As an educator I’ve had many students ask me why they needed to learn to speak Spanish.  They really have a difficult time seeing past their friends, activities, problems, and fun. They tend to live in a very small world and learning to speak Spanish simply seems like it’s something that they will never need. They have a hard time seeing the big picture.

They don’t realize that many people all over the world speak more than one language and that knowing another language opens up another world to them. Think of the rich cultures in Europe where so many languages are spoken, and yet the people can travel among the various countries there very easily and are able to communicate with one another.

In the United States, we have always had one language that most of the people understood of course, so learning any others became more of an academic exercise, at least in the minds of the students. Most of them take foreign language courses because they have to. And few of them retain any ability to have conversations in that language several years after the courses are taken.

But our world is changing very fast. Each year the world get smaller due to our technologies that allow instant communication from almost anywhere to anywhere else. And one of the languages spoken by a large segment of the earth population is, of course, Spanish.

In North America, we have a very quickly growing segment of our population who speak Spanish, and these numbers are going to continue to grow in the coming years. It is becoming more and more vital that we can all communicate easily. Many people in businesses are finding a number of their customers only speak Spanish. And obviously they need to be able to talk with one another.

In our government offices with which the public continually interacts, again those who are in direct contact with the public need to learn to speak Spanish so that they will be able to communicate, especially on very important matters. And public servants like the police and fire departments and emergency personnel certainly need to be able to speak with the people they come across in their jobs. It’s often a matter of life and death!

And of course our teachers need this skill. We have more and more students in our classes who can only understand Spanish, and if the teacher has no ability to do so, then how much are these students going to actually learn. Of course it’s a two way street. These students must be learning English as we are learning Spanish. Young people will pick up the English very quickly because they will be immersed in it, but the rest of us need a little more help in learning to speak Spanish very well.

Fortunately there are a number of ways in which we can do this. There are formal classes, books, online lessons, and programs one can use at home to help learn the language. If you are in the position of needing to learn Spanish, take some time to check out the various sources and find the one that you think is easiest for you in your situation. There are several multimedia programs that allow you to learn at home or online and some include games and can help anyone at any age or on any level. Just find what works for you!

Alan Thomas                                                                                                                                  

www.WorldConversations.com