Why Choose Spanish as Your New Foreign Language? Why is it Important to Learn Spanish?

Traditionally people from the United States are not obligated to learn another language besides English, but times have changed. Globalization has been the big push behind the increasing importance of being able to communicate with those from other countries. For that reason, (especially NAFTA), the second language US citizens are choosing to learn is Spanish. The trend now shows that Americans are studying Spanish in record numbers, but, most importantly, education in an international setting is becoming a top mandate for the American government because people need to be economically competitive. In fact, according to Businessweek magazine, more students studying for a MBA in today's world are choosing to become trilingual; the choices being English, French, and Spanish. Moreover, two of the top ten MBA schools outside the U.S. are located in Spain.

There are many other reasons why people are compelled to learn Spanish as a foreign language. Why is it important to learn Spanish? For one thing, Spanish is spoken by almost 400 million people worldwide. Even more compelling is the fact that about half of the population in the Western Hemisphere speaks Spanish, making it the primary language for as many people as English in this region of the world. Most of South America speaks primarily Spanish (aside from Brazil), as does just about all of Central America, Mexico and Latin America - over 15 countries in total. In addition, within the United States, Spanish is the second most widely spoken language after English - by a very wide margin. In the U.S. more and more opportunities are increasing for those who are fluent in both Spanish and English due to the explosion in the Spanish-speaking population. This means that being bilingual (Spanish and English) will continue to become more valuable for people who live in the U.S. with each passing year. In this economy this is extremely important to a working career.