Most students who learn English as a second language do it the hard way. They learn in school. Schools focus on test scores rather than anything practical. Grammar is overemphasized whereas modern spoken English is somehow dismissed.

Native speakers in any language have a large vocabulary but in daily life use only a small fraction of it. There are so many ways to express ideas and the simplest ways of expressing ideas are the ones that usually prevail. ESL students often think in their own language and then translate word for word into English. This rarely works. They even have a hard time understanding a simple movie.

The strange part is that vocabulary is often not the problem at all. It is the little things. Native English speakers learn phrasal verbs when they are young. They do not learn them in school, but rather from the surrounding environment. I did not even know what a phrasal verb was until I started teaching ESL. Ironically, I learned this term from my students who wanted to learn more. I started paying attention to my own speech as well as to the speaking of English speakers around me and on TV. It is hard to listen to 3 sentences of native speech without hearing at least one phrasal verb. When ESL students are learning, they should pay more attention to how native speakers actually speak. Watch modern movies and TV. You will see what I am talking about. It will improve the English learning speed dramatically.

Globalization has made Spanish a preferred foreign language and many people are keen to learn it. The reason can be anything – for communicating when you are in Spanish speaking countries, for education or simply to have command over a foreign language. This article cites some important reasons for learning Spanish.

Why Learn Spanish

*It is the 4th most spoken common language spoken in the world with almost 400 million people speaking Spanish worldwide. If you go by geographic locations, the countries where this language is spoken include Spain, U.S., Argentina, the Philippines, Venezuela, Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, Columbia, Panama, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic. If, you know Spanish, it is easy to communicate with the people of all these countries.

*Learning Spanish would make your travels to the Spanish speaking countries more pleasurable. If you do business and have to travel to different countries or you enjoy traveling then a command over this amazing language would help you go far. When you travel to the Spanish speaking countries, knowing the native language would simplify many basic tasks like commuting in a taxi, understanding the menu at the restaurant or getting important travel information. Learning Spanish would not only make your travel more enjoyable but you would also understand and appreciate the places in a better manner.

*In a highly competitive corporate world out there. A person with good command over a second language has great employment potential. Not only that, due to the vast reach of the businesses there are some jobs that makes it mandatory to have basic proficiency in some foreign language. Leaning Spanish can make you stand out in the crowd of monolinguals and help you earn a better salary than your colleagues.

*If you are a student and want to be a part of your school, college or university exchange program, you require basic proficiency in the Spanish language. Exchange programs can last from one week to one year. By learning Spanish you would be able to benefit from your stay in a Spanish speaking country. In an exchange program, you would not only get to practice your language skills regularly but also acquire more credits while studying abroad.

*If you are into reading about different cultures then the command over Spanish can open up the doors to some of the highest cultures in art, history and science. You would be able to understand the day to day culture in those countries and would easily understand the authentic language by reading newspapers and magazines.

*If you know Spanish, you would be able to enjoy their culture of music, art and literature. You would be able to watch Spanish movies in their original versions including some Oscar winning ones like “All about My Mother” and “The Sea Inside”. You would be able to enjoy the movie in the same way as you would have enjoyed an English movie – without running through the film’s subtitles.

Those were the reasons why you should learn Spanish. Buy some great books and tutorials and start learning Spanish from today!