Why Learn English? You Wouldn't Ask the Monkeys, Would You?

With today's dominance of English language as global tool for business and travel, one must keep abreast with this trend and try to master it, or at least get a level of proficiency. Here are then reasons why one should learn the language:

1. For employment and promotion purposes

You have the edge over your co-workers or what if you have the proficiency in the language. You are better equipped and have more chances to be sent to conferences, seminars abroad or what when you can use language as effortlessly as you can.

2. For social interactions

People using different languages have English as their language of communication. Say, a Chinese and a Japanese cannot understand each other when one of them is using his own language while the other is feeling like an alien to it. Sans using English as their language of communication, the encounter would be hilariously disastrous for both of them.

3. For information

Newspapers, magazines or scientific journals, business reports and the like are written in English so you have to have proficiency in the language in order to get knowledge on them, and benefit from world-renowned intellectuals around.

4. For studying abroad

Before one could go abroad and enroll to universities, one must have passed TESOL ( Test of English as a Foreign Language ) or IELTS ( International English Language Testing System ) so that one would be able to communicate with foreign students, ask directions or make friends with them.

5. For personal enjoyment

Once you can communicate with others through the language, you can have more chances of expressing your unique voice, influencing others about your own discoveries, beliefs and the like. In our information-filled everyday lives, we need to keep abreast with it, try to listen to other viewpoints, assess our own and from there adapt, change or create our own unique wisdom, for own betterment and/or others' as well.

Above reasons are worth pondering on especially if you want to get sane alibi to learning the language and feeling confident enough sans fear of any kind while your friends or co-workers are feeling envious of what you can do with your new-found skill.

Yes, it takes courage to learn a thing or two. But, the result would surely make a difference to your self-improvement, job performance and the like. Arm yourself with this skill and you will see a big difference later.

The author is a mentor of teachers in elementary grades in the Philippines. Aside from being a grade school teacher, he is also contributing articles to magazines just to make good use of his spare time.