Sorry, but your English is no good here!
Have you seen that video of the woman trying to get Mcdonald's in the USA, but she couldn't communicate with anyone in the establishment?
Ouff that was painful to watch.
Be it as it may, there are many towns (especially in Texas, and California) where Spanish is spoken much more English.
I mean if you live in the USA, you are in the second most Spanish-speaking country (after Mexico)!
But apart from being able to get your Mcdonald's in a flash, let's go over the other reasons so you know if Spanish is worth learning for you!
SUMMARY: Why Is Spanish Worth Learning?
Spanish is worth learning because it opens up countless doors in your social, travel, and financial life.
Knowing Spanish, you can apply for positions in international companies, and on average make $2,500-$10,000 more annually than your monolingual equivalents.
There is also a lot of entrepreneurial opportunity in the language learning space, such as the need for apps that teach language efficiently.
Lastly learning Spanish will be very beneficial to your mental health, and your physical health in the future, for example, learning it can offset dementia by 5 years.
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY 💰
Knowing Spanish undoubtedly creates a huge opportunity for personal economic growth. For example, if you would like to work in the tourism sector, Spain is the second most visited country in the world, with approximately 84,000,000 visitors annually.
Many Spanish companies find a lot of benefit in having Americans/Canadians working for them, especially to help assist customers from these countries. Let’s look at some huge opportunities that you could take advantage of knowing Spanish.
Develop An App To Learn Spanish 📲
If you think that the market is too saturated, I’d argue that you’re wrong!
Duolingo is probably the biggest in the game, but it has a LOT of room for improvement.
For example, there is a bigger market than there is content utilizing TPRS (Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling).
This is one of the greatest approaches to learning, and those who have tried it know that! But you would be hard-pressed to find yourself 3 decent-looking apps that focus on using the "natural (language-acquisition) approach."
And it’s not just TRPS, there are many approaches that are more effective than Duolingo's that you could make mainstream and easily accessible.
Teach English or Spanish To Employees in Need 👨🏻🏫
This is a simple business model, you create an approach to teaching to a larger group of students, and you offer it to businesses with employees that have to interact with people of different cultures.
My father worked at the navy base in my hometown, and they regularly had small companies come in to teach the employees certain skills.
From what he has told me about those small companies, it would be cheap to charge $30 per head for every hour-long class. So if they have 30 people that would like to take your class - you would be making $900 every hour you do this.
Freelance Translation Gigs 🙌🏻
If you don’t like the idea of developing an app or teaching big classes, maybe you could do translation gigs. When it comes to freelancing, this work doesn’t have the same potential to generate a 6-7 figure income.
However, it definitely could sustain the average lifestyle after a year or so of working gigs and creating relationships with companies.
The good thing about this work is that no matter how much Google Translate improves, companies will still always need somebody to check over the work!
Travel Better, Speak Wherever: ✈️
It’s no secret that the countries in the Spanish-speaking world are some of the most beautiful, and worthy of visiting. However, from my experience, if you don’t know Spanish you’re only enjoying half of what these countries have to offer.
Let’s talk about some reasons why if you learn Spanish it will open up new doors.
Get The Hell Outta Here - Discover Real Destinations 👈🏻
Whether you want to see the bluest glaciers in the Americas, the colorful pueblos of Colombia,
or the beautiful colonial towns in almost every LatinAm country - the possibilities are endless.
And yes, you could go to SOME of these places only knowing English, but wouldn’t you want to be able to communicate with the locals?
I am in Panama City, Panama as I write this - and although this might be the Latin-Am country with the most demand for English speakers, if you think you’ll be fine here in the city with only English, you're a nut!
So if you would like to travel to a Latino American country one day, not the resorts, but the real parts of the country, you'll have to learn some Spanish. Why not start now?
Au Pair Opportunities (A Better Way To Couch Surf) 🗣
This is an interesting type of opportunity that I have never tried, but surely would be an enriching experience.
For those who don't know, an Au Pair a nanny that people hire to live in their houses for a certain amount of time - to teach their kid a language.
