Four Reasons To Teach Your Children Spanish
With dual immersion programs rising around the world, parents are faced with a tricky question: Which second language should they choose for their child? Some parents may be weighing the pros and cons of teaching Spanish, French, German, Latin - all beneficial. With so many options, which should you choose?
Here are four reasons we recommend teaching Spanish as the ideal second language:
1. Spanish is the second most spoken native language in the world second only to Mandarin Chinese
That means, if your child learns Spanish, they’ll better be able to communicate with the nearly 550 million people who speak Spanish in the world.
This ability to communicate with such a mass percentage of the globe will provide your child with a wide variety of benefits, including a broader job market, global traveling possibilities, and a growing appreciation for cultures across the world.
2. Teaching Spanish will help your child travel the globe
21 countries consider Spanish their national language, and many more regularly use the Spanish language. They’ll gain insights into various cultures that are easier when you can communicate with the native people of that country.
When your children are fluent in more than one language, their value to companies rises exponentially. Teaching your child Spanish increases their attractiveness to the business world and will aid their job hunt someday.
3. Spanish is the most commonly studied second language in the U.S., and your child will have plenty of opportunities to use it!
Teaching children Spanish early gives kids a competitive edge and the opportunity to really benefit from school instruction later in life. Too often we hear about students who took two years of high school Spanish and promptly forgot it all. With early instruction into Spanish, your child is more likely to retain and absorb Spanish than older children.
If you begin your child’s immersion into the Spanish language young (Feppy Box and other professionals recommend three years old), they’ll be ahead of the “academic game” by the time they reach language classes in their education. It turns out that Spanish helps children better understand English because of its latin roots and introductions into grammar.
And it won’t just help your child around the globe. More than 40 million people speak Spanish at home in the US. Analysts estimate that the Latino population in the US will reach close to 130 million in the next 40 years. Feppy helps young kids develop that initial understanding and ear for Spanish, as they grow older, they’ll learn it (and use it!) all around them.
4. Spanish is an easy language to learn
English and Spanish languages have many similarities because of their mutual roots in Latin. English and Spanish both share hundreds of cognates, words that sound the same in both languages, and that makes Spanish a breeze for native English speakers to pick up on! If your child wants to find some yummy local chocolate while traveling in a Spanish-speaking country in their future, great news, they can just ask for el chocolate!
In comparison to English, Spanish has fairly straightforward grammar rules, and shares the same alphabet with the English language. Your child might have to learn how to pronounce a few letters differently, but children’s immediate familiarity with such a large percentage of the Spanish vocabulary, alphabet, and simple grammar rules will help them learn quickly.
On top of it all, there’s so much practicality and so many opportunities to practice the Spanish language often, and that real-world practice will make Spanish much easier to pick up than other languages.
Setting your child up for success can mean many different things, but in this case it means providing them with the ability to communicate and develop relationships with those in their social circles and communities who speak Spanish!
As you begin your journey of teaching your child Spanish at a young age, Feppy Box can be there every step of the way with our boxes that are designed to introduce Spanish in a natural and immersive way!