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Second Language is a language that is not the native language of the speaker, but is learned by the speaker after his/her native language. Additionally, a person’s second language can be explained as the second language in the country the speaker lives in and they may be both used in daily life.

Reasons of learning it

Main article: [[:Reasons to Learn a Foreign Language]]

Speaking a foreign language improves the functionality of your brain by challenging it to recognise, negotiate meaning, and communicate in different language systems. This skill boosts your ability to negotiate meaning in other problem-solving tasks as well.Multilingual people, especially children, are skilled at switching between two systems of speech, writing, and structure.

Grow brains

People who are bilingual are better at tasks that require multi-tasking and attention focusing than monolinguals. Brain scans show they have more gray matter in the regions of their brain that are involved in executive function. The hypothesis is that the effort to constantly choose the right language at the right time provides a “mental gymnastics” for bilinguals which gives them extra practice in focusing their attention.

These benefits show up early – new research shows that even babies less than a year old who are exposed to multiple languages show different cognitive patterns in their brain compared to monolinguals. In fact, some researchers argue that the best way to have smarter kids is to expose them to multiple languages when they are young. There’s a certain sinking feeling one gets when thinking of the perfect thing to say just a moment too late. Perhaps a witty parting word could have made all the difference. There is no English word to express this feeling, but the French have the term l’esprit de l’escalier—translated, “stairwell wit”—for this very phenomenon.

Nor is there an English word to describe the binge eating that follows an emotional blow, but the Germans have kummerspeck—“grief-bacon”—to do just that. If we had the Swedish word lagom—which means something is just right—the English explanation of Goldilocks’ perfectly temperate soup could have been a lot more succinct. Or the term koi no yokan, a poetic Japanese turn of phrase that expresses the feeling of knowing that you will soon fall in love with the person you have just met. It’s not love at first sight so much as an understanding that love is inevitable. Keats and Byron could have really used a word like that.[a Better Brain, Learn Another Language]

Cross-cultural understanding

With 7 billion people living on the only known inhabited planet in the universe, it’s important we get along. And as any relationship therapist will tell you, to get along, good communication is key. That gets a lot easier if, at a minimum, you can understand each other’s language. But learning a foreign language packs a more powerful punch. Language and culture are so intertwined that learning a foreign language both builds cultural understanding and provides deep insights into how other people see the world. Linguistic relativists argue the way we see the world is shaped by the language. Research has even shown that the same person may have different responses to questions depending on the language the question is asked in! Different languages can build your brain in different ways. In some languages, geographic coordinates – north, south, east and west – are used to describe the location of something, never subjective terms like left and right. Not surprisingly, speakers of those languages have exceptional spatial navigation abilities. Learning languages provides a view into cultural traditions that helped shape a language. For example, in Chinese there are different words for relatives depending on whether they are on the mother or father’s side and their birth order. Why? Historically in China this conveyed important information about a person’s social status. So if getting along really depends on being able to put ourselves in other peoples’ shoes, being able to speak their language helps us more deeply understand how others see the world. [Reasons for Kids to Learn a Foreign Language]

Create career opportunities

Translators and interpreters are expected to be one of the 15 fastest growing occupations in the nation, according to the Department of Labor. Roughly 25,000 jobs are expected to open up for interpreters (who focus on spoken language) and translators (who focus on written language), between 2010 and 2020, the Department of Labor estimates. That represents 42% growth for the field and does not include the military, which is also recruiting ferociously for more people. In the last week alone, roughly 12,000 jobs posted on Indeed.com included the word "bilingual." Nationwide, workers in this field earn a median salary of $43,000 a year. Far higher salaries go to people who work in the intelligence community on behalf of the military, the State Department, CIA, FBI or government contractors. These jobs can pay well into the six figures, as workers are required to pass high-level security clearances and enter dangerous situations. "The government needs languages spoken in the Middle East and Africa. These people make the most money of all, but this is not just because of their language skills -- this is because of the high risk of the job," said Jiri Stejskal, spokesman for the American Translators Association. "They work in war zones. They may have a $200,000 salary but it's because they're willing to get shot at." High salaries are also available to translators and interpreters who specialize in legal, medical, technical or scientific knowledge.

How to choose the second language

Main article: [[:How to choose a language to learn]]

Starting to learn a new language is a big decision. It requires a lot of dedication and perseverance, and it is a decision that can completely change the rest of your life. You should base your decision on both objective and subjective criteria (that is, criteria that only apply to you, personally). It is impossible to list all criteria relevant to all readers of this article, but I will try to discuss at least the most important ones.