I have been told by people who do this that it’s usually extremely laid back and that they get their own room, food, bathroom, and tours of the town they are in FOR FREE. The only upfront costs are a plane ticket to the country where your future clients live.
Give Everyday A Purpose 🙏
I know studying for 30 minutes to 1 hour a day doesn’t exactly sound like fun but hear me out! I (and many others like me) fell in love with language learning way before we got fluent in a second language.
This process is therapeutic, it causes a sense of progression, and it gives you a reason to keep going.
It's a reason to wake up early, to test yourself, you try hard for something. The best part of language learning is if you show up daily, you will progress - no doubt.
Self-Improvement, The Real Deal 💪
Who doesn’t want to feel like they are achieving something worth the while? With language learning this is always accomplished and it fulfills the learner's desire to be recompensed for their efforts.
You can work a job and try your absolute hardest to get that raise, get that new position - but there are no guarantees.
With language learning, if you show up every day, you will see huge progression over the weeks, months, and especially years.
Become A Less Boring Person To Be Around 😎
I always thought that knowing multiple languages is so bad-ass and the truth is, many others do too.
I have had countless conversations with people who think that I am smarter than I am, or more focused in life just because I learn languages. It really does intrigue people. This is an interesting phenomenon but it seems some say “I can’t learn a language, that is way too difficult for me”.
And those same people will look at a language learner as some genius who had a language fall into his lap due to his intelligence and awesomeness.
Little do they know how many hours the poor sucker put into it to get where he’s at. But yeah, learn a language and become “a genius” I guess!
Join In On The Culture: Conversational Fiestas 🥳
Have you ever heard a couple of people speaking Spanish together? I remember hearing those conversations at my job and thinking “It’s like they aren’t even at work” because they would be yelling and laughing and using their hands to speak.
Something about the Spanish language, so often it’s like being at a conversational fiesta. If you learn Spanish too, you’ll be able to join in, to let loose and laugh.
Speaking Spanish is not just speaking another language, it's embracing a culture full of humble, loving, and happy people.
GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH 🧘🏻♂️
It’s no secret that learning languages boost your mental health! If you are anxious, depressed, or feel like you’re lacking purpose - language learning is the perfect hobby for you.
Furthermore, learning a language can curve the symptoms of many mental illnesses and even… GROW OUR BRAINS?
Bye, Shrink! I Found A Cheaper Therapist 🙇
We all need some type of therapy, a time when we can feel at peace, a moment of meditation if you will. Language learning has provided me and many others with a get-out-of-jail-free card an hour a day, no matter what.
This is the time that I am focused, calm, and really engaging my brain in a healthy way. I even use emotions to my advantage while studying to get words into my long-term memory.
What I mean by this is, I will take advantage of a sad song that touches me by listening to it, and focusing on what the singer is feeling. This engraves the vocab in my brain because I am not just hearing it, I am not just understanding it, but I am feeling it.
The words for sadness, melancholy, and loneliness for example, become something I no longer have to search for if I want to say the word - because I have made an emotional connection with it.
Just like you don't have to search for the word for happiness when you want to say it - that's because there is an emotional connection to the word.
Push-ups For The Brain: 🧠
Lund University conducted a study where they took a group of language-learning students and a group of students that were not learning languages.
They ran brain scans on both groups and after a while, they saw growths in the brains of the language learners - mostly in the hippocampus, and areas in the cerebral cortex.
Lower Chances of Dementia 🤏
Based on the studies that have been done over the last decades - they have found that indeed, knowing a different language offsets dementia.
“Previous studies have shown that people who are bilingual show symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias later than people who speak just one language – around a 4.5-year delay.”
CONCLUSION:
There are countless reasons to learn Spanish. Be it that you want an extra 2,500-10,000 dollars a year as an employee - or that you want to find entrepreneurial opportunities that exist in this market.
Learning a language not only provides a way to make more money but it can also be a super therapeutic hobby that helps you progress into your future.
From my experience, learning Spanish was the best decision I have ever made and I’m sure that for you it will be too.
If you're interested in getting started learning Spanish, start out on the right foot and check out the "5 Insider Secrets to Learning a Language Quickly and Efficiently"
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