22 reasons to learn Spanish

right now. Part 2.

Here you go with

the next 11 reasons

to start learning Spanish right now:

12. For anyone who wants to live along the Spanish mediterranean coast – and
who wouldn’t? From the Costa de la Luz in the west to the Costa Brava in
the east, learning Spanish is the key. It’s the essential stepping stone into
a wonderful new life in these regions with the best climate in Europe.

13. Spanish enhances travel experiences. It is conceivable to travel to and
all round South America, from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego without a
word of Spanish passing your lips, but it would be like watching a modern
movie in monochrome and with the sound off. The traveller who tries to
communicate, even if it is only in ‘spanglish’ will see more, hear more
and feel more genuine life experiences than the package tourist, whose
idea of Spanish is pidgin English only louder and slower, ever could.
Spanish speakers will open their homes and their hearts to the stranger
that meets them halfway.

14. Ludwig Wittgenstein famously once said “the limits of my language are
the limits of my universe.” There can be no question that learning
Spanish will broaden out your own personal universe. As the Hispanic
population continues to grow and integrate at a rapid pace, the likelihood
that English speakers and Spanish people will marry increases too. Also,
the chances of encountering Spanish speakers as neighbors, friends and
colleagues in work multiply. It is no longer the case that Spanish speakers
in America populate the border states with Mexico and the bigger cities.
Today, the Hispanic population is part of the national community. Think
how good it would feel to say hello and converse with your fellow
‘paisanos’, countrymen.

15. Spanish culture awaits. If you can only give your precious time to
learning one second language, then Spanish is the one that will take you
into the fascinating world of classic ‘east meets west’ culture and history.
Spanish is a must if you want to keep up with the Hispanic influence on
popular culture. When you can read the newspapers like La Capital
(Argentina), El Independiente (Mexico) or El Pais (Spain) you will find a
sense of how the people of these countries are feeling and thinking. It will
inevitably be an eye opener and different from your normal world view.
Cultural understanding and enlightenment comes with growing
confidence in your second language.

16. Spanish is also the language for great literature. Modern Spanish
writing begins and ends with ‘Don Quixote’, by Miguel De Cervantes
Saavedra and no translation can do it justice. Idiomatic Spanish is the only
way to fully appreciate the genius of this work. The same is true of the
classic ‘The House of the Spirits’ by Isabel Allande, or ‘One Hundred
Years of Solitude’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and ‘The Shadow of the
Wind’ by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. You can only fully appreciate a good book,
or an Hispanic movie when you understand idiomatic Spanish.

17.  Spanish is the language of languages. Latin was the source language for
modern Europe but learning Spanish enables you to more easily learn
other modern European languages such as French, German or italian. The
big differences between English and Spanish are the use of gender (every
noun is masculine or feminine), the extensive conjugation of verbs and
wide use of the subjunctive. These differences are similarities when it
comes to other European languages, making them more like extensions of
Spanish. Spain is no more a single country than Britain is. It is a huge
geographical collection of peoples and cultures. To learn Spanish, or
Castillan as the Spaniards themselves call it, is to explore the many
cultures and worlds of the Iberian peninsula; Andalucia, Aragon, Asturias,
Balearic Islands, Basque country, Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castilla La
Mancha, Castilla y Leon, Catalunya, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja,
Madrid, Murcia, Navarra, Valencia.

18. There are more than 35 million Spanish speakers in the United States,
and with more than 4 in 10 newborns being Hispanic children, the future
will see an enormous increase in Spanish usage in the nation. This has
triggered a lot of interest among Americans. A group of people not known
for their multiculturalism. Spanish speaking will increase as the Hispanic
population of the country nears 50 million by the year 2015.

19. In Europe too, Spanish is the second most spoken second language,
after English. With some 400 million Spanish speakers. It is the fourth
most important language in the world. Only Mandarin, English and Hindi
have more speakers. Spanish is an official language on four continents
and is the mother tongue in 21 countries. The sheer number of Spanish
communities and their rate of growth makes learning Spanish a modern
day imperative.

