subject: Why Learning Spanish As A Second Language Is A Good Idea [print this page] Learning a second language such as Spanish can be a daunting experience for many people, especially as many of us decide to learn a language later on in life.
It is a well known fact that as an adult our capacity for learning languages reduces compared to children, who grasp being bilingual with apparent ease.
However, just because learning Spanish as an adult is more difficult it does not mean that it is impossible to learn a new language, in fact it can be quite the opposite given the right instruction and guidance.
But why should you learn Spanish?
The statistics point to the fact that Learning Spanish is the most sensible choice when it comes to deciding upon a language to learn.
Firstly, it is the second most widely spoken language in the world after English with over half a billion speakers worldwide and is the primary language in more than 20 countries, as well as a second language in many more including the US, home to over 40 million Spanish speakers.
The United States are the fifth largest population of Spanish speakers in the world, with an estimated 17 million of those speakers unable to communicate at all, or at most very little, in English!
By learning Spanish you will be able to communicate with Spanish speaking co-workers and it will be a skill that not too many of your counterparts may possess. This newly attained skill will provide job opportunities that were previously not open to you.
If you already work in the public sector, servicing a huge population of spanish speakers will be made a lot easier by being bilingual
So What is the Best Method of Learning Spanish?
The academic world is split as to the best way a language should be taught. Many old school academics still believe that the student should learn the correct structure and grammar relating to a language before moving on to conversational study. By studying in this way these academics believe they are protecting integrity of a language.
These purists however, are few and far between, as the vast majority of language scholars now believe that learning conversational skills will actually speed up and enhance the understanding of any language, Spanish is a good example.
Deciding on the best way to learn Spanish will depend upon your personal circumstances. Many schools and colleges provide evening classes for Spanish but these require advanced payment and require you to commit to taking time to attend.
The problem with evening classes is that they can be expensive, and you are charged even if you fail to attend. Also, because people have much more hectic schedules nowadays, it is extremely difficult trying to fit everything else around a course. For many this rules out the classroom type course as a viable option.
Another option is the immersion course. Although immersion courses are growing in popularity, they are only still only suited to specific groups, namely students and retired people, as they rely on relocation for a set period of time.
They are however, excellent courses teaching not only language interaction but social interaction, as you are required to take part in everyday living and conversation within Spanish communities.
The easiest method of learning Spanish, and by far the most popular method, is to use an online Spanish audio or visual interactive course.
There are many of these available online, most of which are downloadable. They are extremely affordable and give the added benefit of being able to fit into hectic timetables, allowing the student to study when they are able to study.
Once you start to learn Spanish you will be amazed at just how much can be spoken with a limited vocabulary of 4000 to 6000 words.
Many of these words will be very similar to their English counterparts which will make learning them a lot easier.
A lot of people prefer to take a course that focuses on teaching conversational Spanish first and then, once they have attained a competent level of spoken Spanish, they will take a course that is more academic, covering grammar and structure.
You will find that learning Spanish in this way will be vital should you need to communicate through the written word as well as the spoken.
