Why did you begin to learn Spanish?
Hi,
I'm a 33 year old dutchspeaking guy from Belgium, and about 16 years ago I traveled to Spain (Benidorm) with a friend and we had the best holiday ever! We met some Spanish people who learned us our first Spanish words, hamaca, jilipollas, and things like that. From then on I loved the spanish language. In the years following that holiday, I learned new words and expressions and learned to communicate a little bit on holidays with the local people.
A few weeks ago I stumbled on this great website, and since I never seriously learned Spanish, I decided to go for it. I really love the lessons and hope this will improve my spanish vocabulary and speach significantly.
So I don't really have a motive to learn Spanish, except for being able to chat with locals on holidays and because I just love the language (and maybe to impress friends 
)
But why did you learn to speak Spanish?
4 Answers
Spanish is the 3rd most spoken language in the world (after chinese and english) and it is spoken in a large number of different places. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the US (where it is growing tremendously) and is also popular on the internet, so having spanish on your resume is most definitely a plus.
Spanish is much easier than chinese or english, and learning spanish vastly improved my understanding of english. Things like infinitives and the subjunctive were hard for me to grasp, but after I learned spanish, I had something to compare them to, and everything clicked. It made me realize how messy a language english really is (spelling!).
Last of all and probably most important, I think spanish is just plain fun. Being bilingual lets you communicate with hundreds of millions of new people, make new friends, and have countless more opportunities in today's world. :D
I was teaching English in Bolivia and it was embarrassing not knowing anything.
BUT it got me out of teaching the small kids - tough job that.
While working on a project in Mexico in 1996, it was becoming more and more frustrating to sit through meetings and listen to the extended translations and the wasted time....(relaize that everything has to be said twice. In the original language and then the translated language.) So a young engineer and I decided to learn the language. We started out with simple words, technical terms from the engineering drawings and of course.....questions to the bartender (cantinero). First phrase I learned was "¿Como de dice....?" Long story short, have become quite fluent but more importantly, it has been a value added to me at my job, now having done 5 projects in Mexico and 3 in Spain as well as being a translator within our department. And oh....to imporve my skills I married a beautiful señorita and have a wonderful relationship with her family in Mexico. We'll be retiring there in the not to distant futue...."Si Dios Quiere".
While I was pregnant with my daughter, I decided I wanted her to be bilingual. And since Spanish was the language I had really wanted to take when I was in school (They only taught French at the time.) it's the one I chose. After quite a lot of research, I found that the best way to accomplish this seemed to be to expose her to the language early. Even though she is only 8 months old she prefers listening to her Spanish music CDs and watching her DVDs in Spanish.
I decided to try to learn a few words and sentences so I could speak to her a little in Spanish too. I just didn't realize how fun and addicting it would be! I love learning Spanish. I can't wait until she starts talking. I want to see what her first Spanish word will be. 
