New Year’s resolutions are high on the agenda, with the new decade just three weeks old. Folks have all sorts of good intentions for 2020; for some, it is learning a new language.
Only 34% of 15 – 30-year-olds speak a second language in the UK. That’s very few compared with Denmark, where 99% of young people speak a second language. Germany’s young stand at 91%, according to a recent study by the Higher Education Policy Institute.
Learning German
But which foreign language to learn? Which language gives you a competitive advantage? The answer may well be German, the mother tongue of over 100 million Europeans in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein. You may object as most of these German speakers also speak English. To counter that, let me quote Germany’s former chancellor Willy Brandt: If I’m selling to you, I speak your language. If I’m buying, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen.
Besides giving you a competitive edge in the labour market, speaking a second language also delays the onset of dementia in old age and improves your memory and cognitive abilities.
A recent study even suggests that learning a language makes the brain grow. Now, let us not get too bigheaded and instead implement your New Year’s resolution of starting to learn German!
I await further information about learning German.
Thank you.
Regards.