Arguments for Learning Spanish
Learning a second language can bring both pleasure and pain, as you enjoy new opportunities and grapple with the difficulties of new words, grammar and often a very unfamiliar culture. It's easy to take speaking a single language for granted, but changes in the United States and worldwide have made learning Spanish more useful than ever. The benefits of speaking Spanish are multiple in modern America.
Other People Are Reading
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Growth of Spanish in the United States
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The biggest argument for learning Spanish in the United States is Spanish's status as America's second most widely spoken language. In 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 35.4 million, or 12.4 percent, of people over the age of 5 spoke only Spanish in the home. According to the University of Massachusetts, the increase in America's Hispanic population means that speaking Spanish soon may become a necessity.
Global Importance of Spanish
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Spanish has the second largest number of native speakers in the world, surpassed only by Mandarin (Chinese). Approximately 329 million people worldwide speak Spanish as a first language, and 44 countries have it as their main or official language, including Spain and most of Latin America. At 140 million worldwide, the number of Spanish-speaking Internet users has grown at almost twice the rate of those speaking other languages between 2000 and 2009.
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Business and Careers
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The statistics on Spanish usage in the United States and internationally suggest that speaking Spanish has increasing importance in business and the workplace. If you live in a city with a large Hispanic population, such as Los Angeles or Dallas, the ability to speak Spanish opens up more jobs to you. Even if you live in an area with few Spanish speakers, trade and industry is increasingly globalized -- national and cultural boundaries are no barrier in the electronic age.
Personal Fulfillment
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Learning any language provides an opportunity for personal fulfillment. Learn to speak Spanish in order to make Spanish-speaking friends in your neighborhood. Travel to Spanish-speaking countries such as Mexico without having to depend on English-speaking locals. Forget puzzling over unfamiliar dialogue and hard-to-read subtitles, and enjoy the wealth of Spanish-language TV and films now available in the United States -- Spanish TV networks such as Univision and Telemundo are growing exponentially.
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References
- U.S. Census Bureau: Language Spoken at Home
- University of Massachusetts Dartmouth: Reasons for Studying Specific Foreign Languages
- Ethnologue: Languages of the World: Statistical Summaries
- Internet World Stats: Spanish Speaking Internet Usage Statistics
- Eastern Michigan University: Reasons to Learn Spanish at EMU
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