You've been excited about your upcoming trip to Spain. Your bags are packed, your camera is ready and a small map is tucked securely in your back pocket. You are excited beyond belief! However, you wonder, will you be able to fully enjoy the experience of the beautiful country when you don't know the national? Is knowing how to speak English enough for you, not only to survive, but take pleasure in your journey to Spain?

Learning the Spanish language is important for traveling purposes, obviously. You get to experience the real feel of the place when you know how to speak the local language. However, even if you are not into traveling, or have no plans of visiting Spain or other Spanish-speaking countries in the near future, knowing the language is important for many reasons.

If you are interested in learning the Spanish language, but find no reason compelling enough to pursue that interest, the following could make you reconsider. Here are some reasons to learn the Spanish language.

1. It is one of the easiest languages to learn. Wouldn't it be cool to be able to speak a foreign language? If you like to learn one, but do not have the heart to face the many difficulties in studying a new language, then you'd better start with an easy one. Learning Spanish is relatively easy and simple compared to other languages. Unlike some languages that make use of characters, Spanish uses the Latin alphabet, so there is no need to memorize numerous characters. Its grammar is fairly rational with only a few exceptions, and it has straightforward rules in pronunciation so you do not necessarily need a huge amount of time to master the language fairly well.

2. Spanish is good for business and career. With the proliferation of Spanish-speaking people, more and more businesses and professions find that being able to speak both English and Spanish is a major asset. If you are in the health care service or education, knowing how to speak Spanish will open new opportunities for you. Likewise, economic globalization has made it imperative to learn different languages to communicate more effectively with colleagues from other nations. Many businesses see that knowing the language of the country they are dealing with helps unlock commercial markets. The Spanish-speaking market is large; therefore knowing Spanish will benefit almost any business significantly.

3. It is a widely used language. Spanish is an international language. It is not only the third most spoken language, with 500 million people speaking the tongue, but it is a language of international organizations. Spanish is one of the official languages of the European Union, the Association of American States and the United Nations. For those who are seeking careers in international organizations, or take part in international affairs, they would do better when they can speak Spanish.

These are just three of the many reasons to learn Spanish. Whatever compels you to take up Spanish, know that you'll surely get something good out of it.

Daniel C Howard is a language teacher living in Asia. He has over a decade of experience teaching all ages a variety of subjects. For free info and lessons on Spanish, please visit his blog here.

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