. WHY LEARN SPANISH?

. • Better understand and speak to family, friends, customers or co-workers and/or to improve in your professional career.
. • Travel to or work in a Spanish speaking country and/or satisfy requirements for a degree.

Top 4 Economic benefits of learning Spanish:

1. Become more marketable. If you are looking for a job, having Spanish skills on your resume looks very appealing to future employers. It shows you have the ability to learn something new and the vision and discipline to plan for the future.
2. Get a raise at your current job. Companies often offer raises to employees who know Spanish. These companies see the great benefit of having their employees know Spanish and are willing to reward them for it. Ask your current employer to see what is available at your company.
3. Open up new markets. Small businesses can expand their customer base by opening up to the Hispanic market.
4. Save money when you travel. Shop owners in Mexico sometimes artificially raise prices for tourists. Knowing Spanish will allow you to bargain with the shop owner and get the item you are trying to purchase down to a more reasonable price. This will save you money on your next trip!

With the number of Spanish speakers living in the US growing, the opportunities for those who speak Spanish appear to be growing as well. These opportunities can turn into financial advantages to benefit those who know the language.

. HOW LEARN SPANISH?

. There are many ways to learn a language. These are just a few of them:

• Use a self-teaching course; these may include CDs, videotapes or audio-cassettes as well as text books and exercises; you follow the course on your own and assess your progress as you go along. Courses are available for most languages and most levels from beginners to advanced. They are available from many bookshops, and sometimes can be hired from your local library.
• Watch TV! Many broadcasting companies offer language courses via television or radio programs.
• Surf the web! There are more and more Internet sites offering lessons in foreign languages, often with sound and pictures.
• Learn with a teacher. In most parts of Europe there are language classes available for adults. Classes often take place during the evening. The advantage of taking lessons with a group of other learners is that you have friends to encourage you in your learning and a teacher to guide you according to your specific needs.
• Learn at work. More and more employers are recognizing that foreign language skills are vital to the success of their business. Many of the larger companies offer free or subsidized language courses.

Of course, you can combine some or all of these methods, or use different methods at different stages in your learning. You can choose the way to learn a language that's most suited to you, depending on your learning style and your personal circumstances such as:

• Where you live (e.g. whether there is a language course nearby).
• How much time you have available.
• What languages are you interested in.
• What your reasons are for wanting to learn a language.

Useful Experience.
• If you have an interest in languages in themselves, including your mother tongue, you'll make a good language learner.
• Previous experience of language learning also helps. If you've already learned one language, you will have picked up some techniques which you can apply to a new language. This is because you need to learn how to learn a language.
• If you've never learned a foreign language before: don't worry! Anyone can do it!

Study Skills.
Like anything else that's worthwhile, you need to invest a little time and energy in learning a language, but it's also fun!
Here are some ideas to help:

• How quickly you progress will depend upon you, but it helps if you can set aside a regular time each day or each week to study your language. In 2-4 hours per week you can make good progress.
• Keep a check on your progress. Many courses now include tests to help you see what you have learned, and what you need to concentrate on.
• There are many things you can do to reinforce what you learn on your course, such as listening to foreign radio or watching films in their original language, even reading children's books is useful!
• Remember that everyone learns in a different way, so try out out different approaches and see which worked best for you.
• Don't be afraid to try out your new language whenever and wherever possible. You may be able to meet people nearby who speak the language you're learning; or you may be able to exchange letters or e-mails with someone abroad.
• Foreign travel is, of course, where foreign languages come into their own and your new skills enable you to make contact. See if you can plan a trip abroad -even a short one- as something to aim for, and whilst abroad use every chance you can to practice your skills. Generally, people are pleased to hear you trying to speak their language and will make allowances if you don't exactly get it right.
• Enjoy learning!