Multilinguals and bilinguals of Internet, what has speaking several languages allowed you to do that you wouldn’t be able to if you only spoke one?

Understanding what patients are actually saying. Sometimes the interpreters are not very accurate or they downplay what a patient is saying.

I really enjoy music in other languages I understand. Sometimes it’s just liberating to sit in that feeling and just realize how much bigger your world is. You get other perspectives but also other ways of knowing – the rhymes and rhythms of that language simply happen in another universe and you can enjoy that without understanding, but when the meaning comes through as well it’s amazing.

Then translate that experience onto everything – books, movies, conversations. I had a friend when I was getting good at French, she didn’t speak english. I hung out with her family (no english there either)… I would have missed that whole relationship if I didn’t know French.

Graduating highschool in Luxembourg. You have to be fluent in English, French and German to pass.

So I can speak Hindi and whenever I’m having a technical issue or something of that sort, I’ll search up on YouTube how to fix it and if the guy’s speaking Hindi or have a very strong accent, I’ll still be able to understand it!

I also recommend learning the language

As a non-native speaker, knowing English is actually a true game changer. Not a major one yet, but still.

I was able to enjoy music way better than I could have otherwise. Lyrics in a work are extremely important for me, and some of my favorite artists are from the anglosphere, so go figure.

I can read books as they were written in their original language if the author is british, american, canadian etc. Translations can slightly devalue a work, in my experience.

Pretty much the best pieces of media and entertainment, the best youtube channels, best online communities, best sites (just like this one), all in English. Also the best memes. The internet is basically ruled by the english language, and knowing it I can immerse myself in pop culture and internet culture way easier than my peers. That’s cool too.

Many educational and scientific works are originally released in english as well. Some of them don’t even get translated in my native language. For someone interested in learning new things straight from the source, that’s a huge plus.

So overall, it sure did help me.