Motivation

If you don’t feel motivated to learn, it will be a slow process. When you don’t enjoy what you are doing, your brain will find a way to avoid the activity as much as possible and gain as little as possible from the time you invest in it—do you know those moments when you’ve read a page in a textbook only to realize you have no idea what you have just read? Enjoyment brought by learning a particular language may be the single most important factor when deciding which one to learn. If you don’t feel motivated to learn a particular language, you will likely stop before being able to perceive any potential benefits.

Character and culture

It seems that the Esperanto community is extraordinarily welcoming and social. If you intend to travel a lot and enjoy making friends in an extremely diverse (even though relatively small) community of people, Esperanto may be the right choice for you. If you, on the other hand, prefer communication mainly with people with similar interests or don’t travel much, you may prefer to choose another language. More generally, if you particularly like something about the culture of the speakers of your potential target language, or if it has some other appealing quality (even if it is just that you love the way it sounds or its writing system), it may be a good enough reason to start learning it. This factor is closely related to motivation; if you enjoy learning a language because of its culture, you are more likely to stay motivated.

Number and distribution of speakers

Main article: [[:The 10 Most Spoken Languages In The World[1]]]

Some languages are spoken by just two remaining living speakers, others are spoken by billions. Unless you learn a language for academic reasons, you may want to learn a language you are most likely to use; not only face to face but also on the Internet and to read literary works. Determining what are the most spoken languages in the world is a more difficult task than you might imagine. We can say with some confidence that Mandarin, English, Spanish and Arabic will make an appearance (and roughly in what order) but there are some surprises, too! Would you have guessed that Bengali is in the Top 10 most spoken languages? One small caveat: Assigning hard data, in the form of “X million native speakers,” to any of these languages is practically impossible. What constitutes a language or a dialect, is hotly contested stuff. More troubling is the fact that what we refer to simply as “Chinese” is actually a whole family of languages conveniently lumped into a single category. “Hindi” is also used as a catchall term to cover numerous dialects and sub-dialects. We haven’t even yet acknowledged the unreliability of data sources, collected at different times by different institutions.

Chinese

Numbers vary widely — Ethnologue puts the number of native speakers at almost 1.2 billion native speakers, roughly a billion of whom speak Mandarin — but there’s no doubt it’s the most spoken language in the world. If you wish to learn a language that one in six people in the world speak, this is the one for you. Seeing as Chinese is a tonal language that uses thousands of logograms, it will certainly keep you busy.

Spanish

If we were only to look at native speakers, Spanish has its nose in front of English with about 400 million speakers. If you want a language that will open up whole continents to you, Spanish is your best bet. As with all the languages on this list, the politics of language and associated identity are highly disputed: ask Catalan or Quechua speakers if Spanish is their local tongue and you will get a very different answer. But it is certainly the primary language of most of South and Central America, Spain, and, ahem, large swathes of the US.

Blackboard used in class at Harvard shows students' efforts at placing the diaeresis and acute accent diacritics used in the Spanish orthography.

English

If you’re reading this article, you may be one of the 360 million-odd native English speakers, or one of the half a billion people who speak it as a second language. This indicates the remarkable success of English as the lingua franca of business, travel and international relations. The relative ease with which English can be picked up (especially compared with Chinese) and the pervasive soft power of US culture means that English will continue to dominate the world stage for the foreseeable future. For some, English is still synonymous with opportunity and a better quality of life.

Hindi

India has 23 official languages, with Hindi/Urdu chief among them. Whether this is one language — Hindustani — or two dialects, is still fiercely debated. Spoken mainly in northern India and parts of Pakistan, Hindi uses devnagri script, while Urdu uses Persian notation. At the time of writing, the debate about its role in Indian education and society has once again flared up: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, is seeking to have Hindi displace English in the southern Indian states as the primary language of official communication and education, a strategy that has been met with resistance. If you ever travel in the Indian subcontinent, a little Hindi will get you a long way.

Arabic

Recent numbers put Arabic at around 250 million native speakers. But this is another instance of numbers not telling the full tale: Arabic, like Chinese, is so vastly different in its respective dialects as to be effectively a number of languages, grouped as one for the sake of convenience. Modern Standard Arabic is a primarily written form, closely related to the Classical Arabic of the Quran. However, the spoken forms of Arabic in, say, Oman and Morocco are so different that a couple of philosophy professors from these countries might be able to discuss the finer points of the ancient texts while still struggling to order lunch.

