Learn the Lingo by Rumki Chowdhury

Multilingualism is very common in the world. This is partly because of immigration and academia. In USA, UK, and Sweden, as is common in many other countries, languages like Spanish, French and English are required staples in their educational systems. 

I was born in Bangladesh so Bengali was my first language; I then learned English when I began school in USA; after that, I was required to choose a language in high school and given that Spanish is popular in USA, I chose it as my third language. Now, I'm in Sweden and am going to start taking courses on the Swedish language this week. I'm really excited about it! 

English, itself, is so widely spoken that it is the third most spoken language in the world, next to Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. It is also the main lingo in countries like Canada, Australia, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand and some Caribbean countries. The value of learning another language is not to 'impress' people, but because it has become a necessity. Although many can get around with just knowing English, not everyone is fluent and knows how to translate every word in their language into English.

I feel blessed to have the opportunity to be multilingual, verbally and in literacy. Learning a new language is not only fun, but helpful! Think about it, some of the greatest writers of all time include Dante Alighieri (Inferno), aka 'Father of the Italian Language,' Socrates, aka the Greek storyteller, and Miguel de Cervantes (Don Quixote de La Mancha), aka great Spanish novelist and playwright. 

by Rumki Chowdhury

The Unofficial 'Brit Writers and Writers Everywhere' blog.