This is a collaborative project with Day Translations. Day Translations is an international company providing translation, interpretation and localisation services, and you can find out more about its background in this interview with its President Sean Hopwood.

If you have a passion for languages you may want to look at companies that provide translation services such as Day Translations: I recommend browsing through their blog section for interesting insights into the world of translating and interpreting, as well as the importance of communicating effectively in other languages, especially for business.

Did you know that only 20% of the global population speaks English? That’s what I’ve discovered recently while reading an article on localisation on the Day Translations’ blog, and I was quite surprised to find out that only about 5% of the world population is a native English speaker and/or uses English as their first language to communicate. Fascinating, isn’t it?

Once you start discovering these facts, you realise how important languages are for day-to-day communications and how vital the role of translators is. For example, I wanted to explore which languages are most requested for translations and have the most earning potential for freelancers: if you’re curious to know, read this article. This topic is particularly interesting for remote workers and digital nomads with a background in languages and can use their asset to their advantage.

My Experience Learning Languages

Like many people around the world, the first foreign language I learned at school was English. Being born in Italy, I was lucky to have started with English as a second language because it served me well in my career as a freelance writer. When I went to University I took English and German; although I never used German for work or continued studying it, I thought it was a good idea to take it on at the time as I was planning to relocate either to the UK or Germany after graduating.

When I moved to London I took evening classes in Spanish and Portuguese, and I found those classes extremely useful for travelling. I was never fluent enough to use either of these languages in a work setting, however I was glad to at least become familiar with grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary.

I think when you travel it really helps to build connections with local people by really making an effort to communicate in their language. It narrows the difference between you, the “tourist” or “visitor”, and the people who live in the place you are travelling to. You get to experience a new country in a more authentic way.

Speaking languages can be a way to build trust and find commonalities. It is certainly an enriching experience and learning more languages has been proven to increase the size of some areas of the brain. The hippocampus gets stimulated, as it’s the area of the brain that is responsible for learning, and over time we find it easier to absorb and retain information, assisting the creation of new brain cell connections. This has the potential to slow down degenerative diseases in the brain, because the ability to speak languages also improves our ability to focus our attention. As our brains become more adaptable, we are able to process information from different sources and make sense of it.

Another benefit of speaking other languages is that it teaches us to see things from a different perspective: our experiences are enriched by being exposed to several points of view and we perceive the world in a different light.

Being an Ambassador for Day Translations

If you, like me, enjoy learning languages you can take your passion to the next level and share engaging content about languages through the Day Translations Ambassador Program.

As an Ambassador you get to write articles on languages and related content such as business and travel, which is the perfect niche for digital nomads. The programme is a collaborative project between Day Translations and the content creator.

Digital Nomad Europe is a site dedicated to digital nomads and the majority of the content is geared towards finding freelance work, including working in translation and interpreting. Maybe you had not considered turning languages into a career before, so this is an opportunity to look into it: for example you can find more information in this related article Working as a Digital Nomad Translator).