Scientists have discovered that learning just a few phrases in a new language can improve how you speak your own.
People who learn new languages are also better at things like maths, art, higher level thinking, reasoning and problem solving. Phew!
However, we think that the best thing about learning to speak a few sentences of another language is that it opens up the world of opportunity, possibility and chance encounters. Think about it like this: if there are 5,000 people in the UK who speak Bosnian, by learning to say “how are you today?” or “want to dance?” in Bosnian you increase the number of new friends you could make to 5,000, not to mention the number of potential partners you could meet, invitations to Halloween parties you might receive or birthday cards you could send.
To start with, here's how to say 'Hello' in 3 different languages:
Somali:
Helo (that's an easy one)
Arabic:
Mar ha ba
Mandarin:
Ni Hao
Easy peasy huh? Now give these a go:
