This situation is common in countries like India, South Africa, or Canada, which have multiple official languages.
This method is also highly used in Canada, wherein anglophone students spend all of most of their lessons learning the materials in French.
[citation needed] Despite the high rate of foreign-language teaching in schools, the number of adults claiming to speak a foreign language is generally lower than might be expected.
[4] In 2012, a European Commission survey found that 61% of respondents in the UK were unlikely to speak any language other than their mother tongue (page 5).
An article from The Atlantic claims that only 1 percent of the adults within the US population consider themselves proficient in speaking a foreign language.
Learning a foreign language provides various benefits, ranging from improving career opportunities to enhancing cognitive abilities.
[7][8] Further results showed that nine out of 10 British companies thought their businesses could benefit from better language skills.
Studies show that a bilingual or multilingual person can earn much more than a computer programmer or engineer because they can use their abilities in foreign language to obtain success in a wide range of career paths.
In addition, due to the increase in the number of people from different parts of the world, a multilingual person can more easily communicate with prospective customers.
Also in 2004, a study by University College London (UCL) examined the brains of 105 people who could speak more than one language.
[9] Grey matter is an area of the brain where information is most efficiently processed, due to the function of specialized cells called neurons.
[9][10] A series of experiments on more than 300 people from the U.S. and Korea found that thinking in a second language reduced deep-seated, misleading biases that unduly influence how risks and benefits are perceived.
[11] Other research has shown that early exposure to a second language increases divergent thinking strategies,[12] which helps not only in language-related tasks, but also in areas such as math.
A study by the University of the Potomac found that bilinguals have better control over their attention and can switch between tasks more easily than monolinguals.
This mental exercise trains their executive function, which is responsible for planning, organizing, problem-solving and decision-making.
Learning a foreign language also boosts one's creativity, as it exposes them to new ways of expressing ideas and thinking outside the box.
In summary, learning a foreign language is not only useful for practical purposes, but also beneficial for cognitive, social and personal development.
It can improve one's brain power, memory, concentration, creativity, communication skills and cultural awareness.
He notes that the distinction became popular after World War II in international organisations, such as UNESCO, in order to meet nationalist susceptibilities in discussions on language questions.
Among the purposes of foreign-language learning are traveling abroad, communication with native speakers, reading foreign literature or scientific and technical works.
Second-language learners are usually more successful in developing non-native language skills and what is learned may be essential for getting along in the community, so motivation is stronger.