The benefits of reading books and learning foreign languages

Good English, well spoken and well written will open more doors than a college degree.

Bad English will slam doors you didn‘t even know existed.

- William Raspberry

Reading books and learning languages are  inextricably linked.  Reading a foreign book may sound like a waste of time. It’s too academic, too high-brow, but if you want to speak right, you’re gonna have to do a lot of reading in your target language. 

Firstly, when you read you expand your knowledge in many ways regardless of the language. Study proves that reading for at least 6 minutes a day can reduce your stress level with around 68%. As they say an hour spent reading is an hour stolen from Heaven. Once you learn to read you are ‘free’ forever. Reading books, and especially  in a foreign language, will surely help you perfect your writing skills, which goes hand- in- hand with the expansion of your vocabulary. Enhancing your analytical thinking skills is another perk of being an avid reader.  What is more, when you read a book, all of your attention is focused on the story—the  rest of the world just falls away, and you can immerse yourself in every  fine detail you’re absorbing. Try reading for 15-20 minutes before work  or school, and you’ll  be surprised at how much more focused you are during the day.

There is a saying that speaking one language will one ‘door’ for you in your life, but more languages will open any ‘door’ you wish in the future. Learning foreign languages is often said to boost brain power and the ability of multi-tasking. Also, keen readers have better decision-making abilities. Reading literary fiction makes you more empathic, it makes us more human. Furthermore, reading helps you learn every part of a language.  Books help you get more immersed in a language, they contain a richer language, they help you understand grammar better. Moreover, it is scientifically proven that bilingual people are less stressed, smarter,  and nicer.

To conclude, there are many benefits to both reading books and learning languages as one can help the other in the process.  Spiritual freedom is achieved and a lot of your abilities are improved, too.  You can’t be fluent without reading. So if you really want to learn a new language fast, then you better get on the couch and read!

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” Margaret Fuller