There are many reasons to learn a language, so to help you along here are my recommendations and reasons for what languages you should be learning in 2021.
Most of these fall under two motivations: Utility and Passion. While you may choose to learn a language for the practical uses it may bring you such as travelling, for your career, moving to another country. You may also choose to learn a language for more intrinsic reasons such as having an interest in a certain language’s culture or to learn your own heritage, but you may also want to learn another language to develop a deeper understanding of your S.O’s language.
These are all valid and great reasons to learn a language. No matter what they are! Most people who are bilingual are due to having family or practical reasons to speak another language and most people who are polyglots tend to have a deep interest in learning languages for the sake of it.
So what language should I choose?
If you already have a language in mind, pick that one!
This could be such as:
- Learning German because you’re moving to Germany next year
- Learning Chinese because your company does lots of business in China
- Learning Italian because your S.O. is Italian
- Learning Polish because that’s where your family is from
What about if I don’t know what language to learn?
If you don’t know what language you want to learn you have a few options. You could look at different languages, research them and see which interests you most or pick based on generalisations (which tend to be true)
- If you are in finance – Learn German
- If you are interested in Food and Wine – Learn French or Italian (unless you don’t like French or Italian food of course!)
- If you are interest in world wide travel – Learn French or Spanish (as these are two of the most widely spoken languages)
- If you wish to do international business – Learn Mandarin Chinese
- If you have an interest in Ancient Civilisations such as Vikings, Romans etc. – Learn the language most closely related to them such as Icelandic
Does it matter what language I pick?
Of course not! As long as you enjoy learning the language that you’ve chosen that’s all that matters. You’ll never be able to learn the language if you don’t enjoy learning it. Languages are such a huge commitment of time and energy, even if you do it smartly that the only way you’ll be able to continuously study another language is by having the proper motivation to continue – so much so that it will outlast even your own willpower.
If you want to learn how to learn a language quicker and maximise your time – read this blog post about how to use AnkiDroid to learn foreign vocab quicker!
If you’ve enjoyed this shorter form blog post. Write a comment below with any questions or queries you want answering in the future! Or any advise you have for fellow readers.