20. Goethe was surely exaggerating when he said, “he who knows no foreign
language, knows nothing of his own”. Yet it must be said that studying
Spanish will definitely give you a better understanding of English.
Spanish is a “Romance” language. This mean that its roots lie in Latin, the
language of the ancient Roman Empire. English too is language of Latin
origin, and so when learners gain a wider vocabulary in Spanish they also
expand their English vocabulary. They also come to appreciate the deep
meaning of all those Latin based English words through the study of
grammar in Spanish. It is tantalizingly similar yet also very different to
English. The study of Spanish raises awareness of the grammatical
structure the student’s first language.

21. Spanish will take the glitch out of the ‘matrix’. Have you ever thought
how important it is for road safety, for drivers to understand road signs?
Imagine driving along a highway and seeing the overhead matrix warning
signs and they are trying to tell you something; ‘Con lluvia modere
velocidad’. When in a Spanish speaking country it is vital to read the
language and quickly respond to the messages; ‘Slow down in the rain’.
Only when you understand Spanish can you keep your mind on the road.

22. Speaking Spanish will help you to help others. You will be in a position
where you can create understanding between Spanish speakers without
English and vice versa. There are many deprived and poor areas of South
America that could benefit from skilled overseas volunteers. The sheer
number and geographical spread of native Spanish speakers make it the
must have second language wherever you are.

So there they are, 22 excellent reasons to learn Spanish as a second language.
Happiness is within your reach. You just have to do something about it today.
Push the door wide open and enter a whole new world of friends and
experiences. Immerse yourself in learning because it is the best thing you can do
to realize your full potential. Today is the best time to begin learning, and
Spanish is clearly the best language to start with.

Happy Learning,

Maros.

P.S.:Learn Spanish with Rocket Languages. Check out the free course.

22 reasons to learn Spanish

right now. Part 1.

Do you know what is the single

activity that adds

most to our sense of well being?

Of course you do! It’s talking with and listening to, other people. Humans
are social beings. Being part of life wherever you are, is the key to mental
well being and existential happiness.  Interacting with other people is
what makes us tick!
It is what drives us forward from the engine of our DNA.That is why learning
Spanish is  the best thing you can do for yourself. Why Spanish I hear you ask?
Well, for English  speakers, the door to a whole new world of civilization is
already ajar. $Immerse yourself in the Spanish language and you can push
that door wide and enter El Dorado, that mythic South American land
of gold and happiness. Learn Spanish for the pure joy of it. Whether it is
listening to the latin perspective, speaking with different people, reading classic
literature or just stretching your brain and memory with the challenge of learning,
you will find it all in Spanish. For students of Spanish there are the great rewards
and satisfying efforts involved in all languages. Today is the best time
to begin learning, and Spanish is the best language to start with because:

1.It’s all in the ‘cognates’. Spanish and English have the same roots. They are both
Indo-European tongues, out of Latin. The two languages are full of ‘cognates’.
These are two words with the same etymological base, and so they become
very similar,if not identical in spelling, and remain the same in meaning.
The English word “kiosk” is a good example. The Spanish word is quiosco,
they both originate in the Turkish word kosk. Real joy in Spanish is to be found
in the beautiful ambiguity of words too. But beware ‘false friends’ or cognates
that have developed into distinct words. Arena, for example has the same root in
the latin word for sand. It still is sand in Spanish.

2. So the joy of communicating with new people is just a short study away
because you already have a considerable Spanish vocabulary. Every
English word that ends in ‘…tion’ is the same in Spanish but ends in
‘…cion’. So transportation is ‘transportacion’, nation is ‘nacion’,
circulation is ‘circulacion’ and so on. Make your own list and see how
much you can already say to your new Spanish friends, whether in Europe or South America.

3. ‘Te quiero’, I love you! Do you know the best way to learn Spanish?
Pillow talk. Yes it’s true. You learned your first language because
someone who loved you very much, spoke to you all the time and
corrected you gently when you made mistakes. A beautiful latin lover is a
great motivation and they can do more for you than your mother ever
could. Learning to speak Spanish is the only way to find your true latin
soul mate.

4. Brain elasticity is a well proven psychological phenomenon. Learning to speak, hear and comprehend Spanish will expand your mind. It will increase your understanding of your mother tongue. The grammar of both languages is very similar. To learn Spanish, is to gain insights into English. Using verbs in Spanish will help you express yourself morefluently with English verbs and tenses. Spanish can do this because it takes hold in the language pathways of your brain and immediately begins to extend them into new pathways as a whole brain experience.

