1. English is one of the most widely spoken languages
Although it comes second to Mandarin in the
total number of speakers, English is the language you’ll be able to use most
widely, as it’s spoken in more countries than any other language. That means
that English is the language that will give you the best return for your
efforts; after all, intellectual challenge aside, there’s little point putting
a huge amount of time and effort into learning a language that you’ll hardly
ever have the opportunity to use.
As well as the UK, a whopping 60 of the world’s
196 countries have English as their official language: the USA,
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, to name but a few. It’s the language of
diplomacy and the official language of the European Union, the United Nations,
NATO and the European Free Trade Association, not to mention many Commonwealth
countries. What’s more, English is the commonly adopted second language of
people in a great many more countries, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
Germany and Holland. In total, around 1.5 billion people speak English
worldwide – and another billion are in the process of learning it. Will you
make this number even bigger by learning it yourself?
2. English will open up more opportunities for
you
Even in countries where English is not an
official language, it is often used as a lingua franca.
Being able to speak English allows you to
communicate effectively in numerous countries, and this opens up lots of
possibilities for you in terms of the countries you could choose to seek work
in one day – not to mention travel to as a tourist. You won’t have to worry
about getting lost when you travel to an English-speaking country, as you’ll
easily be able to ask for directions, and taking guided tours, ordering food
and chatting to the locals will no longer be a source of stress.
What’s more, careers that involve lots of
travel or international exposure, such as the airline, tourism and film
industries, use English as their official language, and many employers in these
sectors are likely to require evidence of a certain level of proficiency in
English before they will consider employing you. This means that if you can
speak English, you’ll find that you have a greater number of possible careers
to choose from after you finish at university.
If you’re looking to develop your English
speaking skills, an EFL course at one of Oxford Royale’s
many summer schools could accelerate your progress, as well as give you a
rounded experience of English culture. You can study at the Oxford Summer School, Cambridge Summer School, London Summer School, San Francisco Summer School and Yale Summer School.
3. English will make you more desirable to
employers
Being fluent in a second language clearly
demonstrates a powerful brain and reflects someone who has put in the huge
amount of time, resources and commitment needed to master another language. But
while being bilingual is impressive full stop, no matter what combination of
languages you speak, adding English to your CV will be particularly useful. Not
only is it an especially complex language to get to grips with, a fact that
reflects well on you for having mastered it, but as we’ve seen, it’s also an
incredibly useful language to learn because so many countries speak it. You’ll
be in a much stronger position to apply for jobs overseas if you’ve reached a
good level of fluency in English.
English has been referred to as “the language
of business”, and it’s not hard to see why. If you have ambitions to become an
international businessperson, it’s essential that you’re able to speak English
fluently; business conducted
internationally is done in English more often than not. Even if you’re not
thinking of living and working abroad, that doesn’t mean you won’t find English
a helpful language to put on your CV. There may well be plenty of
English-speaking multinational corporations with offices in your home country.
What’s more, English skills are just as desirable to employers in your own
country and language as they are to employers in English-speaking countries.
Here are just three examples to give you an idea of the kind of situations in
which English may come in useful in your own country:
- Business meetings – being
able to speak English puts you in a position to be able to attend or hold
international business meetings. Where several languages are represented,
the chances are that the meeting will be conducted in English – and if
you’re the only one in your team who can speak English, you may find
yourself being put forward to attend important meetings, advancing
yourself up the career ladder in the process.
- Customer service and sales –
you’ll be able to help with any English-speaking customers your employer
may have – and sell to them. This gives you the chance to build
relationships with overseas customers, and the ability to build relationships
is an important business skill that puts you at an advantage over
non-English speaking fellow employees and makes you more valuable to the
company you work for.
- Marketing and communications – if
the company you end up working for markets its products or services to
English-speaking countries, or releases other sorts of communications such
as press releases to these countries, your knowledge of English may come
in handy for translating marketing materials or communications with
customers or sales prospects. The cultural knowledge you’ll acquire
through learning English may also come in handy in knowing how to pitch
products and ideas to English-speaking nations.