Portuguese

This is another language whose reach owes much to its colonial past. Starting in the 15th century, avid Portuguese traders and conquerors brought their language to Africa, Asia and the Americas. The spread of Portuguese may have initially been tied to European colonization, but the colonized countries developed their own vibrant cultures that transformed the language forever. Today, Portuguese is spoken by 215 million native speakers in countries like Brazil, Goa, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bisseau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Macau. It’s also the language of Machado de Assis, Bossa Nova, Mia Couto, Fernando Pessoa, and Agualusa.

Bengali

Admit it: you didn’t expect Bengali to be on the list of most spoken languages. The Partition of Bengal by the British in 1947 divided (mainly Hindu) West Bengal, now part of India, from its (mainly Muslim) counterpart East Bengal, now Bangladesh. It is the language of Kolkata, the Andaman Islands, fabulous sweets, and 170-odd million Bangladeshis — many of whom are extremely vulnerable to climate change. By the next century, the population is projected to double while 15% of the land area is expected to disappear below rising seas.

Russian

With roughly 170 million native speakers as of 2010, Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world. Famed for its inscrutable grammar and quite lovely Cyrillic script, it remains one of the six languages spoken in the UN, and produced the literary likes of Dostoyevsky, Nabokov, Chekhov, Gogol, Tolstoy and Pushkin.

Janpanese

Almost all of the 130 million native Japanese speakers live in Japan — certainly the most highly geographically concentrated of all the languages on this list. Japanese boasts two distinct writing systems, hiragana and katakana, as well making extensive use of Chinese Kanji characters. The largest groups living outside Japan can be found in the US, the Philippines and Brazil.

Punjabi/Lahnda

With varying estimates of around 100 million native speakers, last spot on the list goes to… Punjabi! (Sorry, German — you got dumped from top world languages a few years back.) Spoken in large tracts of India and Pakistan, the Punjab was sliced in two by the British when they left, and millions of people were forced to abandon their homes, businesses and families. But they’re slowly taking their revenge, Bollywood-style: Punjabi songs now account for 50% of chart-toppers. That’s a comeback if we’ve ever seen one.

How to learn in a correct way

Main article: [[:How to learn a new language fast]]

Your best starting point is to have either a pressing need, or a powerful desire to master the language. This may seem obvious, but interest combined with passion brings the best results. If you're not really enthusiastic about learning the language, then you will end up stalling or quitting. Your sustained interest is decisive - which is why courses with a teacher often work better than teaching yourself, as the structured setting and company can carry you over the inevitable slumps. If the choice of language isn't made for you, pick a language that you can use or practice often in your daily routine, or create such opportunities for yourself. Join a speaking club where the enthusiasm is infectious, or spend some time with cultural things that motivate you.

Immersing Yourself in the Language

Hands down, the best way to learn a new language is to speak it. Too often, people spend all of their time studying grammar and memorizing lists of words instead of actually going out there and putting what they've learned into practice. Speaking with a real, live person will help you to feel much more motivated about learning the language than staring at a book or computer screen.

Connect with a native speaker

Try to find a friend or colleague who speaks the language you wish to learn and who'd be willing to sit down with you and help you practice. Alternatively, you could try putting ads in local online forums or newspapers to find someone to tutor you or participate in a language exchange.If you can't find anyone who speaks your language nearby, try to connect with someone on Skype. People in foreign countries are often willing to exchange half an hour of speaking in their native tongue for half an hour of speaking in English. A Hellotalk account is another option.

Study the language every day

People often claim to have studied a language "for five years" and still not be fluent. But when they say five years, they probably mean that they studied the language for only a couple of hours a week over that entire time period. Let's get one thing clear -- if you want to learn a new language quickly -- that is, in the space of a few weeks or months -- you're going to have to commit to studying the language for a couple of hours per day. Language learning is based on repetition -- hammering something into your brain over and over again until you remember it. If you break too long between study sessions, you are much more prone to forget what you learned last time and you will waste valuable study time going back over what you've already learned.You can cut down on this wasted time by studying every day. There are no miraculous short cuts when it comes to language learning -- you just need to commit.

Carry a dictionary at all time

Carrying a dictionary with you will save you a lot of time and frustration, so invest in one as soon as possible! It can be an actual, physical dictionary, or a dictionary app on your phone -- you just need to be able to consult it quickly whenever you need a word. Carrying a dictionary will allow you to find the necessary word at a moments notice. This is especially important when you are having a conversation with a native speaker and don't wish to disrupt the flow of conversation by not being able to remember a word. In addition, looking up the word and using it immediately in a sentence will help you to commit the word to memory. You can also peruse the dictionary at random moments throughout the day -- when you're waiting in line at the grocery store, when you're on a coffee break at work, or sitting in traffic. You could learn an extra 20 or 30 words a day this way!

