5 Surprising Benefits of Corporate Language Learning

When business owners think about adding language learning to their corporate benefits package, they usually have a few main objectives in mind. They want to strengthen their global performance, reach new markets, and help their employees boost their skillset.

However, corporate language learning can provide several benefits that can support your business goals and strategies in ways you may not have considered. Keep reading to discover what these are.

1. You’ll make your brain stronger

When you learn a new language, your brain has to work harder in order to learn the patterns, rules, words and grammatical constructions of the new language. This gives it a powerful cognitive workout, literally helping you to build a stronger brain.

According to one Swedish study that used MRI scans to explore these changes, it’s the hippocampus that sees the most growth; “While the brain structure of the control group remained unchanged, specific parts of the brain of the language students grew. The parts that developed in size were the hippocampus, a deep-lying brain structure that is involved in learning new material and spatial navigation, and three areas in the cerebral cortex.”

It’s not just your language skills that will improve – you’ll also see improvements in your performance at work. You’ll become more observant, better able to spot problems, more effective at multitasking and staying sharp.

2. You’ll feel happier

Learning a new language can also make you happier, according to a European study from 2014. When you learn these new words and grammatical constructions, you’ll stimulate the reward centers in your brain. This releases more of the feel-good hormone, dopamine (which is also released when you have sex and eat chocolate!) and leaves you feeling on top of the world.

But that’s not all! Language learning encourages you to build relationships with others and learn more about other cultures and gives you a meaningful life goal that can help boost your mental health. What’s not to like about it?

3. You’ll become more diversity-friendly

By brushing up on your language skills, you’ll become more aware of the linguistic and cultural richness in the world. Even if you’ve never left your country of birth, you will see that there isn’t a right or wrong way to do things, just a different way. As you learn new words and concepts in the foreign language, you’ll gain greater insight into the culture of that language community and become a more open-minded person in the process.

With this mindset, it will be much easier to create an inclusive work environment that offers a sense of community, belonging and understanding. Your team will be stronger, more cohesive and much better prepared to work on a global scale.

4. You’ll develop a better mindset

Language learning can help promote a growth mindset which can help you cope better with failure, push for achievement and help your business go from strength to strength.

As you work through your language lessons and start noticing how much you are able to communicate in your new language, you’ll improve the way you see yourself and your abilities. You’ll see that your skills and knowledge aren’t set in stone and can be nurtured through dedication and hard work, unlocking your potential in the process.

As international growth advisors, The Polyglot Group say, “Hiring employees with such a mindset is key to sustainable business growth in normal times, but is especially useful for building resilience in times of crisis.”

5. You’ll be more willing to take risks

If you want to succeed in learning a language, you need to break out of your comfort zone and be willing to take risks.

You need to attempt to order a coffee in Portuguese, even if you aren’t feeling confident or believe you’ll struggle. Or arrange that language exchange even if you think that you’ll be lost for words.

Taking this leap of faith changes the relationship you have with risk, helping you to become a braver individual and employee. You’ll become more willing to speak up and share your ideas, more creative and more influential in your private and professional life.

As Forbes magazine widely says, “Risk-taking is not the only determinate to success, but it is an important influencer when well-timed and utilized strategically.”

Mondly for Business will transform your team

Corporate language learning can provide your business with the global advantage it needs to overcome the competition. Providing numerous direct and indirect benefits, language learning can help you become happier and more effective in business.

Here at Mondly, we understand exactly what it takes to learn another language. We can help your team get from zero to fluent in your chosen language fast.

Discover how language learning can boost your team’s performance. Ask us about our corporate language packages today business@mondly.com