Have you ever thought about relaxing on the beaches of Mexico or climbing to the top of Machu Picchu. Maybe you want to see Madrid or travel to The Philippines. Well then it’s time to start brushing up on your Spanish because it is the primary language in these countries and more!
Spanish is the 4th most commonly spoken language in the world after English, Mandarin and Hindi. It’s the official language in 21 countries across 4 continents including most of Central and South America, Spain, Equatorial Guinea and The Philippines. Over 400 million people in the world speak Spanish. In the US itself there are over 35 million Spanish speakers. Many states in the South border Mexico, a Spanish speaking country, and you can find Spanish speakers even in New York. More than half the students who pick a second language in school or university in the US pick Spanish.
So if you are looking to travel to some of the most exotic places in the world, chances are you’ll be traveling to a Spanish speaking country. Learning the local language will help you make the most of your journey. From being able to order the right food to finding more about the local culture and making new friends, a little bit of Spanish can get you a long way.
Spanish also opens up many employment opportunities. It’s quickly becoming an important business language as many economies in Central and South America are growing. With our increasingly globalized world, it’s a necessity to know more than one language to be able to bridge the gap with different economies and sell your services or products abroad.
Apart from its wide use, another major reason to learn Spanish is that it’s easy and fun to learn. To start with, it is one of the most phonetic languages in the world. If you know how a word is spelled you know how to pronounce it. Spanish belongs to the Indo-European family of languages along with English, German and French. It also belongs to the Romance group of languages with French and Italian. Spanish, like English, derives many of its words from Latin, so much of its vocabulary is common with English. Thus, it becomes easy for English speakers to learn Spanish. In turn, it also becomes easy for Spanish speakers to learn other similar languages like French, Italian and Portuguese.
If you want to learn a language, Spanish offers the most number of rewards for the least effort. Pick up a book, search online or enroll in a class. Whatever the means, you can be speaking and understanding basic Spanish in a short time. So what are you waiting for, go get started now!
