Why Learning Spanish Gives Your Child a Future Career Advantage

When Barack Obama recently stated that he believed American children should learn to speak Spanish, a large number of people were outraged.  However, there are many reasons why learning Spanish as a second language is excellent for children and why it could help them in their future careers.

While many people like to argue that English is our national language, America does not have an official national language.  According to the US Census Bureau in 2011, the Hispanic population of the US is 50 million, making Hispanics account for almost 20 percent of our nation’s total population.  Considering that such a large percentage of the American populace speaks Spanish, it would seem like a worthwhile skill to learn.  After all, there are career opportunities within every field that require people who are bilingual.  Teaching your children to speak Spanish can help them increase job prospects as they get older.

Of course, learning Spanish alongside your children can be a wonderful bonding experience, and will give you some benefits as well.  There are many studies that show a range of mental benefits to learning a second language at any age, and it can actually help increase brain function and make you smarter in many ways.  Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese, and teaching it to your children really can offer them many benefits in life, even if they never travel abroad.

Ultimately, it is the decision of every parent whether or not their child should learn Spanish.  With so much evidence pointing to the benefits of learning a second language and so many people worldwide who speak Spanish, however, it makes sense to at least consider getting Spanish lessons for your children, or even learning the language together.