There’s a staggering number of people out there who speak Spanish. You probably already know that it’s one of the most spoken languages in the entire world, but a lot of people still haven’t quite grasped just how many people speak the language. Estimates have put the total figures somewhere around 420 million at least, and close to 500 million when being less conservative.
People do often overestimate how much of an edge Spanish has over the English language when it comes to sheer numbers. In truth, Spanish is only slightly ahead. If you count the number of people who have learned English as a second language, then Spanish doesn’t have that big a lead in terms of numbers.
This is why so many English-speaking people can travel all over the world quite comfortably without ever learning more than a few very basic terms in other languages. English is the lingua franca, and that’s probably not going to change any time soon.
So the argument goes that there’s no point in learning a language like Spanish. Why bother learning any language if it’s so easy to go on vacations without needing to speak in or listen to a foreign tongue? Well, the fact is that knowing another language will make your vacations that much more enjoyable and educational. When you don’t know the language of a country in which you’re vacationing, you’re actually missing out on an awful lot about that country.
Enrich your travelling experience
Think about all the incredible and interesting countries where Spanish is the primary language. Argentina. Colombia. Cuba. Peru. (Peru is basically worth visiting for its coffee alone!) These lands are rich with incredible cultures and interesting people – and knowing Spanish will help you deepen your appreciation of it all. It could be argued that no travel experience is really complete unless you’re able to speak to the natives of that land. If you’re only going to a country to gawk, then perhaps you don’t need to know the language. But what if you want more?
Understand your surroundings
Consider your daily life in your home country. Wherever you look, you can understand every sign, poster, shop name, etc. When you understand the written word, you can scan your surroundings and find cool new places and novelties with ease.
Interact with the locals
When it comes to the spoken language, you can listen in on the amusing or otherwise interesting conversations with the locals, and even engage in them yourself. You can exchange stories, communicate problems, help others, and strike up other friendly conversations with ease.
Consider the above; you’d be missing out on a lot if you didn’t know the language of the place in which you live! This should help highlight to you just how much your experience and connection to the country is aided by your knowledge of its language. It’s these micro-communications that make you feel really connected to a place.
The truth is that, if you don’t know the language of the place you’re visiting, the bulk of your interaction with the place will be superficial. Besides, knowing the language will make you feel safer and make it easier for you to drift off the beaten path!
