Language… is a God’s gift bestowed on mankind. It is what makes people communicate with one another and prove their point. Language begins to develop into one’s conscious right from the mother’s bosom. An infant starts to communicate with a cry, which is not just a cry but an announcement of its arrival into the world… as time passes, the baby starts mumbling “ga ga ga”! That is when the baby tries to ape the speech of those around and also convey his needs. Gradually, the child starts, with short words picked up from his mother and that is how the mother tongue begins.

The ultimatum of every language is to pass on our feelings or thoughts to the person whom you communicate with. Whether you say “Mother” or “Amma” or “Ma” they mean the same. All the words show that it is your mother you are referring to. Children who are adequately exposed to multiple languages at an early age experience gains: they are more flexible and creative, and they reach high levels of cognitive development at an early age. Now, as the child grows, he gets introduced to a new language when he enters school. He is taught to speak and write English. Initially, he is confused, but then he finds learning is fun. By the time he grows up into a young man… he becomes conversant in an average with three languages. But that is not it. He walks into the quest of his career, which thrives and takes him places.

So, we get to deduce that the world is a very small place and you never know where, in the world, you are going to end up at! Qualifications are endless if you begin to list them… medicine, engineering, politician and the list goes on… But have you ever realised, in these days where technology rules taking you places, a foreign language becomes a qualification by itself.

Learning different languages opens you up to a wide array of avenues. It is never too early to start planning what  you would do when you graduate from college. In fact, the more consciously you plan, the better your chances of landing a job when you finish. You don’t have to know exactly what you want to do when you get out of school in order to be honing your skills and gaining experiences that a future employer would find useful. If education is a means by which to prepare children for the complicated world that they inhabit, to give them tools with which to understand new challenges, then the educational system should offer an expansive curriculum as early as possible.

Research has shown that through foreign language study, elementary school children
receive the opportunity to expand their thinking, to acquire global awareness, to extend  their understanding of language as a phenomenon, and to reach an advanced
proficiency level in that foreign language. Parents, educators, and policymakers should find these reasons more than enough to prove the benefits of beginning foreign language study in  the elementary school.

In addition, your communication skills and cultural know-how can complement virtually any career choice. The study of a language entails much more than merely learning grammar and memorising vocabulary. It gives you solid preparation for understanding and dealing with an entirely new culture, a skill of increasing significance due to globalisation. Proficiency in foreign languages and an understanding of other cultures are essential tools in an increasingly inter-dependent world.

For this reason, your communication skills and cultural know-how can nicely complement virtually any career preparation. If you choose not to enter the work force immediately, knowing another language can still be of great benefit. It can be utilised while going abroad or doing as international internship. Language skills can make you an excellent candidate for fellowships or ambassadorial scholarships following graduation. And if you plan to attend graduate school, your language background would not only make you a stronger applicant; it would also put you further ahead in your degree programme, since most graduate programmes require at least a reading knowledge of one language other than English.

As you can plainly see, a major in a language is really an excellent way to distinguish yourself from other job applicants. And surely a major in languages cannot limit your career options. In any field of employment, the skills and knowledge you gain as a language major can round out the other abilities you possess. And in a global economy, the possibilities to use your language skills can only multiply. It can be noted that multiple languages knowledge can go handin-hand when you are looking forward to work for the hotel industry.

There are many institutes which offer courses in foreign languages. Like Rama Krishna Math,Alliance Français, Max Muller Bhavan and the likes. The most preferred foreign language is French, followed by Spanish, German, Arabic, Chinese and the list goes on. There are also many websites which offer online courses to help you get skilled in different foreign language.  The final motto is development of a global attitude.

The youth are open to ideas of global understanding. Study of a foreign language and
culture can serve as an important vehicle by which to expand their inter-cultural views. While most countries have one or a handful of official or nationally recognised languages, there are typically groups of people residing in each country whose first language is something other than the nation’s lingua franca. The numbers of such groups differ from country to country, and the size of these minority language groups can range from a single individual to millions of speakers.