5. Psychologists now have evidence to show that being bilingual reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The latest psychologists studies build on earlier research that supported the idea that 2 languages enhances our thinking abilities regardless of our age. Still other studies, show that studying languages improves your memory and slows down age-related decline in cognitive dexterity. Learning a second  language makes you smarter! Your critical thinking capacity is sharpened as you learn to reorient your world view. Communication through a second language also stimulates creativity!

6. Learning Spanish is a fascinating and joyous challenge. It is easier
than English, in that it is close to 100% phonetic. Each letter in the
alphabet has just one sound and if you read and pronounce every letter
you will be speaking Spanish well. With a little vocabulary under your
belt you can immerse yourself in that world in a matter of days.

7.Spanish is a golden personal asset. For many, the ability to
communicate in Spanish is becoming an economic priority. Spanish is
evolving into the second language of commerce. Learning Spanish will
enable communication with Spanish speaking stakeholders in any
enterprise, such as customers, employees and colleagues. There are also great career
opportunities with Spanish, in areas such as translation, interpretation and teaching.

8.Entrepreneurs can only benefit from offering products and services to the 350 million
native Spanish speakers across the World. In North
America, Hispanic consumers are the fastest growing segment of all
markets. As for career opportunities, it is definitely a ‘feather’ in
anybody’s cap to have ‘fluent Spanish speaker’ on their résumé.

9.In America, knowing Spanish, can be a job requirement when
working in healthcare or education. Increasingly, the construction trades
are taking on more and more Spanish speaking operatives. One thing for
sure is, bilingual job candidates are more in demand and have a wider
choice of careers in the labour market than their monolingual peers.
Globalization, and burgeoning free trade arrangements are opening up the business world.
Those who can communicate in more than one language definitely have the edge.

10.Join the global village. It’s a small World and getting smaller all the
time. Not so long ago, the ‘latino’ peoples of the United States lived in
pockets near the mexican border or in communities in New York and
Miami. Less than two decades ago Spain was on the fringe of Europe with its own currency and no significant part to play in the development of the continent. But all that has changed. To communicate in Spanish now is an extremely satisfying thing to be able to do. Not just in America, but all over the World.

11. Spanish is rapidly becoming a global language to rival English. It is the ‘lingua franca’ of all of the diverse provinces of Spain itself. It is spoken by nearly as many people as speak Chinese or Hindustani, but far more widely spread of course.

Here are the first eleven  reasons why learning Spanish.  You may have your own reason for learning Spanish so being aware of them can only help  you to motivate and facilitate  your learning.

Happy Learning,

Maros.

P.S.:Learn Spanish with Rocket Languages. Check out the free course.

Spanish vocabulary is essential

when learning the language.

The building stones are necessary

when building  the house.

The problem  is the vocab is so vast.

In order not to get overwhelmed and frustrated you need to learn just a portion of it.

The basic vocabulary is of course essential. You can not do without it.

It is the skeleton for adding your muscles. Now what muscles you opt  for

is up to you.  And that  is part of the secret of successful language learning.

You choose vocab you need, like, use,  find interesting, remember easy etc. There is no

point in learning the vocab that you will not remember. When you learn and

at the same time you enjoy the vocab you learn in terms of having

some emotional attachment to new words then you learn much easier.

It is easier said than done, but not quite  in this case. It is easier to learn what you

like to learn than what you have to learn.

Here is a collection of useful sites with vocab collection or about vocab learning:

learnspanishvocabulary.net     – a new vocab here is presented with a picture,

which can be very helpful for those who prefer  visual learning

100 Spanish Words You Need To Know  -  a collection of most basic vocab

A post forum thread by Mr. Iversen  -  about learning vocab

Smartphrase – collection of  Spanish vocabulary

Dummies  – Spanish phrases used in different situations

Spanish-vocabulary.net – another collection of  Spanish vocabulary

Linguasorb.com – collection of cognates

Elearnspanishlanguage.com – useful sites  with clear explanations

You might as well try yourself to find a site that offers vocab

of your interest.  If I could give you one advice, this would be:

Start slow and scale up with time. and have fun!

Leave me a comment.

Happy learning,

Maros.

P.S.:Learn Spanish with Rocket Languages. Check out the free course.