Spanish: The Default Foreign Language for U.S. Citizens
Do you live in the United States? Are undecided about which foreign language you want to learn? Well, you simply can’t go wrong with Spanish. Spanish is extremely useful, easy to learn (relatively speaking), and ubiquitous in the United States.
Spanish is Everywhere…
There are over 22 million native Spanish-speakers in the United States. Spanish-language media is one of the fastest growing U.S. media segments. There are more than 106 million Spanish-speaking Mexicans just across America’s southern border. South of Mexico, Spanish is understood in every Central and South American nation, with the exception of Brazil (and a handful of nations that have tiny populations, such as Guyana and Suriname.)
Spanish is also spoken throughout much of the Caribbean. And last but not least-- Spanish is the national language of Spain, and one of the officially recognized languages of the E.U.
Spanish is Accessible
Below is a headline from an online Spanish news sites:
"BUSCARAN CANADA, EU Y MEXICO ACUERDOS COMERCIALES CON OTROS PAISES"
Source: Notimex
The English translation is: “Canada, the U.S. and Mexico will Seek Trade Agreements with other Countries.” Even if you have never studied Spanish at all, you were probably able to pick out at least a few of those words (at the very least, “Canada” and “Mexico”). Spanish is based on Latin, a tongue which is also one of the foundations of English. Therefore, the student of Spanish is aided by many cognates (words that are similar across languages).
More Spanish-English Cognates:
Spanish English
la competitividad the competitiveness
el objetivo the objective
decidir to decide
productos products
Spanish grammar has a few tricky points, including a subjunctive verb tense, and masculine and feminine noun and adjective forms. But compared to Arabic or Thai, Spanish is a cakewalk.
One final point in favor of Spanish: Spanish is good for your resume. It is the most requested second language among employers in the United States. The demand for bilingual workers is driven by two factors: the growing purchasing power of Spanish-speakers living in the U.S., and the increasing economic integration between the U.S. and Mexico.
