the those people can meet a lot of new people and they can kind of bond with them and also when  for example I speak English to someone else for example to an American and I tell them oh yeah  I'm actually from Russia I can speak English I'm learning Spanish and Chinese t

hey usually become  very interested in me they're like oh my God how are you learning all those languages tell me your  story and this is a very cool kind of connection point it's this time that really allows me to  connect with those people especially if they themselves are also learning foreign languages for  example Spanish and we can't even practice Spanish a little bit and also you cannot even imagine how  happy I feel when here in Mexico City I go to a park and there is a group of Chinese

tourists and  they come up to me and say something in Spanish to me they're like oh for example can you take a  picture of us this is something that happened to me a few months ago a Chinese guy came up to me he  was holding his phone and he was trying to speak Spanish he was like oh you know can you take a  picture of us and I responded in Chinese guys he was so surprised the shock on his face he was  like what you can't speak Chinese I'm like yeah a little bit I'm learning and the whole group 

of those Chinese tourists they were so excited they were so excited to speak to a foreigner  in Chinese in Mexico City and finally I want to mention accents a little bit because guys  if I'm being completely honest most people find accents attractive they think that if a person  has an accent and a foreign language that makes them stand out that makes them unique and more  interesting so if you worry too much about your accent if you feel ashamed please don't because  for example I know that I

still have an accent when I speak English and it's totally okay I don't  worry about that because I know that it makes me more interesting and more unique but of course you  have to remember the difference between accent and pronunciation pronunciation kind of the set way  we have to pronounce a certain word for example the word English right you can't say English for  example that is wrong pronounce pronunciation and that's why I highly recommend you go and check out  the Elsa speak app again a

ll the links to download the app are going to be in the description  so I think it's going to be it for this video thank you guys so much for watching it I really  hope you enjoyed it if you like this video don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to  my channel and I'll see you guys in my next video