Why Learn Spanish?
Why learn Spanish of all languages? Why not Italian, French, or even Russian, because it seems to be the most practical language to have these days living in the US. With an ever-expanding Latin American population, being able to speak a language that is becoming so widely used would be an invaluable asset. Schools are even becoming bi-lingual and Spanish is stressed. There are even parts of the country; Miami springs to mind, where there are most likely more people for whom Spanish is their first language than there are people who are native English speakers.
Even outside of the states, Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world; the ranking is apparently in dispute as I found numerous statistics. Most Latin American countries, those in Central and South America speak Spanish with an ever increasing amount of people in the United States. That is almost an entire hemisphere full of a language. And then there is Spain as well, while that Spanish may be slightly different than the Spanish in Latin America, Spanish it still is.
There are an ever-increasing amount of reasons why people should learn Spanish. Not only because of the amount of people who speak it but in a more selfish way it is becoming increasingly valuable to speak a second language professionally. The problem is that people in the United States think that English is the most important language and they simply don’t need to speak anything else.
Being bilingual gives one opportunities to live and work outside of the country that would be unavailable otherwise. It gives one options. And given the large amount of counties in which Spanish is spoken it gives one a lot of options.
Why is learning Spanish so important?
Learning a foreign language, like Spanish, is becoming much more of a necessity in today’s society. Learning Spanish is easier and more enjoyable than ever with audio courses, online courses, study abroad, and intensive language courses.
Following are just some of the many reasons learning Spanish will benefit you and enrich your life:
More than 400 million people speak Spanish worldwide — By learning Spanish, you’ll be better able to communicate with Spanish speakers who don’t speak English. Whether you travel abroad or within the United States, you’ll likely run into more than one situation that will require you to know at least basic Spanish.
Spanish speaking countries include Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.
More than 33 million people in America speak Spanish — That makes the United States fifth on the list of countries with the most Spanish-speaking people. Spanish is also one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world, behind Chinese, English and Hindustani. Undoubtedly, at some point during your life, you’re going to find that knowing Spanish is extremely valuable.
More than 1000 Spanish-speaking immigrants come to the United States every day — That means the country gains at least 365,000 new Spanish-speaking residents each year.
Knowing Spanish enhances your resume — Employers love applicants that have fluency (or even moderate fluency) in a foreign language. Having the ability to speak Spanish will allow you to communicate with Spanish-speaking employees. If no one else at the company speaks Spanish, you’ll be even more valuable. If you’ve ever searched through the classifieds, you’ve likely run across an ad that states, “Must speak English and Spanish.”
If you want to continue your education, you’ll need to take foreign language classes — Most colleges require that undergraduate students take at least two semesters of a foreign language. If you have your eyes on graduate school, you should know that many require students to be able to read and comprehend one, and sometimes two, foreign languages. Getting a jump-start on learning Spanish will definitely pay off later, especially if you’re continuing your education.
If you love to travel, you’ll have even more fun if you go to a Spanish speaking country — Of course, you don’t need to know Spanish, or any other foreign language, for that matter, to travel overseas, but you’ll find it really enhances your experience to know the language. In fact, even if you don’t go to a Spanish speaking country, you’ll still find that knowing Spanish is an asset. Let’s say you go to Paris or Rome. More likely than not, you’ll run into Europeans who don’t speak English, but speak several other languages, and you’ll be able to use your Spanish.
Spanish is a romance language, which means if you’re in France or Italy, for example, you’ll have an easier time deciphering the language because they’re similar.
Learning a foreign language actually helps keep your memory sharp — As we grow older, our memory begins to fade. In fact, an article published by the AARP (American Association of Retired People) states, “Mastering activities you’ve have not done before, such as playing the piano or learning a foreign language, stimulates neuron activity. For best results, remember this: People exposed to positive reinforcement before completing memory exercises scored well above others exposed to negative reinforcement in a study led by Thomas Hess, a North Carolina State Univ. psychologist.”
These are only a few of the many reasons you’ll benefit from learning Spanish. You probably have a few of your own. Whatever the reason, you’ll find that learning Spanish is not only fun, but it enriches your experiences, whether at work or while traveling.
How To Learn Spanish Quickly and Easily
Spanish is a very useful language to learn as it is the world’s second most popular language.
Outside of the popular coastal tourist resorts a basic knowledge of Spanish is invaluable. Even in the tourist resorts you will find the Spanish will not go out of their way to speak English to you. If you try a few words and get stuck you tend to find they suddenly can speak a bit of English!
The bottom line is that if you are moving to Spain and looking for work you might as well not bother if you don’t learn the language. If you are a tourist then obviously you don’t have to learn the language, you will get by, but learning a few basic words or expressions will actually add to the enjoyment of your holiday as you delight the locals (and yourself).
I don’t think it is fair to describe learning any language as easy but if it’s any consolation, there are hundreds of English words that are virtually identical in Spanish – so you already know a lot of Spanish vocabulary!
TIPS ON LEARNING SPANISH
* Get motivated. The best way to do this is to imagine your ideal outcome. If you don’t do this you will most likely fail when you start hitting a few inevitable hurdles. We all go though this stage but if you have burned into your mind the positive results that will follow then you will succeed where thousands have failed. Imagine something like getting a job in your dream destination or having a relationship with a handsome Spaniard or meeting a pretty Senorita!
* Take baby steps to build your confidence. Remember that the first objective is to master a few basic words like hello, goodbye, thank you etc. This will give you confidence to go forward – DO NOT start learning long and complex words.
* Buy a good book or better still a good tape series where you can hear the language and how it sounds. Obviously you need to buy this but there are books that you will waste months on and get nowhere and there are books where you will start to be able to speak and learn Spanish very quickly.
* Don’t be afraid. Fear is a terrible emotion. You have to try and speak Spanish to people otherwise you won’t know how you are progressing. It really doesn’t matter that you will make mistakes, it is only by making mistakes that you will learn. The worst that can happen is that the person who are talking to will not understand you, yes it’s frustrating but don’t beat yourself up about it.
* Go to Spain. Visiting Spain itself is a great motivator to learn the language. If you don’t keep practicing what you have learned then you will be surprised at how quickly it is forgotten.
* As much as you want to learn Spanish, there must be other people who are equally keen to learn English – place an ad and try finding someone who you can trade with.
* Spanish grammar is different to English – leave it at that. Don’t keep trying to make sense of it in English terms – just concentrate on being able to communicate with people – otherwise you will end up confusing yourself.
* There may be thousands of Spanish words but you only need to learn a fraction of them. If you analyzed your own vocabulary during the day you would be surprised to find that you are not speaking like a dictionary but instead use a very limited amount of words. Spanish is the same, you just need to know the most commonly used words.
* Turn wasted time into valuable time. Learning Spanish is great when you are doing things like driving, jogging, waiting for someone, ironing, cooking the dinner etc. The more time you practice the quicker you will accelerate your learning.
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