Why Study Spanish? An introduction to Spanish 1 Graham High/Graham Middle

#1 - It’s Popular! There are approx. 7,000 languages in the world today. Spanish is the 2 nd most spoken language in the world!. (Chinese is #1.) There are about 500 million Spanish speakers in the world today.

Spanish is… …the official language of 22 countries. … the 2 nd largest native language in the world. … the 2 nd language used for international communication. Internet … the 3 rd most used language used on the Internet.

#2 - It’s Easy! For English speakers, Spanish is the easiest and fastest language to learn. Among the most difficult languages for English speakers are Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic.

To learn Spanish with proficiency… …you can spend weeks or classes. This is seems like a lot. It’s really… OR - 6 months fully immersed OR - 4 years of high school Spanish. (less if you are a super motivated student!)

#3 – It’s Smart! There have been 11 Nobel Prizes awarded in Spanish. Spanish is the 2 nd most studied language. (In 2010 over 20 million were studying it.) Up to the 18 th century, Spanish was the diplomatic language.

Being bilingual… …improves your memory. …improves social skills. … reduces depression. …helps you focus on goals.

Myth #1 The United States does not have an “official” language. That’s right! English is NOT the “official” language of the U.S. ! 38 million people in the US speak Spanish. - There are 380 languages spoken in the USA. 38 million people in the US speak Spanish.

Myth #2 Spanish isn’t that important in America. Well, 79.2% of our households speak English. Of the remaining 20%, nearly 6 out of 10 speak Spanish. *If our Hispanic population were its own country, it would be the 2 nd largest Spanish-speaking country…behind Mexico.

Let’s watch… 2P6MH1Q 2P6MH1Q What Do Hispanics Look Like? 4bqZM