Spanish is often considered to be one of the best languages you could learn. Even despite this, some people still wonder whether (or not) they should learn Spanish. So here are 15 reasons why you should!
As a native Spanish speaker myself, I personally believe that everyone should learn Spanish as a second language.
These reasons are in no particular order. Some will likely resonate with you more than others, and are drawn mostly from my own experience, as well as those of my close friends, who have learned Spanish as a second language!
15. It’s Useful
Spanish is one of the most spoken languages on the planet. As of the time of writing, roughly 580 million people around the world speak Spanish as either a first or second language.
Whilst the overwhelming majority of Spanish speakers are located in the Americas, Spanish is actually the official language in 20 countries, on four different continents.
On top of this, there are small Spanish speaking communities in most countries around the world.
This means that regardless of where in the world you go, chances are that you’ll be able to find someone who speaks Spanish. Combined with your English, means that you’ll probably be able to communicate with most people!
14. Spanish is Growing
On top of it already being spoken by well over half a billion people, it’s growing too!
In 2000, there were roughly 420 million Spanish speakers around the world. In 2020, there were approximately 580 million Spanish speakers, meaning there was an increase of about 160 million Spanish speakers.
This is something that seems like it will continue. A number of Spanish speaking countries are currently experiencing baby booms, not to mention that many of them are also attracting large numbers of retirees too.
As of the time of writing, there are also roughly 22 million people currently learning Spanish. This is the most of any other language on the planet (besides English of course!)
13. It’s so Easy to Learn!
If you’ve never learned a foreign language before, the concept of it may seem rather daunting. The concept of being able to speak a completely different language to a high level may seem rather strange, yet exciting.
However, if you don’t want to throw yourself into the deep end by learning something like Mandarin or Finnish (which are considered to be really hard) you could learn something like Spanish.
As a romance language, Spanish is descended from Latin. This means that Spanish is also related to many other European languages like French, Portuguese and Italian.
Due to the influence the French language has had on English, Spanish actually has a lot of similar words to English. Plus, its grammar and sentence structures are fairly easy to learn too!
12. Really Fun to Learn
On top of being super easy, Spanish can also be really fun to learn. Most estimates say that if you are learning Spanish everyday of the week, it will take you about eight to twelve months, which is relatively quick for a language!
For most Anglophones learning Spanish, they’re just a few hours away from a Spanish-speaking country. For the UK, it’s Spain, whilst or the US and Canada, it’s almost all of South America, as it is for Australia.
As a part of you learning Spanish, you could travel to one of these countries on your vacation. This kills two birds with one stone – you can relax and practice your Spanish! And most Hispanics will gladly help you with your Spanish!
There is so many different things you could do. You could go on a historical trip around Madrid or Barcelona, or spend it on the beach or at the hotel in Mexico. Regardless of your forte, you will find it learning Spanish!
11. Spanish in Our Media
Over the past 20 years or so, there has been a large increase in the amount of foreign-languages in our media. Films, TV shows, songs and just about everything else, has seen little bits of foreign languages infiltrate them.
By far the most common language has been Spanish, likely due to the large Latino community in the United States.
For example, yesterday, I was watching an episode of Designated Survivor on Netflix. Here, there are several Hispanic characters, who communicate with one another in Spanish, sometimes without subtitles to accompany them.
Without speaking Spanish, I would’ve never understood what on earth they were saying!
Do you remember Despacito from a couple of years ago? It took the world by storm, and literally everyone was singing it. Do you remember what language it was in? Spanish.
10. Spanish-Language Media
On top of Spanish media infiltrating our media, the Spanish language still has its own media. Many of them are just Spanish-dubbed versions English TV shows and movies, but just as many are not.
Mexico actually has quite a prominent film industry. Around half of the filming takes place just over the border in Hollywood, whilst the other half takes place in Mexico.
Spain similarly has a booming film industry too. As with Mexico, these languages are done in Spanish (either Mexican or European Spanish depending on where it was filmed).
Many of these films are absolutely amazing and are also available on Netflix! But many of them are dubbed in English, so you’ll need to know how to speak Spanish in order to understand what’s going on!
9. The People Are Great!
From my experience (and no, I’m not just saying this as a Hispanic myself) Hispanics are way better than Anglophones. They know how to do practically everything better than Anglophones do.
And the vast majority of them do want to do these things with their friends and/or people they’ve recently met. However, these things are best done in Spanish for the “true” experience.
Whilst many of them won’t mind speaking English and interpreting for you, it does often kill the vibe. So many of them simply won’t open up in the same kind of ways as they would if they were speaking in Spanish.
Trust me, this is something that is really cool! You will learn things about Hispanics that you’d have never thought you’d learn. All in all, it serves as a simply avenue to have a great time and explore a completely different culture!
8. It’s Diverse
One of the best parts about learning Spanish is that it is so diverse. Spanish is spoken on four continents by over half a billion people. As such, there are numerous different dialects of Spanish you could learn.
And the best part? They’re all different from each other!
European Spanish is completely different to Mexican Spanish. And both are completely different from Peruvian Spanish. And don’t get me started on Argentine Spanish! It’s like a completely different language.
