Spanish is in the top 3 list of the most spoken languages in the world.
This means that if you’re only able to speak English, you’re missing out on over 400 million people you can communicate with. We often joke about the language barriers between dogs and cats, but the exact same analogy applies to us humans.
If you can’t speak Spanish or another language, how can you ever meet and build a relationship with people around the world?
Let’s face it: we’re entering what we call a multi-lingual world. Everything from business, politics, to the media is being globalized at a rate that’s astonishing. The only way to take advantage of this open world is to learn a new language. And there’s no better language to learn than Spanish.
Here’s what will happen when you start to learn Spanish.
1. You’ll be able to communicate with over 400 million people around the world.
As we mentioned before, there are over 400 million native Spanish speakers around the world. To give you an idea just how large that is, there are 365 million native English speakers around the world. Most of us have gone through our entire lives with just English or one other language, so imagine the doors that will open up to new people you can actually converse with, as you travel the world, seek out new business opportunities, and even around your social circle.
If you think about it, we’ve put up a glass ceiling to our potential when we speak one language, because we limit ourselves to what we can understand. But we live in a massive world, with massive opportunities ahead of us.
Learning Spanish will help you get ahead of this growth curve and ride the wave of opportunities ahead.
2. You’ll attract new and more exciting career opportunities.
Whether you’re in sales, real estate, business, or any industry for that matter, there’s no doubt that learning Spanish will attract more opportunities your way. In fact, many of you may already have Spanish-speaking clients where being able to communicate with them in their native language and understanding their culture will go a long way.
Even if you’re doing business in the US alone (one of the biggest markets in the world), you’re going to have to appeal to the 30% (130 million +) of the population that are Hispanic.
The good news is that, once you can understand the language, you’ll differentiate yourself from other job applicants, competitors, and organizations because the best words to build a connection with someone are the words from their own language.
3. You’ll become more attractive socially.
We have this fascination and awe for people that can speak multiple languages, and even put them on a pedestal. If you’ve seen the movie Limitless, then you’ve seen first-hand from Bradley Cooper himself, on how much intrigue it can attract from others. If you speak another language, then you’ve probably experienced the immediate connection you feel when you hear someone speak one of your languages.
Beyond social perception, learning another language simply opens your mind to new cultures, travel opportunities, and personal interests that will help you connect and meet more friends who come from a Spanish-speaking background. I’ve experienced this first hand, while traveling around South America and Mexico.
This means you’ll develop a completely new mindset that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
4. You’ll experience a whole new way of traveling.
After traveling around South America for 15 months, I’ve come to understand the difference between tourism travel and local travel. I’m not saying one is better than the other, but it’s a completely different way of traveling. The reason is simple.
Just like you know your local town or city inside out compared to a journalist who spent a weekend reporting, the same thing applies to tourism advice around the world. Websites like Tripadvisor are great for getting an overall understanding of tourism attractions, but nothing beyond that.
When you can speak the language of the locals, you’ll gain access to exclusive events, attractions, and hot spots that’s nearly impossible for an outsider journalist to spot out. What’s the point of traveling, if you can’t experience the lives of the people that live there?
5. You’ll gain the ability to learn other languages faster.
Since several languages, including Italian, French, and Portuguese, come from the Latin root, learning subsequent languages from this family will become a lot easier. In fact, these languages share many of the same words and small variations in vocabulary and grammar, that you’ve already established the fundamental base when you start learning.
If your goal is to learn not just Spanish, but to become a polyglot where you can speak many other languages, then Spanish is a great one to start with.
How to learn Spanish?
The next step of course is to actually commit to learning. While there’s no magic solution, we can share that the best method is to learn from professional teachers, who can give you the personal attention and guidance you need to make fast progress. The reason why we want to avoid apps like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone, is that these methods are not only non-engaging, but it has nothing to do with how we’ll actually use the language. It’s like learning how to ride a bicycle through a manual or Youtube video versus learning by actually riding it.
All of us want to learn a language to speak with other humans, so doesn’t it make sense to learn by speaking with other humans?
Luckily for us, we’re no longer required to commute for an hour meeting a tutor in-person or attend an expensive language school.
Online education allows us to have the same, if not better, quality of education at the comforts of your home. There are great solutions online that specializes in Spanish, such as Rype, where you can have unlimited one-on-one Spanish lessons online with a professional coach.
The post This Is What Will Happen When You Learn Spanish appeared first on Lifehack.
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