The advantages of being multilingual

Anna in Year 12 spoke to the Holdich Society about the importance of learning a modern foreign language for today’s society. A keen linguist herself, having to date studied French, Spanish and Mandarin, Anna spoke passionately about the potential benefits of being multilingual, from the social to the psychological and even, as recent scientific research suggests, the physiological. Indeed, evidence suggests that speaking more than one language can bring a wealth of health benefits, including faster recovery from strokes and delaying the onset of dementia.

Considering the proven advantages of multilingualism, Anna suggested that it is therefore worrying that in Britain more is not currently being done to encourage young people to take up a modern foreign language. State schools no longer require pupils to study a modern foreign language up to GCSE level and so the numbers of people who speak more than one language proficiently will inevitably decline. This clearly has an impact for the future of our country as we all live and work in a global community. Anna proved herself an excellent ambassador for the promotion of linguistic skills and I’m sure I speak for everyone present when I say that it inspired us to consider taking up another language. And, after all, as Anna reminded us, once you have mastered one foreign language, it often easier to learn another so why not consider taking up two!

An exceptionally well-delivered and informative presentation. Well done Anna!