Why Study Spanish

Why Study Spanish? 1 Video Transcript

As you begin learning Spanish, you might be asking Why Study Spanish? This video will show you many ways in which Spanish will be helpful to you both personally and professionally.

The Spanish language originated in Spain. You can see on the map that Spain is located in Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula.

Spanish first came to the Americas by way of the explorers sent out by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain in the 1400's. The most famous explorer was Christopher Columbus who landed on the island of Hispaniola while exploring new routes to Asia. Today, most of that island is known as the Dominican Republic.

Because of the expeditions of Columbus and other explorers, many Spaniards came to the Americas and brought their language and traditions with them.

Today, Spanish is the third most commonly spoken language in the world. It's the official language for countries in Europe, Africa, North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean.

There are three countries in the Caribbean where Spanish is spoken. These are Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.

Moving across the Caribbean Sea, you will find Spanish spoken in Mexico and the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

In South America, Spanish is spoken in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

There is even a small country in Africa, Equatorial Guinea, where Spanish is spoken.

Let's head up north to the United States. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language in this country and there are over 33 million people of Hispanic descent living in the 50 states. That's about 12 percent of the population.

Now that you have an idea as to where Spanish is spoken, let's look at ways in which studying Spanish can help you communicate with Spanish-speakers both at home and abroad.

Josh Raufman talks about how he used his Spanish as a volunteer in "When I was there, I worked in a medical clinic for elderly indi people to the south of Lima, the capital of Peru. It was fabulous. It was really a great chance to practice my Spanish and really use my Spanish: place where it's the primary means of communication. It really useful thing, you know. It makes you feel that you, you know, skills that other people don't have. You're able to communicate with many more people in the world and so it's your entrance-way into another culture." There are many professions where knowing Spanish can be an asset. Why Study Spanish? 2 Video Transcript

Dr. llene Laufer talk about her experiences as a pediatrician. "Spanish has helped me so much in my career. Because I learned Spanish in high school just because we had a language requirement and never realized how important it would be until I started working in pediatrics. Realizing that there are so many families here that speak Spanish and, in order to effectively communicate with them, it' helpful to know Spanish. I would really recommend learning the language because, you know, America is a country where there large immigrant population, a lot of people that come from Spanish speaking countries and you can really, really help them and yourself by being able to communicate with them in their language."

Tyrell Garrow talks about using his Spanish while helping customers in store. "It's really cool because it helps me at work in the music store a-mall to communicate with certain people who may not speak English When they come into the store and they are working with another associate, who may not speak Spanish, that associate will find me and I'll be able to help the customer find the CDs that they like."

Listen to Wendy Joyner describe how she combines knowing Spanish v work and travel. "I mostly do my flights in Central, South America, Mexico, Caribbean. I also travel to Spain and it's helped me tremendously. I know that hired specifically because I do have the skill of speaking Spanish, it's been a wonderful asset in my life, not only in my job, where I to travel all over the world. This is the time that you actually take time to study it. You can say maybe later on you'll do it, but you have the opportunity and whatever career that you're in, I can't t one that it wouldn't be an asset to know Spanish."

Carol DeRoberto talks about the experiences that helped her become a Spanish teacher. "A very close neighbor, who was my mother's age, was Spanish-speaking and she used to speak Spanish with her husband. I used listen to her and I loved the sound of the language and it was exciting for me to try and figure out what she was saying, what the two of them were saying. And I just studied in high school and college and learned to really love it. I've traveled extensively to Spain and Mexico And the people I've found to be always very warm, very generous; affectionate people. They love the fact that you attempt to speak language. It doesn't matter if you make mistakes, they're just a wonderful people. And this encouraged me to continue with the language and to want to share it with others, especially students teaching and I want to impart the love that I have for this language and culture to these children."

Kent Payne has a Ph.D. in Chemistry and uses his Spanish to close business deals while working at a pharmaceutical company. "It is a door opener. And the more I know about different languages, and different cultures, the more doors I have opened to me in business, not only for my own specialty and background. People really have a need to communicate. At the end of the day, business deals are on relationships and based on communication. Those who have ability to form relationships and communicate effectively are the have the power to drive business." Why Study Spanish? 3 Video Transcript

Vinita Bali talks about how she uses Spanish for international business "I was transferred to work for our office in Latin America and s| years working markets like Chile and Ecuador and Bolivia and P what I really found was that once you start speaking the local I; you can make a lot more friends, you understand a lot more of culture. If I made an effort or if I tried to speak, people would j up to me and it didn't matter if I was making grammatical mistakes what was important was the fact that I was trying to speak a language that was a foreign language to me."

Listen to Hector Grillone, a video producer, describe how Spanish has him shoot videos throughout the Spanish-speaking world. "When I'm doing an interview, for example, I'm able to communicate directly with that person without the need for an interpreter o someone in between. Spanish has given me the upper hand on several occasions when getting an actual project, compared to some other producer/director who didn't know the language. If anybody asked me if they should take Spanish or not, I'd say "go for it", because it's not only going to help you personally as an individual to know another language, but it'll help you professionally too in the future."

As Wendy Joyner said, it is hard to think of a job where knowing Spanish wouldn't be helpful. But there is also a benefit to studying Spanish that is relevant to you right now.

Statistics suggest that if you study Spanish-or any foreign language-your test scores could improve. High School foreign language students perform significantly better on the SAT verbal exam than non-foreign-language students. And SAT verbal scores increase successively with each half year of foreign language study. So if you begin your study of Spanish early and stay with it for several years, chances are you'll get better scores on tests.

So Why Study Spanish? Being able to communicate in Spanish opens up a new world of opportunities. You've seen how Spanish can help you in travel, as a volunteer, and in many professions you might want to pursue in the future. As you study Spanish, work hard in class. Look for ways to use Spanish in your community. And most importantly, take advantage of all the opportunities available when you know how to communicate in Spanish. •

Good luck with your studies and ¡adios!