To be multilingual in the modern world has many advantages, and it is particularly important if you wants to relate to people from different cultures and backgrounds.
If you want to travel around the globe, language helps you to fully appreciate the countries that you are visiting. It enables you to fully appreciate the people of the country and the many attractions that country has to offer, for example, if you are visiting a historical site, such as a museum.
In translation, words and meanings are often not fully portrayed. The different nuances of a particular phrase or intention may be lost, thus lessening the enjoyment of interaction between two people from different countries. If you understand the language this will lead to a greater understanding of the people of a country, their way of life and their customs.
The world has become a global marketplace in terms of employment. With more companies becoming transnational, the demand for multi-lingual employees is greater and, as a result, the earning potential is rising.
Particularly from a political point of view, understanding and respect between countries is increasingly important. It is quite possible that some of the tensions of the world could be lessened if more of our politicians were multi-lingual as this would lead, in my view, to a greater level of understanding. We would be respected more by our global neighbours and they would feel that we respect them.
Frontiers of knowledge
Learning a foreign language stretches the frontiers of an individual’s knowledge. With this ability they are able to research material for many subjects from the original source rather than rely upon a translated source, which may contain bias or stray from the original. Translations can contain what the translator thinks the original author wanted to say rather than explain the actual original content.
For all of these reasons, foreign language as a requirement in high schools is, in my opinion, very important