Why Learn Conversational Spanish?

Why should you consider learning conversational Spanish? English-speaking North Americans point out that they can go from Florida to Alaska (about 4000 miles) and get by just fine with only English.

That's true. But you can go from Tijuana, Mexico to Punta Arenas, Southern Chile and only need/can use Spanish. And that's a distance of over 6,000 miles!

What's more, Spanish is arguably the third most-spoken language in the world (after Chinese and English). And the country with the 5th largest population of native Spanish speakers in the world is the U.S.A.! So people in the U.S. and Canada need to learn conversational Spanish just to be able to communicate with their neighbors.

Also, Spanish is widely spoken in Western Europe. You can do very well there if you speak both English and Spanish.

O.K., O.K. So maybe it's useful. Is it hard to learn?

No, not if you are a native English speaker. There are many Latin roots and influences in English. Spanish is directly descended from Latin. Thus there are many common words, like actor and tranquil for example. Same meaning and spelling just different pronunciations. In Spanish: ac-TOR, tran-KEEL.

Moreover there are hundreds of words that quickly become understandable because of their similarities. English tranquility is the same as Spanish tranquilidad. Responsibility = responsibilidad. Activity = actividad and so on.

But who's got time to learn another language?

There is less problem with the time needed than you might think. Forget about the old way of learning languages. Forget traditional classroom drudgery - conjugating verbs, learning vocabulary.

Today's fastest way to learn Spanish is to first learn conversational Spanish (which is the same way you learned English). You once learned See Spot. See Spot run! Now learn Vea Espot, Vea Espot corre!

When you learn conversational Spanish, you start with a few basic words, you learn by using them. Then you gradually expand, adding more words, dealing with more complex ideas and just keep on expanding your knowledge and ability to communicate.

And you don't need a classroom. You can learn conversational Spanish just fine by downloading an interactive-audio learning course. Good ones are available for less than $100.

Download the mp3 files to your hard disk, then offload to your iPod or burn your lessons to CD's. With that, your learn Spanish download becomes portable and mobile. And you are getting the pronunciation right, from native Spanish speakers!

You can learn anytime, anywhere, and you teach yourself Spanish! You can learn while exercising, while driving long distances. You can learn in the morning, at night, on weekends. You learn whenever and wherever you want to. And you are getting the pronunciation right, from native Spanish speakers!

So download yourself a good Spanish-learning course and teach yourself Spanish. You can even be learning it on the plane next time you go to Cancun!

Jorge Chavez is a writer and businessman. He grew up with English and began to learn Spanish after he was 30. Now he has three groups of friends, family and clients: one that only speaks Spanish, one that only speaks English and a third that, like him, speaks both Spanish and English.
Click on this link for the best way to learn Spanish, best way to learn Spanish fast and easy, visit his Learn Conversational Spanish website.