Spanish has often felt like a graduation requirement to me, with a list of vocabulary words I would forget the next unit coupled up with some projects. I have started to completely associate the language with a classroom instead of it being something I could use in everyday life.

But learning a language should be more than fulfilling a graduation requirement. It should be about developing a skill that can follow you into college, a career, and the rest of your life.

Language skills do not just carry over into careers in translation or teaching. The majority of American employers, 9 out of 10, rely on employees who speak languages other than English to communicate with others, according to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

Multilingualism is also shown to have cognitive benefits, such as slowing cognitive deterioration with age, and greater openness   to learning other languages, according to brainscape.com.

Continuing a language also helps develop the ability to understand and communicate from another perspective.

Knowing Mongolian allows me to communicate with family and understand my culture. That is something no transcript can measure.

The benefits of speaking Mongolian make me wonder if I could receive those same benefits with Spanish, so I have decided that I want to break the tie between Spanish and the classroom. My relationship with the language won’t be ending when there is no longer a grade attached to it.

Students do not have to turn a language into their career to justify continuing it. They can keep speaking it with family, read in it, use it on vacation, or simply keep learning.

A language should not be something we learn until we have enough credits. It should be something we continue because it gives us access to people, cultures, opportunities and parts of ourselves.

Graduation can end the requirement, but it does not have to end pursuit of the language.