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Top Reasons to Learn Spanish
About
320 million people speak Spanish as a native language and 60 million
speak it as a second language. The more a
language is spoken, the more valuable it is and the more opportunities
there are to use it. What are you waiting for?
Build
your resume.
Employees who can speak English and Spanish are in high demand. HR
managers in
the U.S.
say that Spanish is the most sought after foreign language when hiring.
You’ll have more to offer your employer, neighbor, co-workers, patients, etc. Hispanics
are the fastest-growing minority in the U.S. By
2020, there will be as many Hispanics as
non-Hispanic Caucasians in California
(39%). We’ll soon see more pressure to be bi-lingual in the U.S.
and more jobs that require Spanish in order to serve the changing needs of our
population.
You’ll
have a leg up on learning French, Portuguese, Italian and other Romance
languages.
Once you learn one of them, it’s much easier to learn the others.
Your
English will probably get better. Learning
Spanish can help you with English
grammar and vocabulary too.
You’ll
have a better experience when traveling or living in a Spanish-speaking
country. There are
dozens of
countries where Spanish is the dominant language. You’ll enjoy them
much more
if you can get around and interact with the locals.
Top Reasons to Learn Any
Foreign Language
Did
you know that learning a foreign language has cognitive, financial
and social benefits?
Boost
your brain. Research
shows that learning a foreign language can actually increase
the density of the brain’s grey matter in the same way that exercise
increases
muscle mass. Impressive. It can also
increase creativity and improve performance on standardized tests like
the SAT. Doctors are increasingly recommending learning languages to
ward off dementia and alzheimer's.
Fulfill
educational requirements. Languages are
important to individual and even national competitiveness.
More schools than ever require
students to study a foreign language in order to graduate;
60% of U.S.
postsecondary institutions require a foreign language in at least one
program.
Make
more money.
Imagine how many more jobs you’d be qualified for if you spoke more
languages.
Today, just about any industry requires interacting with people from
other
countries whether as colleagues or customers. In today’s global
economy,
employers pay a premium for employees who speak multiple languages.
Become
more worldly.
Learning a language exposes you to other cultures, foods, sounds,
sites, smells
and beliefs. When you learn another language, you also gain new ways of
seeing
things, a broader perspective. You are able to connect with more
people, be an ambassador
for your homeland and generate more understanding.
It's fun and rewarding. For many people, learning a
language is a lifelong goal. It's also instrinsically rewarding - it just feels good
to learn. So even if you aren't going to use Spanish in a job or on
a vacation, you will trigger those feel good rewards of accomplishing something great.
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