Foreign languages: A fashion if the day or life necessity?

 Learning a foreign language is not an easy thing. It is a long and slow process that takes a lot of time and efforts. 

So as far as I’m concerned, I think foreign languages are not a fashion of the day, but life necessity. Personally I feel that nowadays it’s especially important to know foreign language. 

People no longer live in isolation. They conduct business on a large scale the world over. They travel a lot not only out of curiosity to see the world, but to expand their knowledge and seek entertainment and amusement. They are greatly interested in the latest achievements in science and technology in other countries for they don’t want to lay behind. They are eager to get the latest news about what is happening in the world as quick as possible. 

There are many different reasons why people study foreign languages. Businessmen want to pick up foreign languages because they conduct business on a large scale the world over. They have to deal with their foreign customers, hold negotiations with their partners from other countries, exchange business letters, so a good command of foreign languages is indispensable to them and will open great prospects for business. Some people learn foreign languages just to have something to do during their spare time. They want to listen to the radio and watch TV in different languages. They read popular foreign editions, which widens their outlook to a great extent. They also read foreign authors in the original that helps them open a new world, to learn about other peoples’ cultures, because language is a manifestation of the culture. Students learn foreign languages to be better educated. Nowadays many young people would like to go abroad to study. And if they can’t feel at home in a foreign language, they will have many problems while studying. 

Learning foreign languages opens up opportunities and careers that didn’t even exist several years ago. Knowing foreign languages can help you to find a good job in different fields. 

Scientists and engineers must learn foreign languages in order not to lag behind the times. They are greatly interested in the achievements in the science and technology in other countries. Besides, a lot of handbooks, manuals and technical specifications are in English. So if you don’t want to get completely lost in front of computers and other modern machines, you have to learn foreign languages. 

As for me, I’m convinced that nowadays people should learn English at least, even if they don’t have outstanding facilities for learning foreign languages. Needless to say, that I would like to know some foreign languages: English and Spanish, to be exact. I know that when you know two or three foreign languages a lot of others just fall into place. Having a good command of a foreign language will undoubtedly open a new world to me. I may want to learn a lot of new things about other peoples’ cultures, to listen to radio in English and watch TV in English, read quite a lot of things like “Times”, “National Geographic”, etc. which can teach me a lot about the world I live in and broaden my mind. 

I have been studying English for 10 years already. Frankly speaking, I can’t feel at home in English yet for my English is not perfect and betrays me as a foreigner. I cat speak and write English without mistakes yet. There are some gaps in my knowledge of grammar and spelling. But I’m sure I’ll perfect myself in English and very soon will be able to exhibit my good knowledge of it. With a foreign you never stop learning, you never reach a point where you can say: “At the end of this course I’ll know English and I can stop learning it.” It’s a process that goes and goed. But you still remain a learner all your life.