Why Learn Spanish?

Hi everyone
Here we have a great article that has been written by Gerald Erichsen identifying some key reasons why learning Spanish can be really beneficial.

Gerald Erichsen has a popular blog which has some great posts offering great tips, advice, guidance and general information on various aspects of the Spanish language. For more information about Gerald and his work click on the links at the base of this blog post.

Why Learn Spanish?
Spanish for Beginners

By Gerald Erichsen, About.com Guide

Who’s learning Spanish these days? For starters, residents of the United States, a bunch not known for conquering monoligualism, are studying Spanish in record numbers. Spanish, too, is becoming of greater importance in Europe, where it often is the foreign language of choice after English. And it’s no wonder that Spanish is a popular second or third language: with some 400 million speakers, it’s the fourth most commonly spoken language in the world (after English, Chinese and Hindustani), and according to some counts it has more native speakers than English does. It is an official language on four continents and is of historical importance elsewhere.

The numbers alone make Spanish a good choice for those wanting to learn another tongue. But there are plenty of other reasons to learn Spanish. Here are a few:

Better understanding of English: Much of the vocabulary of English has Latin origins, much of which came to English by way of French. Since Spanish is also a Latin language, you will find as you study Spanish that you have a better understanding of your native vocabulary. Similarly, both Spanish and English share Indo-European roots, so their grammars are similar. There is perhaps no more effective way to learn English grammar than by studying the grammar of another language, for the study forces you to think about how your language is structured. It’s not unusual, for example, to gain an understanding of English verbs’ tenses and moods by learning how those verbs are used in Spanish.

Knowing your neighbors: Not all that many years ago, the Spanish-speaking population of the United States was confined to the Mexican border states, Florida and New York City. But no more. Even when I lived less than 100 kilometers from the Canadian border, there were Spanish-speaking people living on the same street as I did…..Click on the link provided to continue reading the full article
http://spanish.about.com/cs/forbeginners/a/whylearnspanish.htm

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