Advantages of Learning Spanish
was growing up, there didn’t seem to be emphasis placed on the importance of learning Spanish. In fact, the only time I’d ever heard Spanish spoken was on “I Love Lucy!” It was a much different world; we had less contact with people outside our own part of the country, and we arrogantly believed that other people had to accommodate themselves to our ways we didn’t have to exert ourselves to learn anyone else’s. It should come as no shock to you to realize that in the last few decades, the world has really changed, and Spanish has taken a much more central role in our culture as a whole.
But what does this mean to you? If you’re not Hispanic yourself, and your town doesn’t have a large Hispanic population, why learn Spanish? The reason is that you will be amazed how many job opportunities exist for people in America who can speak and understand English and Spanish. Many jobs today require you to be bilingual; but if your job does not require you to be bilingual in Spanish, it may give you better job security and even a pay rise in the near future, since you will be considered a bigger company asset because you have become so versatile. It will be easy for you to apply for a job where you only need to speak English, however when you are able to communicate effectively in Spanish too, you can easily apply for a job where Spanish are required for that position. The importance of learning Spanish, in many cases, equals your ability to be a team player in today’s economy.
The American economy is also becoming more global and the need to do business in languages like Spanish cannot be underestimated. Twenty years ago, the average Mom-and-Pop shoe store was only likely to sell shoes to people within its own community. Today that same store probably has a website, possibly an online catalog, and a toll-free number for phone orders. The customer service representative who answers that telephone needs to be comfortable speaking to a much more diverse customer base than would have been required a few decades ago. In short, that person needs to speak Spanish and the importance of learning Spanish has never been greater.
“But I don’t have time to go back to school to learn Spanish!” you may be thinking. There’s no reason you have to. There are many wonderful programs you can download to your computer or access via CD or DVD. Audio-based Spanish learning programs are the best, which combines the type of dialogues you may remember from your school days that include effective computer-based games that teach grammar, build vocabulary, and are just plain fun to learn with. But whatever program you choose, make sure that it’s delivered in some kind of audio (versus written) format. You will find it very helpful learning to pronounce Spanish words correctly if you can hear how native Spanish speakers pronounce their words. There is no point learning to speak the Spanish language if native Spanish speakers do not understand your Spanish pronunciation.
If a Spanish language learning program tells you that you need to apply no effort to learn to speak Spanish, then it will be false and misleading. No reputable learning system would make that claim! But never before in history has the importance of learning Spanish been greater, and with today’s technology, it’s not the arduous chore it used to be. So give it a try. You will receive a lot of benefits learning to speak and understand Spanish and your job and bank balance will show the results in time!
Should We Learn Spanish Because the Hispanic Population is Growing?
The numbers read that over 400 million Spanish speakers are in the world. Therefore, Spanish is the fourth most commonly spoken language right under English, Chinese and Hindustani. Additionally, now that Hispanic commerce is booming in North America, it is important for business competitors all over the world to find some way to keep up.
Most people don’t know that over 91% of fortune 500 companies and forbes international 800 companies cannot meet the needs of people who speak a foreign language because they do not have the ability to respond correctly to a foreign language.
Since learning Spanish would increase the general ability to communicate with the large amount of immigrants that come into the country each year, some wonder if requiring Americans to learn Spanish would be the solution to keeping up with the increasing needs of the Hispanic culture.
There are two different sides to this issue. Some believe that Americans should learn Spanish because if Americans learn Spanish, they would mostly help themselves in the long run. When people learn Spanish, they are able to have a more competitive resume when they move into the work force. Such an edge in the job market would then allow Spanish learners to demand higher pay than other job searchers who can only speak English. Furthermore, if fortune 500 companies are not able to satisfy the needs of Spanish speakers, the Americans who learn Spanish will become like precious jewels among these types of companies.
Also, when people learn Spanish, they learn about another culture. Learning about other cultures decreases the likelihood of discrimination not only in relation to the Spanish culture, but other cultures in general. People will become more aware that other types of people exist, and that these people have needs and wants that may be different from their own. An increase in cultural awareness cannot help but be beneficial to the general mindset of Americans.
On the other hand, many people believe that since the amount of Hispanic immigrants is so large, Hispanics often get very comfortable when they come to the U.S., and often they don’t feel that they have to learn English. It is not rare for immigrants in the United States to either never learn English or remain in America for many years without even trying to learn the language.
It seems that if Americans were required to learn Spanish whether by their jobs or schools, Hispanic immigrants would find even greater comfort and feel that they do not have to learn English. Americans that learn Spanish would continue to experience all of the benefits of the language. However, Hispanics would experience many negatives.
A Hispanic living in the US who does not learn to speak English would experience a lack in the number of jobs they are eligible for. Therefore, such a person may experience high levels of unemployment or poverty and may only be able to obtain jobs that require manual labor. Other workers will be able to pick and choose where they would like to be employed.
With the increase in Hispanic businesses many companies may push their employees to learn Spanish. However, it does not look like it will be a requirement any time in the near future.
