Benefiting Your Life by Learning to Speak the Spanish Language

While it is true that Hispanics who live in America should properly learn English, Americans can benefit from learning Spanish as well. Because of the increase of Hispanics in the United states, it has become the second language of the United States. Knowing Spanish can increase your job possibilities. The better-rounded you are the better chance you have of getting a job at a place that speaks Spanish or is bilingual.

For example, in Miami there are Spanish hospitals, church services in Spanish, Spanish grocery stores, Spanish newspapers, Spanish television and radio stations, and many Spanish-speaking residents. In almost any place in the United States, one encounters someone Hispanic. You increase your chance of success in the business world by learning another language.

Learning a second language increases one’s chance of experiencing another culture, perhaps allowing it to touch your life. Spanish culture has greatly contributed to architecture, art, and world literature. What could be better than being able to read Lorca, Vargas Llosa, Cervantes, or Garcia Marques in their own rich language? Wouldn’t Picasso, Miro, Dali, Goya, and Velasquez be much more interesting if you were familiar with their culture?

Maybe this would not interest an American in English, but being aware of another culture would surely affect your life in some way. Americans should broaden their horizons. People who have learned about the Spanish culture appreciate such knowledge. They may learn to dance to the Latin beat or eat a variety of delicious Spanish treats, such as tres leches.

Also, Spain itself is a very popular vacation spot. Traveling would be much easier and more enjoyable when knowing the native language. Furthermore, Spain rose from a world ranking of 11 to three in a decade, as one of the best countries in which to live. This explains why it is such a popular holiday destination. From meeting new people to adapting to new customs, the endless benefits are well worth the effort to learn Spanish. If these are not reasons enough to learn the language, here is a practical reason.

To become successful in today’s modern world, knowing English is not enough anymore. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language in America. By learning Spanish, you can communicate with another half a billion people. For almost any career, knowing Spanish increases one’s business opportunities. For example, in a real estate office, a realtor who speaks Spanish receives more clients since they are able to communicate with more people. The real estate agent is thus able to make more money than his or her colleagues.

Being able to speak Spanish can also be important to jobs that deal with a large number of people, such as a government job or a corporation in a big city. Surely these employees will encounter a Spanish-speaking person. Employers often look for people who speak Spanish so they might be able to communicate with Hispanics that do not know any English. Americans who only know English are harming their own chances for success and limiting their job opportunities.

Knowing a foreign language can make doing business abroad much easier and sometimes mean the difference between success and failure. Americans fall behind other nations in breaking into the new markets because they only speak English. The Latin-American countries are expecting strong economic growth and because of that, are becoming more important as trading partners. Since the labor force of the future will certainly be culturally diverse, Americans should take an active interest in the future of the United States by learning Spanish.

As it is important to learn any second language, Spanish is especially important due to its abundance in the United States. More than 316 million people worldwide have English as their first language. There are around 300 million Spanish speakers worldwide. In America, more than 16 million speak Spanish. In states such as California, Florida, New York, and Texas, there are colorful arrays of different languages, Spanish being the most common. It is almost necessary in these areas to speak some Spanish in order to communicate with the local merchants. I am not saying it is right that Hispanics do not learn English, and it the obligation of Americans to learn Spanish, but in some situations, it is beneficial.

In a newspaper interview, one of Miami’s previous mayors, Maurice Ferre, discussed how well a Spanish speaker could survive in Miami without ever learning English. He even predicted that in the future there would only be Spanish spoken in Miami. Although this prediction did not come true, it shows how important learning to speak Spanish is.

All languages are important, but for Americans, Spanish is a good choice due to its popularity in the United States. Miami is not the only major city with a large percentage of Spanish speakers. Due to the increase of Hispanics, almost half of the advertisements in the New York City subways are in Spanish. Even Big Bird learned about the Mexican culture and how to speak Spanish on Sesame Street.

The popularity of the Spanish culture is not dying down; in fact, Spanish speakers are increasing in America. New Spanish-speaking immigrants keep coming to the country, since Mexico and other Hispanic countries are so close at hand. Constant immigration in the United States is a reality. Hispanics are in fact changing the face of America. Therefore, it is best to learn the language and have an advantage over others.

With nearly 15 million Spanish-speakers in the United States, Spanish is a very important language in this country. About 30 different countries speak Spanish. Language is a good indicator of the togetherness of a society. It is the glue that holds a group of people together – A society whose members cannot communicate with each other has little chance of survival. However, that does not mean that individual members of that society should not speak more than one language. In fact, bilingual individuals are better communicators. Spanish speakers should learn English, but Americans would do well to learn Spanish too. In most foreign nations, citizens speak many languages. In America, we are only required to learn English. This limits our opportunities and decreases our chances of international communication. It is very impressive to see an American who speaks a second language, especially Spanish since it is the second most commonly spoken language in America. Most Americans do not think twice about only speaking English until they encounter a Spanish-speaking person. Americans have traditionally been slow to learn foreign languages, so why not learn Spanish?

The easiest and best way to learn Spanish is to speak and hear Spanish from a Spanish-speaker. You will catch on to the accent, the correct way to pronounce words, and the variety of meanings of words. For example, in Spanish there are at least two words that mean "hot" and several words that mean "love." However, with the word "hot," you must know whether you are talking about a "hot object" or "it's hot outside." There are two different Spanish words for each types of "hot." Therefore, each English word cannot exactly always be translated into Spanish. Sometimes it takes some thinking about the meaning of the word in the context of the conversation.

If you cannot learn Spanish through a direct source, courses and classes are best. This way you are exposed to other students attempting to learn at the same pace that you are. You also have access to a Spanish-speaking teacher who can correct your accent on Spanish words or your context of words in a sentence. Classes often give you structure, motivating you to study harder and keep up with your Spanish lessons.

Learning languages is a difficult task. Trying to do it alone is even more difficult. You can purchase books on learning to speak Spanish. I would strongly recommend buying a workbook to go with your book and setting a schedule for when each lesson or chapter is due. Treat "teaching yourself" just as you would treat being in a classroom. Most importantly, get tapes, CD's, videos, etc. so that you can HEAR the language spoken by a true Spanish-speaker. This is a vital part of learning the language. If you only read about speaking Spanish in a book, you will not be able to speak it well, because you will not know how to pronounce the words correctly.