Why Learn Spanish?

Hands on Spanish

Improve Education & Job Opportunities

Why Should You Learn Spanish?

TO HELP THE US CATCH-UP TO THE REST OF THE DEVELOPED WORLD!

Meet New People

     Several years ago I heard a joke that, unfortunately, rang true at the time and will illustrate the point above:
Q: What do you call a person who speaks three languages?
A: A trilingual.
Q: What do you call a person who speaks two languages?
A: A bilingual.
Q: What do you call a person who speaks one language?
A: An American.

     Ouch! Fortunately, this trend is changing as more and more people see the value of learning a foreign language. More specifically, "Americans" (referring here to US citizens; all of the people in the New World are American) are seeing the need to learn Spanish in order to improve communication within our own country. We are also now more conscious of the average educational levels of other developed nations and we'd like to play catch-up! English is taught throughout all school levels in most European countries. It is the most commonly learned second language in the world. A student will begin learning English and/or another language at a very young age and continue each year until he/she is out of school. So why have US school systems taken such a comparatively passive route towards foreign language education?

     In the past, US citizens did not see the need to learn another language. After all, our nation is vast and spacious. We have oceans as our eastern and western borders. At our northern border, we have friendly Canadian neighbors, most of whom speak English (whether as a first or second language). To our south we have friendly Spanish-speaking Mexican neighbors who have historically been far more interested in our language and cultures than we have been in theirs. Also, the US has traditionally been a political and economic powerhouse. Our government is very influential in world affairs. Capitalism ensures that consumers get exactly what they want here in the US. The stability of our currency is amazing in a world of change. We are a safe market for any exporting nation and a safe supplier to any importing nation. Wow! American consumers pretty much get what they want. We have grown quite accustomed to being a little selfish. It's no wonder that we have not taken greater strides to learn another people's language. We haven't had to…UNTIL NOW.

Thirteen percent of our nation's population speak Spanish as a primary language. You do not have to travel to another land to speak Spanish. You can speak it here everyday, if you choose. Also, more and more business is becoming global in nature. Now even service and financial sectors are playing the world market whereas before it was primarily a market of the importing and exporting of agricultural and industrial goods. Our world is becoming increasingly smaller and more accessible thanks to a multitude of technological advances. The World Wide Web now makes it possible for you to communicate in Spanish without even opening your office or home office door. We have a window to the world propped nicely on our desks. As computers become less expensive and find their ways into more homes, and as the Internet continues to be a preferred source of information, we will see self-education improve. What we did not learn or are not learning in any educational institution can be obtained over the Internet.

Now that we have access to that world, whether it be in a business or a personal context, we should know what language is the most widely-spoken in the world. It must be English, right? Wrong. The answer is Chinese! There are more people who speak Chinese than any other language in the world. So, then, English is second. Wrong again. Spanish is the second most widely-spoken language in the world. English is third. Would you like to learn one of the top two? If you would like to learn Chinese, I can only refer you to other programs. If you would like to learn the language that is spoken in the highest number of different countries, the language that is spoken by the majority of the people in this hemisphere, and the language that is spoken in your own community, I am ready to teach you Spanish.