At the present time, Spanish is one of the most attractive languages for language learners. About 20 million people are trying to learn Spanish. There are many people interested in its learning due to its tonality, melody, and utility.
Anyway, for those that are not already convinced, we give you here 10 reasons to start learning Spanish today.
- Spanish is in the top 3 of the most spoken languages
Spanish has about 400 millions of native speakers, so it is certain to say that 6% of the global population speaks Spanish as their mother tongue. It is also convenient to point that Spanish is the second language with more native speakers, being Mandarin Chinese the first one (955 million people) and English as the third one (359 million).
Spanish is recognised as the official language of 20 countries and, according to the Cervantes Institute, there are 550 million people that speak Spanish with a certain proficiency level. As some interesting pieces of information, Spanish is the most popular choice as a second language in the United States and approximately 15% of the entire population of the European Union has the Spanish as the first or second language.
2. Spanish is one of the languages of the future
In accordance with the current popularity of Spanish, it can be said with certainty that there is not any sign of decadence. On the contrary, the quantity of speakers has exponentially increased in the last decade. A report proportionated by the British Council shows how Spanish is the second language concerning the number of English people interested in its acquisition. Hence, in Great Britain, the interest for the Spanish language is greater than the interest for French, Arab, and Mandarin.
Moreover, according to the last statistical data, the Latin population (and therefore, the Hispanic population) in will reach the 130 million inhabitants in USA in 2060. Based on this data, the United States will become the country with the most Spanish speakers in the world and, in the same way, this would contribute to increase even more the popularity of Spanish.
3. It conveys the opening to different labour markets.
Nowadays, the dominion of the secondary language is an advantage for both the employees and the managers. Currently, business requires people who can assist the international market since there is a globalised economy in which Spanish has a great business power.
Spanish speakers cover a great part of the global geography, with places where a lot of companies are trying to inquire into. According to Forbes magazine, the Latin America market has reached a record number in terms of purchasing power, approximately around 1.5 trillion dollars.
4. Using Spanish is greatly helpful in your trips
Concerning one of the greatest diversions existing in life, going on holidays, it is worth mentioning the importance of the Spanish language. There are 20 countries where the Spanish is spoken, with countries so appealing as Spain, Mexico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.
It is true that it is possible to go sightseeing a Spanish-speaking country without knowing the language and be outstandingly treated, but not knowing the native language will limit your travel experience regarding the sites you could visit and people you could enjoy communicating with in an efficient manner.
Generally speaking, those people that do not know the native language of the country they are visiting are limited to visit only tourist areas and miss wonderful places which only the communication with a autochthonous person would make possible.
5. The possibility of working or studying in another country
It is a matter of fact that making a trip to a Spanish-speaking country is an important objective to study its language, but working or studying in a Spanish-speaking country gives much more motivation to start to learn Spanish. Stepping outside the comfort zone of each one and spending some time in a Spanish-speaking country can help both the personal and professional development of anyone.
As usual, there are cultural aspects of the host country that you cannot appreciate in a short-term trip. But, on the contrary, if you spend a longer period in the country, you would have time to explore, talk with autochthonous people, and discover the place’s reality. With a sojourn abroad, more concretely, in a Spanish-speaking country, you will improve your curriculum.
6. A greater variety of entertainment
There are a lot of Spanish movies that have been produced and have a great international acceptance international. For instance, there is “Los Otros” («The Others») by Alejandro Amenábar, “Lo Imposible” («The Impossible») by Juan Antonio Bayona, or the legendary “Volver” directed by Pedro Almodóvar and starred by Penélope Cruz.
In order to enjoy 100% of these films, it would be really convenient to watch them in their original versions, understanding the characters without the need for a translation that could change the meaning of the dialogues. If you master Spanish, you can enjoy not only movies, but also the other types of arts that have Spanish as an instrument of communication, such as literature or music.
7. Improve your health with the acquisition of two languages.
Diverse studies, such as the one of Ghent University (Belgium), have proved that the acquisition of a second language is not only useful at a social level but also at a health level since it provokes a retardation in terms of diseases (such as Alzheimer) and it can contain dementia’s symptoms.
The disease prevention is not the only advantage of learning other language but also, according to the psychologic investigations such as the one carried out by Ellen Blalystok and Michelle Martín-Rhee, bilingual or multilingual children show a greater problem resolution than monolingual children. This just reinforces the idea of learning a language as a strengthening of the cognitive function.
8. The easiness of learning Spanish
If we compare the difficulty of Spanish with other language, we will that Spanish is easier for a English speakert han other languages. It is important to clarify that, when learning a language, we have to have the willingness to endeavour. When we have gained that will, we will observe that English have the same alphabet that Spanish and that there is less emphasis in the tone in comparison to other Asian languages.
English is also a language that has numerous words derived from Latin as well as Spanish, that is to say, several words are very similar. Moreover, Spanish words are phonetically spelled so it does not take so long compared to the time we would have to spend in learning complicated orthography rules and, in addition, it is considered a easy language in terms of uttering a correct pronunciation.
9. A better comprehension of the own mother tongue
A great quantity of studies has showed that the acquisition of a second tongue improves the student’s comprehension of their own language. This is related to the attention payed on linguistics and rules of the target language.
When learning Spanish, it is important to pay attention to the sentence structure. When returning to the native language, the student will be able to write more complex and interesting sentences with certainty.
