How Can Learning English Help to Reach Success

One of the most important languages in the 21st century is English. Since the British empire colonized other countries, they spread their language, 'English' into the colonized countries. For example, Australia, Singapore in South Asia, Hong Kong in east Asia, and Nigeria in Africa were colonized by the British empire and they used English as their first language. In Korea, English is taught as early as 1st and some extreme parents have taught their children English since kindergarten. According to Mark Abley's 'Travels Among Threatened Languages', some rich Koreans pay for their children to have an operation that lengthens the tongue because it helps them speak English convincingly. Why did English become so important in modern days? The reason is, that 'English' itself is the symbol of riches, opportunity, scholarship, and prestige. English is used as a common language in education, research, science, technology, business, and most world organization. What does success mean to me? Learning English will lead to success because learning English is a way to get a higher education.

Learning English, in modern days, is mandatory to reach success. Learning English is related to high education and high education is related to success, so, to be simple, learning English is a way to achieve success. English is a common language in economic, business, technology, science, academic, and world-famous second language. According to the article 'Conquer English to Make China Strong' on page 278 the last paragraph shows percentages of how many European people can speak English. That percentage show knowing and learning English is helpful to live, travel or work in other countries. Also, in the article 'The Effects of English as a Medium of Instruction', See Salah Traudi defines ‘English is symbolic of modernity, work, higher education, commerce, economics and science, and technology’. English is already used as a common language in many parts. Also, people know the US leading the economy and science in the 21st century, also in the world's top 10 universities, 8 universities are located in the US. for this reason, more people want to get higher education in the US and want to get more competitiveness than others. However, if you want to study at a US university, what is the requirement? The answer is 'English'. You have to know how to read, listen, speak, and write in English. Studying English will lead to higher education and higher education opens more opportunities to reach success. To be successful, learning English is not a requirement it is mandatory. To get a higher education, enter big world organizations, live in other countries, prove own competitiveness to others, survive in the business world, and reach success all of these needs English. English is a common language in economics, business, technology, science, and academics, and is the most popular second language in the world.

Learning English will get a higher education. According to 'H. G. Wells defines 'That term for the concept of English as an international language, a global second language, an intellectual and commercial lubricant'. Over the century, more than 50 countries use English as a first language. Still, there are more Chinese and Spanish speakers than English speakers. Nevertheless, Chinese speakers narrow to only one country, and Spanish speakers narrow to South America. Unlike Chinese and Spanish, English speakers are spread all over the world. Also, English has been chosen as the official language by the UN, and the vocabulary in medical, math, computer science, etc. are available in English only. Therefore, for getting a higher education, understanding the theory, and learning English are necessary.

Higher education requires to achieve success. My perspective on the meaning of the word 'Success' is achieving something that you want. What we have to focus on in the definition of success is 'Achieving something that you want'. Every single person has a different desire and wishes and dreams. Some people want to get rich, some people want to live in a better environment, and some people want to reach a high social position. According to the ‘Association of American Colleges & Universities’ table, 1 shows the percentage of how college students define success. The table represents years 1 to 4 of college, more than, 85% of students define academic achievement as their definition of success. Getting a good grade is the definition of success, the reason why students think the definition of success is an academic achievement and why getting a good grade is important is because these two things can have more competitiveness than other competitors. Companies require highly educated employees because they think the highly educated person is smarter than others. A highly educated person can get into a job easier than others who are not educated and earn more money. It is widely known that a highly educated person reaches a high social position and achieves something that they want. Therefore, high education is one of the requirements to achieve success.

Skeptics to my claim may think that success depends on income. From ancient times until now, after the idea of 'Money' was born, people exchanged positions based on how much they had money. For example, in ancient times, people who had more money can have a higher level of education, and those who had less money had fewer opportunities for ca education. Such a phenomenon occurs in the same way even in the present age. There is one famous quote 'Everyone stands on the same line as to when they were born'. Yes, this is true. However, even though everyone is standing in the same line, someone starts on the plane, someone starts in the car and someone stands naked. To be simple, a millionaire's child and a poor family child have different family afford. In microeconomics, an Engel curve describes how household expenditure on a particular good or service varies with household income. For example, one house earns 100 dollars and they spend on food 50 dollars per month. The other house earns 200 dollars and they spend on food 50 dollars per month. 100 dollars house spend 50% of their income on eating and 200 dollars house only spend 25% of income on eating. A house that uses half the money does not be financially afforded, but a house that uses a quarter of the money has an economic margin. This means having more financially afforded family can support their child more than those who do not have enough afforded. For more examples, our school 'The University of Oregon' has in-state tuition fees and out-state/international tuition fees. The in-state fee is around 12,720 dollars and the out-state/international is 36,615 dollars. However, in Korea, Korean nationality students pay around 4000~5000 dollars and international is near 10,000~12,000 dollars. There is no out-state tuition. Nevertheless, if a family does not have enough income to pay tuition, people who want to come to US universities have to give up their dream.

Success is usually assumed to be associated with large sums of wealth or a high level of fame, but true success is not all about money. Money is an important tool for achieving our goals, and dreams and making our lives more comfortable. However, the definition of success can be different from person to person. So, it can be that high-income families do not always think they are a success. In my perspective, those grateful and satisfied with what they have are successful people. However, we cannot buy our satisfaction and happiness with money. For further example, there are so many things that we cannot buy with money. Especially, personal passion and experience are examples. Personal passion is different from person to person. Passion relates to a person's desire and is also a navigator of an individual's future success. Once we have strong passion then pride and confidence are automatically following. Pride and confidence are helpful to a positive point of view which is conducive to problem-solving and overcoming difficulty. Also, the has more passionate person is not afraid of challenges and works hard on self-improvement which is an increased chance of success. I believe one experience has the same value as a ton of gold. I am Korean but I had studied in China since middle school and now I am studying at an American University. my teenage was suffering and adversities of languages. To survive in school, I have to learn and speak English, and in society, I have to learn and speak Chinese lastly, at a home my parents do not want me to forget Korean, so I use Korean when I stay with family. Those environments changed my values and personality perfectly. Before moving to China, I was a very timid child. However, after moving, to survive I have to be a confident person because I noticed no one helping me if I couldn't speak languages. Also, I realized the hardness of human relationships with different cultures people and society is a big jungle with thousands of beasts of prey. Also, those environments changed me from a child to a man. Without a teenage experience, I would still stay a child with a narrow perspective.

There is no fixed path to success. The path that is called success is everyone has it, and to be a success is to carve it out for yourself. As mentioned above, learning English, money, personal passion, the experience is just some of the incidental things. Depending on a unique situation, it can be helpful or harmful to yourself. Ultimately, only one can make use of it. Everything depends on how you manage yourself, saying 'Life is a series of choices'.