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  • so I was sitting with my friends on the stairs of a fountain at the center of my

  • favorite square and Rome where I used to gather with my friends to have a few

  • laughs and drinks when all of a sudden I heard this loud burp behind me and I

  • turned and I asked: "who's that?!" and "that's one loud burp", and actually the person

  • who had done that was a girl, an American girl who herself asked me: "are you

  • American?" and I told her that I was Italian and that was really surprising and

  • we started chatting and I actually got to know one of my best friends, who was

  • sitting next to her - that is Garrett - and this is one of the surprising and

  • unexpected ways in which languages can actually change and revolutionize your life

  • Imagine a prism: when light hits that prism you will see its basic

  • components.YOU are that light and languages are like that prison which

  • help you show and broaden literally the facets of your personality. Think about

  • it for a second: when you speak a foreign language, your facial features, the

  • thoughts that you think, your actions, your reactions are all slightly

  • different than when you speak your mother tongue and we only have ONE life.

  • it's true but it's also true that the more languages you speak, the more lives

  • we can live within one live span.

  • Learning a language is a little bit like running a marathon: you learn a lot of

  • valuable life lessons by doing that. For example, you learn the importance of

  • being humble, the importance of knowing yourself, knowing when to speed up and

  • when to slow down. The importance of trial-and-error. Daily routine,

  • regularity, habits, belief in yourself, and I have learned these life lessons

  • through language and have carried them over into other fields and domains of

  • life. For example I have learned how to become more productive, how to develop

  • good sleeping and eating habits. So, it has brought about a change in my life

  • overall.

  • Traveling is in and of itself an amazing experience it doesn't matter where you

  • go and it doesn't matter how many languages you speak. But if you speak the

  • local language or you speak many languages, it changes, it completely

  • changes your experience. Back in the days when I used to live in Paris, I used to

  • carry out this social experiment: I used to walk into bars speaking English and

  • asking things around and the reaction was obviously very cold. But then - and

  • within the same day - I used to go to other bars and speak in French and the

  • reaction was completely different which goes to show that human beings all

  • across the globe have the same desires, the same actions, the same thoughts the

  • same reactions and only apparently we are different through the barrier of

  • language. Every language that you learn is like a key that unlocks a new pathway

  • to human experience. When you go to the gym and you see all these big guys you

  • realize that the reason why their muscles are so big is because they work

  • out. Differently from the muscles, actually we cannot see the brain itself

  • but the brain works in exactly the same way: if you make your brain work, your

  • brain will become smoother, leaner and more efficient and through language

  • learning that can happen very fast. Language learning has AMAZING benefits

  • in terms of learning other languages, for example when I started

  • learning Dutch after learning German, or learning Portuguese after learning

  • Spanish, I was astounded at the rate at which I was acquiring these languages

  • which is natural because these languages were similar to the languages I already

  • knew .But in general the more languages you learn, the more cognitive benefits

  • you reap. For example I am more socially and culturally aware, I am a

  • better imitator, I'm a better listener, I think I'm a more empathic person, and a

  • more caring person. Imagine casting a net into the ocean: the bigger and the better

  • the net, the more fish you're gonna get. Now think about all these social events

  • you have participated in: when you speak another language and you meet a person

  • who speaks that language, even a few words in that language can make a

  • difference because you're establishing a direct, natural and emphatic relationship

  • with that person, and that makes all the difference. When

  • it comes to establishing connections, making long-lasting relationships,

  • friendships and even love, which takes us to the next point: so this this is what

  • happened 2017 in Prague. I was sitting with my friends at a hostel and then we

  • started talking to these three French girls, who were surprised that I spoke French

  • and that I spoke it well, and then thanks to that I actually established a connection

  • I got to know her better and eventually she would become my girlfriend now the

  • interesting thing is that speaking French not only helped me connect, make

  • this connection, but it hope also helped me solidify and cement this relationship

  • because the quality of the relationship the empathy between the two of us - that

  • was different and imagine like speaking languages like having a little Cupid

  • shooting the arrow between you and another person

  • it actually makes love thrive and I've learned that, you know, the important

  • message that love is the same universal message for everyone but it's wrapped up

  • and coded in different cultures and different cultural codes and to unlock

  • that you need to speak foreign languages. Back in the days in 2010 when I moved to

  • Paris, I didn't know exactly what to do but I knew that I had a big passion for

  • languages and eventually languages caught up with me and found me and I

  • started working with languages so I told myself "bingo, I do what I love and I love

  • what I do but you don't have to necessarily work with languages, meaning,

  • you have to be a translator or you have to be an interpreter, you can be whatever

  • you want. But if you speak languages if you have a good command of languages,

  • that can actually make your career improve and you can find jobs much more

  • easily because with languages you not only acquire words and sentences but you

  • also acquire a command of the cultural structures and cultural codes underlying

  • negotiations or other things that can actually make your life and the life of

  • the company or the organization you work with much easier and smoother.

  • Imagine speaking languages like having a toolbox: the more languages you speak, the

  • more tools you have to do whatever you want. The bottom line of all this is that

  • learning a language or many languages is never ever a waste of time it's not just

  • a matter of learning new sounds or new sentences or new words

  • it's about being more: being a more competent person and more socially and

  • culturally aware person. In the end it's about being more empathic, more

  • understanding and more humane, and we need this in this globalized world. So if

  • you're thinking of learning a language just do it NOW, because it will have a

  • huge impact not only on your life but on the life of those who surround you.

  • If you want to know more just click on the link in the description box below the

  • video and you will be able to read an article that I put together about this

  • topic on my brand new website www.lucalampariello.com

so I was sitting with my friends on the stairs of a fountain at the center of my

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