As such, you could start learning, say Mexican Spanish. Then, if you get bored, you can finish Mexican Spanish, and start learning European or Peruvian or Argentine Spanish.
Except the last example, you could learn these dialects with relative ease. Generally, it’s only learning a few different words and phrases, just like between British and American English!
7. Better Vacations
Pretty much everyone enjoys vacations. For many people, one of the best reasons to learn Spanish is because you go to Spanish speaking countries like Spain or Mexico on vacation every year.
As someone who doesn’t speak the language, you are mostly relegated to the touristy areas of Spain or Mexico. However, speaking the language means you can go almost anywhere!
You can actually get immersed in the culture and understand it. You get such a better understanding of it all.
Let’s say that for whatever reason you wanted to stay in the touristy area, you vacation will still be better. Often, the staff are used to annoying Anglophonic tourists, who insist on speaking English.
So a tourist who speaks Spanish in a Spanish-speaking country, even if only a little, will be gladly received!
6. Avoid Hassles Abroad
This is probably the opposite of the last point.
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just run into some trouble, even if it’s not really your fault. Occasionally, this involves the law, which can get rather tricky for a someone who doesn’t speak the local language.
Thankfully, most police officers in other countries speak English, but not all do. If you’re abroad, and run into trouble, you can be your luck that you’ll get the one police officer who doesn’t speak English.
If this is the case, the officer will likely get an interpreter on the line or get a fellow officer who speaks English to come. But what if you fix this all in one? If you learned Spanish, you will probably be able to communicate far easier!
This happened to me abroad a few years ago. I went to Barcelona with a few friends. One got a little too drunk, and one thing led to another, and he spent a night in a Catalan jail. Had it not been for me, he might’ve gone to prison!
5. It’s Impressive
Speaking any foreign language is impressive. For whatever reason, it’s one of those things that monolinguals seem to find really impressive! So why not run with it?
With Spanish, it’s almost a double-edged sword. It’s one of those languages that so many people want to learn, but never do. Plus, it’s spoken so much, that chances are you’ll find someone else who also speaks Spanish.
Then both you can look really cool together!
I remember when I was a kid, I spoke with a really thick Spanish accent. This was something that was usually the butt of a few jokes, but during parties, I could sit and speak Spanish, and people thought it was amazing.
This often included those same people who made fun of me. So I got to insult them in Spanish, with no one the wiser! Call me petty, but I thought it was fitting…
4. Find More (And Better) Dates!
As of the time of writing, around 1.27 billion people speak English. This gives you approximately 1.27 billion people that are potential date material. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t necessarily mean one of them is the one for you.
If you learn Spanish, you add another 580 million potential dates. This brings your total up to 1.85 billion potential dates. This is roughly 25% of the world’s population that are potential date material, just with two languages!
This particularly rings true for two of my best friends. When we were teenagers, I taught them the basics of Spanish before we went to Spain for a vacation. Eventually, they ended up learning Spanish for themselves.
As we got older, they begun dating. However, English-speaking girls were seemingly not their forte. However, Spanish-speaking girls were their forte, something they could only do because they spoke Spanish!
3. Spanish is a Beautiful Language
Whenever you see Spanish written down or spoken, there’s something about it that just makes it feel whole. There’s an odd satisfaction to it all. It just looks and sounds really beautiful.
Everything just seems to flow so easily. One word flows into the next, and it just feels right.
But it’s not just that. Spanish is also a very romantic language. People often bring up French as the most romantic language on the planet. And I’d actually agree with that!
With that being said, Spanish is a close second. It has all the parts of French that makes it so romantic, but also a certain je n’ai sais quoi (or should I say no sé) about Spanish that makes it so romantic.
2. Become More Employable
According to the CBI (Confederation of British Industry), the UK economy loses approximately £50 ($64) billion per year due to a lack of language skills.
A similar phenomenon is also the same in the US, Canada, Australia, and just about every other country. Translation agencies try to bridge that gap, but don’t always succeed due to logistical and financial issues on both sides.
Due to all of this, most companies are looking to hire multilingual people to try to bridge that gap. Why pay 10 cents per word to a translation agency when you could give it to the Spanish-speaking person you already employ?
Because of all of this, applicants who possess language skills are in high demand. As result, those applicants with the necessary language skills are often at the top of the pile when it comes to hiring!
Spanish, is one of those languages that is in high demand.
1. Earn More Money
But it’s not just that people who learn Spanish (or really any other language!) are at the top of the hiring pile. They also earn more money on average than their monolingual coworkers.
As they have gone out of their way to learn another language, it shows employers that they are willing to put themselves out there. Perhaps Spanish isn’t the language they need.
But Spanish acts as a springboard. From Spanish, you could learn French, or Italian, or maybe even German! These are languages that your employer may need in the future.
Due to this and the aforementioned point, employers are willing to pay you more if you speak a foreign language such as Spanish. On average, employees who speak a foreign language earn 12.5% more than their monolingual colleagues!
Which are your favorite reasons to learn Spanish? Tell me in the comments!