There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today, at least 4,500 of them have more than 1,000 speakers. The most widely spoken language in the world is Mandarin Chinese, with 1.2 billion speakers.
More interestingly, between 60 and 75 per cent of people in the world speak more than one language on a daily basis. Many countries have more than one official language; South Africa has 11!
In recent years, researchers have found a number of benefits to being bilingual or multilingual.
First, this has obvious communication and educational advantages: the more languages one knows, the easier it becomes to learn other languages, the more one can communicate with, and the more learning one can undertake, having access to information published in other languages.
Secondly, bi- or multi-lingualism has socio-economic advantages: this skill is highly valued in the workplace in general, and today jobs that require knowledge of several languages (e.g. tourism, translation, and journalism) show strong and continued growth.
Thirdly, knowing several languages has positive social effects: it makes one more open-minded, seeing the world from several perspectives.
Fourthly, some studies have shown positive effects of bilingualism on the brain: greater ability to focus, longer attention span and better multitasking, as bilinguals constantly switch from one language to another. Brain scans have shown more grey matter in the anterior cingulate cortex of bilinguals, although this has been disputed by other researchers.
And last but not least, knowledge of more than one language seems to also have positive mental health effects: less brain ageing (Alzheimer and dementia) and fewer strokes.
There is another way to positively affect one’s mind, psychology, social outlook, and even health: travelling. Tourism and travel are not only one of the fastest growing human activities today, they are also a dynamic research field, with academic journals such as the Journal of Travel Research; the Journal of Travel Medicine, the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, and others.
I haven’t found statistics for the Arab world, but data from western countries show that the average resident of the UK has visited 10 countries, Germans have been to eight states, and the French have travelled to five nations on average. The typical American has visited only three countries, and in fact 29 per cent of American adults have never been abroad.
Similarly to the knowledge and practice of several languages, researchers have found important health benefits in travels: a study found that women who vacation at least twice a year show a significantly lower risk of suffering a heart attack than those who travel only rarely. Conversely, men who tend to skip annual vacations show a 20 per cent higher risk of death and 30 per cent greater risk of heart disease.
Boosts happiness
More generally, studies have shown that travel relieves stress, boosts happiness, and lowers risks of depression. It also improves family relations, increasing bonding between spouses and between parents and children, as they spend quality time together and encounter new and interesting situations.
Travel also has educational benefits, such as in programmes of study abroad: it leads to personal growth of the students, improved life skills, greater independence, wider opportunities of discovery, and enhanced creativity, especially when one engages fully with other cultures. Thus, travelling impacts people’s personalities in important ways: it makes them warmer, more empathetic, more open. As Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness”.
I also found one study showing that travel enhances spirituality, especially in older people, as they get a chance to reflect more on the meaning of life, as they undertake self-explorations, and develop stronger connections to nature.
Travelling can also help us practice gratitude, as we find out how fortunate we are in our lives in so many respects compared to other people.
Centuries ago, Saint Augustine said: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page”. And more than a hundred years ago, Mark Twain wrote: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover”. Imagine what Augustine and Twain would say if they lived today, with all these opportunities for travel and discoveries…
As we get into summer, with many of us travelling, discovering new places and cultures, and meeting people with different views, let us make a conscious effort to learn from others, and if possible to learn another language and look at the world from a different perspective. The Quran had put it simply and beautifully: “And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colours. Indeed in that are signs for those of knowledge.”
And: “O mankind, We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another …”
Nidhal Guessoum is a professor at the American University of Sharjah, UAE. Twitter: @NidhalGuessoum
