Six (useless) reasons to study Spanish

January is here and so are the New Year’s Resolutions. We all are thinking about being more productive and improving ourselves both personal and professionally, as if we were a brand meant to be polish. Inadvertently, we are in the 2nd of January with a bunch of new things to do and no motivation at all.

Maybe one of this so many New Year’s Resolutions is learning or improving a language. And maybe your motivation is finding a job, learning it as fast as possible, marking a milestone. But sometimes this doesn’t work.

Motivation is a Key Factor in Learning Spanish

When I was studying to become a Spanish teacher I found out something: motivation is a key factor. When you are motivated your capacity of memorising and understanding improves and the odds of quitting decrease. However, sometimes we look for motivation in strange places and we turn something enjoyable into another burden, a weigh like working or cleaning the house.

Personally, I am quite against this tendency of making everything useful. We live in a world where it looks like you are wasting your time if you are not doing something productive. And we are, of course, burn out with this dynamics. We live exhausted and feeling our own hobbies hollowly.

It is for all these reasons that I would like to show you a few ideas about why to learn Spanish even though it seems meaningless.

Why learning Spanish is a really good idea?

1. Because you feel like doing it. Is there any better reason? Last summer I spent a lot of time studying Old English. Was it useful? Not too much. But I was completely in the mood for doing it and I had the best time discovering new things about an old language.
2. Because you like reading/watching films/listening to music. One of the things I enjoy the most when I learn a new language is being able of going into the culture in it own language. There are a lot of books, songs, films and shows waiting for you.
3. Because you want to learn history and culture first-hand. Not everything is beautiful in the different Spanish speaking cultures. In fact, there are a lot of unpleasant things. Learning Spanish will help you to discover every face: without hate, but also without idealization. Sometimes, we try to understand other cultures from our cultural perspective, and that is a mistake. Being able of talking, reading newspapers or watching the news will provide you the tools against prejudices, stereotypes and clichés. For example, did you know that not a lot of people dance sevillanas in Spain? And, did you know that most of the population in Spain is against bullfights?
4. Spanish language has a lot of cousins. And it will introduce you to the others willingly. Knowing Spanish it will be easier understanding languages like Galician, Catalan or Italian.
5. Because of your brain. Learning Spanish or any other language is really good for your brain. It will keep your mind active and agile, thinking differently and creating new paths. And there are even studies suggesting that knowing languages reduces the risk of cognitive decline.
6. Because you want to do something different after a difficult year. When you are feeling blue nothing is better than a good psychotherapy, but other things could help. A few years ago I had a bad streak. I could not find a job and I did not have day-to-day motivation. However, I had my English lessons twice a week. In that space I could think about something different in a challenging way. Besides, I spoke a lot. Speaking in a different language gives you the opportunity of being more open since you are so focused on not making mistakes. That was quite liberating.

These are my reasons. But you are probably thinking about others. What I want is you to remember that learning Spanish must be enjoyable. Somewhere to forget about your daily life, a refugee, a place to feel safety and peace.

And remember, if you need any help for Spanish classes, feel free to contact me. I will be happy to help.