4. English gives you access to some of the world’s best universities
English is widely regarded as the language of
higher education. Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and MIT are just a few of the
famous universities that occupy the lofty heights of the top of the world
education league tables, and you’ll need to speak English fluently for access
to any of these, as they’re all English-speaking. It goes without saying that
if you are able to study at one of these institutions, you’ll start your career
with an illustrious name on your CV – and the benefits of that speak for
themselves. If English isn’t your native language, you’ll need to take an
English test during the admissions process to prove that your level of English
is up to scratch for the demands of the academic environment. If you have your
sights set on a top university, the effort you put in to study English as early
as possible in your school years will be rewarded when it comes to the choice
of universities to which you can apply.
5. English is the language of some of the
world’s greatest literature
If you learn English, you’ll be able to enjoy
works by some of the world’s most famous writers, in the language in which they
were intended to be read or heard. The works of Shakespeare will take on a new
meaning when you’re able to speak English, and you can look forward to enjoying
such influential classics as Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and
her sister’s Jane Eyre, George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal
Farm, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and many, many
more. Translation rarely does a writer true justice, so the only way to
appreciate a classic literary work properly is to read it in its original
language. Even better, through doing so, you’ll deepen your knowledge of
English by enriching it with new words and sentence structures.
6. English allows you to get more from popular culture
The world’s highest-grossing movies are made in
Hollywood, and needless to say, they are made in English. How many times have
you been to see an American blockbuster and been frustrated by having to keep
up with fast-paced subtitles? And how many times have you hummed a favourite
pop song, but not been able to sing along because it’s in English and you don’t
know the words? There’s a solution… Kiss those annoying cinema subtitles
goodbye and get more out of the music you enjoy by learning English.
7. English allows you to attend international
conferences and events
Major sporting events such as the Olympics are
held in English, and so are international conferences, so competitors and
delegates will need to be able to speak English to be able to get the most out
of taking part. You may find yourself needing to attend conferences as part of
your chosen career, so learning English now will be of enormous benefit to you
in years to come. Not only will you be able to understand the talks, but you’ll
get a lot more out of the networking opportunities that come with such events
if you can talk effectively in English. You never know – there may be a new
employer or client among the crowds of fellow delegates, so make sure you can
communicate with them!
8. English has a simple alphabet and everyone’s equal
The English alphabet is straightforward, making
it easier to master than the symbols or pictures that make up some languages.
If you’ve struggled to learn more complex alphabets, you may find you make more
progress with English, which shares an alphabet with many other languages.
There are no complicated symbols and characters
to get to grips with in English, either; even in French, which essentially uses
the same alphabet, there are several accents used on certain letters that alter
the pronunciation. Not so in English. Furthermore, not matter how important they
are, everyone is addressed as “you” – there are no polite and informal variants
to agonise over (as there are in French with “tu” and “vous”, for instance), so
you won’t need to worry about inadvertently creating social awkwardness by
being overly familiar. And unlike many European languages, there are no
masculine and feminine words to remember – it’s “a dog”, not “le chien”.
9. English gives you wider access to knowledge
Did you know that 55% of the world’s webpages
are written in English? This absolutely dwarfs that of any other language, with
the next most widely used language on the internet being Russian (which
constitutes just 6% of pages). Knowledge of English therefore allows you to tap
into far more of the world’s intellectual resources.
English is also the language of science. If you
learn English, you won’t just have access to a greater proportion of the vast
amount of knowledge available on the web; you’ll be able to educate yourself
still further by being able to read scientific books and papers. English is, of
course, essential if you intend to pursue a scientific career. Within the
Science Citation Index, compiled by the Institute for Scientific
Information, an estimated 95% of articles are
written in English despite only around half being from English-speaking
countries. According to the Open University,
“At Oxford University two thirds of post-graduate students come from outside
the UK. The students in the university’s chemistry research lab admit that
working in English is a key attraction.”
10. English is a fantastic intellectual challenge!
English is undoubtedly one of the harder
languages to learn. Full of nuances, unexpected pronunciations, odd rules and
infuriating exceptions to rules, it takes dedication and perseverance to reach
a good level of fluency. If you’re on the lookout for a new challenge, learning
English may be just what you’re after. Not only that, but because it’s so
widely spoken, it opens you up to a huge number of new cultural experiences,
which will help you develop life skills, meet new people and grow your
confidence in handling new situations.
Have we convinced you yet? If you’ve been
inspired to learn English, consider enrolling on one of our English
as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses and develop your
English skills in the company of like-minded students in the beautiful city of
Oxford and Cambridge.
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