Linguistic diversity is a world phenomenon of growing social importance that one can study from different perspectives. The research center for language intelligence – Ethnologue (Simons, 2022) considers that there are 7,151 languages in the world today and that 337 languages are spoken in homes across the United States. These families have more than one perspective from which to view the world. According to Ryan, C., the Spanish language is the most common language except English spoken in U.S. homes. Still, many languages are thriving and moving to the top 10 languages like Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Arabic, French, Korean, Russian, and German. As a result, the U.S. Census Bureau expects an increase in the percentage of using English in U.S. homes.

How has your language or languages shaped your view of the world? How could your language influence the ways you interact with others? As an online language school, we believe in multilingualism. And the powerful benefits of having language diversity in our communities, countering the unfortunate ‘monolingual mindset.’ Read on as we discuss the following six benefits of linguistic diversity! 

#1 Strengthen Self-identity

Language is a representation of who we are. It is the transporter of our heritage and one way to identify ourselves. By supporting language diversity, we are strengthening people’s cultural heritage and, therefore, their identity. When language is lost, undervalued, or restricted, individuals may see their culture as lost, undervalued, and restricted. Thus, an environment linguistically diverse prevents individuals from losing their cultural independence and, in many cases, their spirituality. Furthermore, such an environment gives people confidence that there is no objection between maintaining their cultural heritage and being proud and active as part of a community. 

#2 Help children with social skills 

Children who learn more than one language learn to be sensitive to their conversation partners. Children make words and language choices based on their knowledge of others. These are social decisions that show advanced social skills. An interesting fact – bilingual children, show stronger execution of attention, flexibility, memory, and self-control than monolingual children. In addition, exposure to multiple languages helps children build healthy cultural identities. Suppose children do not use their home languages in their local communities. In that case, we should encourage them to use their home languages, valued and reflected in child and youth programs. 

 Exposing monolingual children to the wide range of languages present in their community and the country is also essential. Moreover, it supports healthy identity development for all children and youth members of diverse communities.

#3 Improved Cognitive Abilities

Having several languages and cultures is like having several programs. When speaking in one language or living in one culture, we might have certain expectations and reactions that we would not have in another. Understanding that we all live in different communities lets you move between them and creates more expanded visions of what is possible. As a result, you see more opportunities in the world. People, who speak more than one language, have improved cognitive abilities and educational outcomes. Because they build new pathways in the brain as they pay attention and respond to different sets of language rules, linguistic norms, and social behaviors. Moreover, they have a reduced risk of developing cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s and others. 

#4 Enhance creativity

Most people wear different hats in life; for example, they are a professional, entrepreneurs, friends, parents, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, etc. All these roles require us to behave in a certain way, and we constantly switch from one “hat” to another. Most of the time, we do so without even thinking about it, accepting that multiple cultures and languages enable us to do the same in a larger context. All the significant technological innovations have been achieved by people who are good at thinking outside the box. A multicultural experience makes us far more flexible and dramatically enhances our creativity and problem-solving approach. 

#5 Serve the community

Respecting a community’s existing and evolving languages helps raise residents’ self-confidence and build bridges among groups of different backgrounds. Language skills, and sensitivity regarding the use of language, give access to cultural discussions. They provide perspectives that can help prevent mutual suspicion, fear, and resentment among population groups and tackle extremism of all kinds. When resources for translation and interpretation are in place, newcomers, who do not yet have a firm command of the country’s language, have equal access to services such as health care and emergency support. Such an environment can better serve non-language-speaking customers. 

#6 Long-Term Success 

In today’s global society, estimates say that over 50% of the world population can speak more than one language (Grosjean, 1994). These individuals have the opportunity today and, in the future, to participate in the global community in many ways, get information from more places, and learn more about people from other cultures. I believe future cities will rely more on digital solutions to monitor data and adapt tools to evolving needs. The delivery of language tools in different sectors, like interpretation in the health care, legal or educational areas, relies on networking between organizations. Community initiatives to promote linguistic diversity help ensure that the next generation workforce is equipped with a valuable resource of skills.

Let’s promote Linguistic Diversity!

It is not enough to just talk. You have to walk as well. To promote linguistic diversity, you can start by respecting foreign-speaking individuals and letting them share the charm of their cultural heritage with other people in the community. It can be achieved through food, culture, music, and presentations emphasizing another language’s richness and humor. For example, they create connections when people laugh, eat in a company, and perform tasks together. They could build solid friendship relationships across the community, work offices, and school groups. Other examples of activities at home or work are:

• encouraging individuals to read books in their home language;
• building a library of books in different languages; 
• planning bilingual curriculum activities
• asking individuals to share photos, art, textiles, or other materials from their homes and cultures;
•  encouraging individuals to share language traditions and routines and expand their experiences with their heritage language.

Linguistic diversity is a form of beauty, and its benefits are numerous. Every language in our world has a unique elegance. We should embrace that beauty. We are risking if we ignore the opportunities it brings us. Linguistic discrimination feeds isolation, frustration, and resentment. We have a chance to show the world how to embrace language diversity in a way that genuinely supports social cohesion. 

I hope today’s post showed you the powerful benefits of linguistic diversity and how it brings us together, not divides us. So now I want to turn it over to you: Which of the 6 benefits from today’s post resonates more with you? Are you learning a language? Or maybe you are monolingual and want to engage in language diversity? Either way, it is something worth celebrating and sharing with everyone. 

Used sources:

Grosjean, F. (1994). Individual bilingualism. In The encyclopedia of language and linguistics (pp. 1656–1660).Oxford: Pergamon Press

Ryan, C. (2013). Language Use in the United States: 2011. U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey Reports. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2013/acs/acs-22.html

Simons, G. (2022). Welcome to the 25th edition. Ethnologue, (25). Retrieved August 4, 2022, from https://www.ethnologue.com/ethnoblog/gary-simons/welcome-25th-edition. 

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