Blog - Page 19 of 21 - How to Live a Meaningful Life

A couple of years ago, I took a Japanese language class at the local university, and it wasn't easy. Every week I would dedicate hours to studying and felt like I was making progress, but then I'd go to class I'd be put back in my place. Japanese may be an incredibly difficult language to learn, but trying to learn any new language will be a serious challenge. Learning a new language messes with your brain because it forces you to think in different ways than you're used to. For most of us, learning a new language would be one of the few chances we'd get to challenge ourselves. Challenging yourself outside of your daily routine becomes more important as you get older. As we age, more and more of our lives get locked into ways. It is also essential to do things that are different from what we are used to because that is where something new tends to happen. With work taking up most of our time, we are typically used to the kinds of challenges that we experience with our jobs. Although work and routines can be challenging, they are the same type of challenge and thinking we are used to and do every day. If you are wondering why learn a new language, then this should be a huge motivation. When you learn a new language, you challenge yourself to think differently, and that is something you often get a chance to do. Why learn a new language? It's About Learning New Things When you learn a new language, you are faced with a situation where everything is new. In learning a language, you learn new grammar, words and idioms, all of which are novel. If you aren't sure about what an idiom is, it is a phrase that means something different from the literal meaning. But the great thing about idioms is that they reveal different ways of thinking about reality. In a way, these ideas can help us think differently about our own experiences in the world. While you are learning a new language, it may help you discover new words in your language. This happens as you may learn new relations between the meanings of words you already know. As you learn a new language, it forces you to think differently about the language you already speak. Learning a new language challenging the foundations of your understanding of reality and goes to the core of your being. These foundational changes affect the way your brain works and how you perceive the world around you. When you are first born, you learn about your body and how to use it, then you learn to communicate. For this reason, language is the framework for which all further knowledge outside of your body takes place. This means it is the basis or groundwork for everything else we learn as we grow up. In this sense, learning is the foundation for everything we know. So learning a new language means digging deep into the core of ourselves and who we are. When we learn something fundamental, we can build on top of it. Although this might not seem evident at first, we have access to new ideas, thoughts, and mental processes with this new foundation. Learning a new way of thinking isn't necessarily something we would think about when learning a new language, but it is a huge benefit. With an additional language in your head, you can also consume a whole new entertainment set, including reading books, movies and TV shows. Even better, with this new foundation, you gain the opportunity to talk to new people, who may have different ideas and ways of thinking. If you are thinking, why learn a new language, then consider the power of learning and discovery that it will open up. It's a Life-Long Challenges and Opportunities On top of this, learning a new language keeps you on your feet. The challenge is exhausting and time-consuming as you have to spend most of your free time focused on the language. But in the end, you get something amazing in return. Learning a new language opened up a world of opportunities for my wife, which enabled her to leave her home country. Learning a new language is a lifetime challenge that you never seem to finish, but that isn't bad. Because, as you are always learning more, you are also making progress and, at the same time achieving new accomplishments. At first, you might be able to have a simple conversation, later understand a TV show, and then after that, you might be able to read a book. But the best part is that at every step, you experience another accomplishment. Simultaneously, while you are continually making significant progress and gaining new skills, there is always something to work towards. It is always fascinating to hear someone switch between different languages. This simple task for them is a considerable accomplishment that shows the speaker's dedication to the challenge of learning a new language. Seeing people do this should motivate you cause it proves that it is possible to learn. It can also act as encouragement because, in a way, it demonstrates that such an accomplishment is possible. In other words, seeing this success allows you to follow their lead and find the same success. Having an example of accomplishment opens up your potential for a similar feat. This is possible for many reasons, but the most obvious is the fact that you have seen it happen with your very own eyes. Hearing someone else speak in multiple languages makes me think about how amazing it would be to do the same thing. Not only does it serves as a motivation for accomplishing the goal of learning another language, but it also shows what dedication to a plan can lead to. If you ask, why learn a new language, consider the life long challenges and opportunities it represents. Sure it requires years of dedication, but that could create opportunities you'd never imagined. The Greatest Lesson of All There is another crucial lesson to learning a new language, and that is, you have to re-learn persistence and sticking to your goals. These days with technology and the way it has reframed our ways of life, we are often fixated on short term and low impact goals. For this reason, the lesson of persistence that comes from learning a new language could be the most significant lesson of all. Learning a new language proves to you that big things are possible. With this in mind, it opens up the possibility of other big things being possible. If you are used to seeing small accomplishments, you might start to think they are the only kind of results that are possible. But that is not true; almost anything is possible with dedication and a clear goal. The key is that learning a new language is a challenge, and challenges are one of the things that make us great. This is especially true for the types of challenges that learning a new language presents, as it can take years to complete. But in the end, the rewards are always great when we put a lot into something. The more we put in, the more we can get out. Getting great at something feels satisfying and is essential for the development of our self-esteem. Your sense of self improves when you do amazing things that you didn't think were possible. This improved sense of self also makes it easier to do similar things in the future. On top of all of this, accomplishing things helps life feel meaningful. Why learn a new language? The simple answer is; you are looking for a challenge, dedication, broader horizons, and new opportunities. Why are you think of trying to learn a new language?