Watch, listen, read and write in your chosen language

Immersing yourself in a language means doing all of the activities you would normally do in your native tongue, through your new language -- whether that's reading, writing or listening. Possibly the easiest thing you can do is watch television shows or movies in the language you are trying to learn. Try to avoid subtitles, as you will tend to rely on them. To make things easier, try to watch shows or movies whose plots you are already familiar with -- like kids' cartoons or dubbed versions of English movies -- knowing the context will help you to decipher the meanings of words and phrases. You should also attempt to read and write in your new language. Get a newspaper or magazine and attempt to read one article a day -- looking up any words you don't understand in your dictionary. You should also try to write a few simple things in your new language --whether it's a pretend postcard or a shopping list. Download podcasts or tune in to radio stations in your new language. This is a great way to immerse yourself in the language while you're on the go. Not only does this help with your listening comprehension, it also allows you to hear the correct pronunciation of common words and phrases. Change your language settings on all your electronic devices so that you can pick up words you know already in English but not in the new language. Listen to songs in that language. Try to learn the lyrics, then check what they mean. That way, if you hear it again, you can tell what the conversation is about at that point.

Visit a country where your chosen language is spoken

Obviously, it would be a great boost to your language learning skills if you could visit and spend some time in a country where your new language is spoken. Force yourself to interact with the locals -- whether you're asking for directions, completing a transaction in a store, or simply saying hello -- and you will gain a new appreciation of the language and its speakers. It doesn't matter how basic your oral skills are, keep pushing yourself to speak and you will soon notice a vast improvement in your vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.

Focusing on the Most Important Things

Learn a few greeting words in the language before you learn the alphabet. This way when you do learn the languages alphabet you will already know some pretty basic words. For example: Hello, Goodbye, How are you?, I am good, What is your name?, My name is____, and so on. It will make it significantly easier for you and you will be able to read and pronounce words, which will help you memorize them with greater ease. Plus, it is better for you to be sounding the words out rather than looking at the romanization for the words.

Learn vocabulary

Mastering basic vocabulary is probably one of the most important things you can do when learning a new language. Even if you can't understand whole sentences, the ability to pick out keywords can help you to understand the general meaning of a speech or text. Focus on 100 most common words. Picking out the most common 100 words in a given language is a clever way to start. From there, you can work your way up to the most common 1000 words. It is estimated that learning the 1000 most common words in a language will allow you to understand 70% of any text. Focus on the vocabulary that is most relevant to you -- learn business vocabulary if you're learning a language for business, don't waste time learning the words for different species of fish (which you might want to do if you're traveling to go scuba diving!) You should also learn words and vocabulary that pertain specifically to you, so you're able to talk about your life and your background to people you meet.

Learn the numbers

Start off by learning to count to ten, because it is usually the easiest thing to memorize at first. Each day learn a new set of ten numbers, keep going each day until you are satisfied with how high you can count. If you are up for a challenge, memorize all the numbers up to one hundred in one day.

====Work on pronunciation==== Pronunciation is another place where you should focus your energies. There's no point in memorizing hundreds of words and phrases if you pronounce them so oddly that they can't be understood. Therefore, it's important that when you learn a word, you learn the pronunciation simultaneously. Pronunciation can be difficult to learn from a book -- so this is where chatting with native speakers (or using interactive software programs and applications) comes in handy. You need to actually say the word out loud in order to learn how to pronounce it correctly. If you're practicing with an actual person, make sure that they're not too timid to correct you when you pronounce a word incorrectly, otherwise you may never fully get the hang of it. Remember -- pronunciation can be the difference between speaking a language well and speaking a language fluently.

Use language learning apps

Some language learning apps can really help with students. Some functions of these help with memorizing the word, understanding the sentences.

Anki

Anki is a very popular software program and smartphone app that helps you to effectively memorize words and phrases using flashcards. You can upload your own deck of cards with the specific vocabulary you wish to learn, or you can download one of the many pre-existing shared decks to get started.

Duolingo

Duolingo is a free language learning tool available online and on Android and iOS. Rather than focusing on memorization, it gets users to read and speak their new language by seeing, hearing and internalizing it. Users gain points as they complete lessons, giving Duolingo a fun, game-like feel.

Use Memrise

Memrise is another flashcard-style program that allows users to memorize words and phrases using memory tricks, images and other useful tools. Memrise allows users to compete against other users as you complete language-learning activities, making it a fun, non-formal way to learn.