Why Do You Want to Learn Spanish?

There are many reasons for learning Spanish:

1. Business: Spanish-speaking countries are a burgeoning market.
2. English: Learning another language helps you to improve your English.
3. Gateway: Spanish is the gateway Romance language.
4. History: Spain played a large role in the history of western civilization.
5. Internet: Some ninety million Spanish speakers access the Internet.
6. Music: Spanish-language music is more fun when you know the words.
7. Politics: Like it or not, Mexico has a huge influence on U.S. politics.
8. Travel: Spanish-speaking countries are among the most beautiful.

Let’s look a little more at each of these reasons:

1. Business: Spanish is the official language of twenty-one countries, and the growth potential of Latin America has been recognized by international firms such as AT&T and billionaires such as Carlos Slim Helú. If you can speak Spanish, no matter whether you own a business or are employed by one, you can take advantage of the Spanish-speaking market.
2. English: Everyone who has learned another language can confirm that the process of learning that language forced them to take a second look at what they knew and understood about English, which strengthened their English-language skills.
3. Gateway: If you learn Spanish as your first Romance language, which is the most regular among them and therefore the easiest among them to learn, you’ll have a leg up on learning the other Romance languages. You’ll have a strong sense of how to pronounce Italian, even though Italian is pronounced a bit differently and is not quite as regular as Spanish. You’ll recognize a lot of Portuguese words, even though most are pronounced a little or a lot differently than their Spanish counterparts. You’ll be able to squint at Romanian and be able to guess much better at the meanings of what you’re reading than if you did not know Spanish. And, you’ll start to see French in a new light — not knowing how to pronounce most of it but getting better at recognizing the linguistic connections between French and English.
4. History: How can you say that you have a solid grasp of world history without knowing the history of Spain’s multi-century influence on the world? Spanish proficiency facilitates this in innumerable ways.
5. Internet: Granted, the Internet was invented in the U.S., but face it: Not everybody on the Internet speaks English! Do you want to create a website to reach Spanish speakers? Do you want to understand a blog posting or manufacturer’s website that was written in Spanish? Do you want to make friends with Spanish speakers worldwide? The Internet’s ninety million Spanish speakers are waiting for you.
6. Music: Some of the best singers in the world, including Gloria Estefan and Jon Secada, have released albums in English and Spanish. Other super-talented singers, including soloists and groups from Argentina, Colombia, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, release albums only in Spanish. Knowing Spanish, which lets you know what they’re singing, adds tremendously to your enjoyment of their songs.
7. Politics: Unless you live in a vacuum in the U.S. or you don’t live in the U.S., it’s hard not to know about the growing influence of Mexico on U.S. politics. This influence affects everything from border security to illegal immigration, drug smuggling, English as a second language (ESL) in government-run schools, capital punishment, gang warfare, third- and fourth-generation Mexican-Americans calling themselves “Mexicans”, bilingual voting ballots, “sanctuary” cities, driver licenses, political disputes about what work Americans will and won’t do, and a sense of “La Reconquista” (“The Reconquering”) entitlement among a subpopulation of the U.S. Being able to speak and read the language of America’s southern neighbor will give you a better handle on all of this.
8. Travel: Knowing Spanish will help you to get the most out of your travel to those twenty-one countries where Spanish is the official language and where you can see some of the most beautiful nature, art, and architecture in the world. And, given that there are some 450 million Spanish speakers worldwide, being able to read, speak, and understand Spanish will be a boon to you in any country where Spanish is not the official language but is the second or third language for many residents and is the first, second, or third language for many tourists in that country (such as Brazil).

Where, When, and How Much Do You Want to Learn Spanish?

I first studied Spanish for two years in high school. When I began to pursue mathematics degrees in college, Spanish was not one of the approved languages (because the leading foreign mathematicians were French, German, or Russian).

So, my Spanish skills weakened until some two decades later, when I took a Spanish course from the Accelerated Foreign Language program at the University of Houston. And then I took another, and another, and another, until I had completed twelve levels in a little over two years.

The program at U of H is one of the best in the country because of its use of accelerated-language-learning techniques. These techniques work very well.

The challenges for most people reading this are:

1. They don’t live in Houston, Texas.
2. They don’t have the flexibility to spend two full weekends or two full weeknights per course.
3. They don’t want to spend the current rate of $405 per course.

This is why most people need an alternative that addresses where, when, and how much:

1. You want to take the course where you live.
2. You want to pursue the course whenever you desire.
3. You want to spend much less than $405 for the course.

Visual Link Spanish to the Rescue!

I have found a Spanish-language course called “Visual Link Spanish” that meets all three of these criteria.

Not only that, but you can try an online, five-minute demo — FREE!

Here are just three of the many features of Visual Link Spanish that I like:

1. Its trademarked “Visual Link” method teaches you to build hundreds of complete sentences after only one hour of instruction.
2. It focuses on conversational skills, just as my much more expensive U of H courses did.
3. You can reinforce your lessons on the go via audio CD, something that my U of H courses did not provide.

Click here to see everything that comes with Visual Link Spanish. Beyond my courses at U of H, I have bought several language-learning materials over the years, and I can tell you that what you get with the Visual Link Spanish course is an excellent deal.

Do you want to learn Spanish? Why are you still waiting?

Check out Visual Link Spanish online today!

You can even try it on a free CD-ROM ($1.95 S/H).

I highly recommend Visual Link Spanish, and there is no risk.