Imagine a fish living in a fish bowl in the middle of the ocean. It is happy there with a bunch of other fish, but is missing an infinity of other things outside its container. The same happens with a person that dominates only one language. Your mother tongue is special and you should be proud of knowing it, but you can also enjoy a lot of benefits learning a second language.

The greatest benefit of learning another language is the possibility of communicating with other people. The first time you successfully talk with someone in their native language will be marked forever in your mind. It is such a good feeling when you write a comment on social media in another language and people start chatting with you! It feels like you’ve broken a wall and can reach whoever was behind it.

Also, being able to speak another language can help you access new knowledge, art and cultures. It is often said that you could only appreciate a literary work once you’ve read it in its native language, so start learning French to really feel The Little Prince vibe, or Spanish if you love Don Quixote. Plus, forget the subtitles and the weird dubbing because you won’t need them anymore!

However, everything has its drawbacks. When you’re learning a new language, you may become obsessed with it. Everything, from your phone to your favorite songs, will be in your target language. Sometimes, you will forget how to say a word in your mother tongue and other people will find it strange when you start to speak random words in another language. And when you are more comfortable with a new language, people will start treating you like a human dictionary.

Although, on the whole, these drawbacks are nothing compared to the great benefits of learning a new language. The more languages you speak, the broader is your horizon of possibilities, and the larger is the number of people you can connect with.