Is Learning Italian Useful?
Is learning Italian useful? The short answer is yes. Learning any language is useful. It signals to employers that you have an ability with languages, it makes you stand out from other potential candidates and it will help if your company deals directly with Italy. It’s also useful for travel and it gives you a good foundation from where you can learn other languages as well.
When people ask is learning Italian useful? Of course it is, but if they mean is learning Italian the most useful language or would other benefit me more then it’s very likely other languages would be more useful unless you’re living in Europe or working with Italian companies.
However, if you just want to know if it could be useful for you in general then yes it can and let’s take a look into some of these reasons in more depth.
Learning Any Language Is Useful
To start with learning any language is useful regardless of which one you choose. Learning a second language can decrease your chances of developing diseases like Alzheimer’s as more nodes become activated in your brain. It is useful for improved cognitive function in general and the discipline of learning a second language is something you can take into lots of different areas of your life.
It also signifies to an employer that you’re an intelligent person and can be seen as an attractive quality even if you don’t need to use it in your workplace. When asking is learning Italian useful? You are immediately met with a yes because learning a language is so useful even before we look at Italian specifically.
Italy Has 8th Largest GDP In World
Italian in itself is useful from a professional and economic point of view. As well as being a centre piece of Europe, Italy has the 8th largest GDP in the world meaning it is a useful language to learn in a professional capacity. Many countries both inside and outside of Europe deal with Italy and Italian companies and having Italian on your CV can really help you.
Also if your company are partnering with an Italian one and they have the chance to send over some employees to the Italian branch, they’re going to send the ones who already know the language. And the opportunity to live and work in Italy, even if not forever, is not one that people turn down often.
Italian Culture Is Rich And Beautiful
You shouldn’t just look at how Italian can benefit you but also what you can gain from knowing the language. Italian culture is rich and old. Many operas are sung in Italian, Italy has produced great works of art, literature and music. They take pride in their customs, food and culture. Not to mention the country is beautiful and that includes the countryside and the cities.
Learning Italian can open up this hold world for you. And yes you could visit Italy and not learn Italian but being able to speak it allows you to converse with locals, to experience Italy in more depth and to have exchanges you wouldn’t otherwise be able to have. If you plan on spending much time in the country, it’s definitely worth your while trying to get up to an intermediate level at least if you want to get the most possible out of your time there.
Italian Helps You Understand Other Romantic Languages
Learning Italian can give you a foundation to learn other romantic languages from. Although there are different in romantic languages from grammar points to vocabulary there are also a lot of similarities and once you’ve learned one romantic language it becomes much easier to learn another. Getting your head around conjugation, gendered nouns and new vocabulary is tricky but once you’ve done it one time it becomes a lot easier to do it again. Italian is also a relatively easy language to learn compared to French so if you choose to learn Italian or Spanish first, you’ll be better equipped to tackle a language like French next.
And even if you don’t choose to learn another romantic language, knowing Italian will help you to understand others with greater ease. When speaking slow enough and keeping the topic simple an Italian person can feasibly speak in Italian to a person speaking in Spanish and they will get the gist of what the other is saying even if they can’t understand everything.
So to summarise is learning Italian useful? It most definitely is. And don’t be put off if you don’t see any real world application for your Italian learning, if you enjoy it and you like having something to work towards then that in itself is enough. Goals can be intrinsically motivated, we don’t always need to be shooting for something more. The pleasure that you get out of learning Italian would be enough to answer yes to this question let alone all the benefits that come with it.
Article: Is Learning Italian Useful?
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