Of course there are many great reasons to learn another language, and there have been some attempts to quantify the economic value of learning another language. Below is some stuff that might be worth checking out if this topic interests you. These aren't necessarily the best papers/articles on the subject. If you know of better research with more evidence, please post that. Or post what the value to you has been (economic or otherwise). Or do you have regrets? Whenever we make a choice to spend time doing something there is always an opportunity cost, that is the loss of potential gain from other alternatives that were not chosen. Do you maybe wish you had spent more time learning to code, play the flute or perfect your serve and less time on Chinese characters, Hungarian grammar, etc.? Attached is an article on the benefits of being bilingual and the Saiz paper referenced in the below links. From Freakonomics, a somewhat lightweight podcast discussion on the economic return (earnings) for a native English US speaker to learn various languages. Is Learning a Foreign Language Worth It? and a criticism of the podcast from the Economist, which includes links to a chart of GDP by language: What is a Foreign Language Worth? Probably no surprise: it's worth more to a non-English speaker to learn English than for a native English speaker to learn another language. I must admit there are times when I wonder if the opportunity cost of learning Russian will be worth it but that seems to be only a temporary state of mind.
Thanks for the papers and links. The Economist's long term financial gain criticism isn't going to inspire many, because most people are going to want the financial difference to be meaningful now and not just in next 30 years IF they saved that 2% yearly difference faithfully and watched it compound. Ultimately we learn languages for our own personal enjoyment and use, whether active or passive, and likely without a view to any financial gain. However even at the exact same salary, one's language knowledge could make a huge difference in getting a job one likes versus one that is merely so-so.
For me it is just a hobby. Some years ago I was sitting in front of my TV watching soap operas/other stupid programmes. I got an idea, why not do something more usefull than just watching TV. So I started studying German, I still have a life, only stealing time from TV watching
Not only that, but he fails to account for fluctuations in the value of individual languages, he assumes constant payrises (no longer the norm) and forgets to correct the final figure for inflation.
I don't know much about economics, but in Belgium, traditionally, they say that you must know both French and Dutch if you want a good job. But mostly, the Walloons can't speak much Dutch at all, and the Flemish prefer English over French LOL. Of course German is important in Europe and possibly more with their economic dominance since the crisis and the power that they have now in Greece, Spain etc. But important and powerful isn't the same than popular. German is my favourite language but I hate the dominance by one country in the continent, and a country where they havne't a minimum wage, for example. In addiiton, Germany is veyr hierarchical and I don't like this characteristic. Europe has too much spin, but the people are fed up, they dont believe all the spin so much now. Basically, I think that for eveyrone, English seems the most important langauge. Then in Europe, German. But I think that the trend is to become more nationalistic, and therefore chauvenistic with the local language. Like anti-globalisation, anti-EU, anti-German dominance, anti-immigration etc
