If you’re reading this, you, like many i-Learner students, are probably very good at English. So with all your extra activities, there’s no need to learn other languages, right? Wrong! Studies show that learning additional languages not only improves your memory and critical thinking, enhances your decision-making ability, and boosts your empathy, it also helps you become more successful in our globalised society.

As a speaker of six languages, who is currently learning two more (Russian and Hebrew!), I can attest that learning languages is a skill that becomes easier with every new system you learn. Think of a language like a musical instrument. Once you learn how to play the violin, learning the guitar becomes much easier. The two instruments may look different and have different strings, but the principles are the same. And if you then learn the flute, you may need new skills, but you’re familiar with the study skills needed for success. In this case, you know you’ll need to practise scales and arpeggios, work on sight reading and ensure you use expression in your playing. The same goes for learning languages, which is a skill in itself. Once you know the strategies for learning vocabulary, working out grammar, or figuring out meaning from context in reading exercises, you’ll be able to apply those skills to a new goal.

Why not try it and see for yourself? Enrol on one of our French, Spanish, German, Latin or Greek courses and surprise yourself at how quickly you pick up a new language as well as boost your memory, empathy and decision making. Make yourself a polyglot and a polymath!