I'm really glad I learned how to speak Spanish

What was the best part about learning Spanish?  

Spanish and English are neck-and-neck as the second most spoken language in the world. As of 1999, Spanish had 332 million speakers, while English had 322 million.  However, in the US, the state of California alone has 5.5 million people who speak Spanish at home with high populations in Texas (3.4 million), New York (1.8 million) and Florida (1.5 million) as well.  That said, the best part about learning Spanish was knowing that I could practically travel any where in the world and have the ability to communicate with others.

What was the most difficult part?   

The most difficult part of mastering Spanish (in America and in states other than the ones mentioned before) is finding people to practice with; without verbal practice, there is little room for improvement.  Along those lines is also getting over the fear of embarrassment.  Especially for perfectionists, the fear of pronouncing a word wrong or coming off like a total amateur is quite humiliating -- but you need humility!  If I could point the top three most difficulties of learning Spanish (or a foreign language), they would be:

1) Finding a speech/verbal practice partner;

2) Speaking the language on a consistent basis;

3) Trying to not integrate English with Spanish (or speaking Spanglish).


What advice would you give someone who's interested in Subject?

For anyone that is interested in learning Spanish, I would advise that they take into consideration my top three difficulties.  Furthermore, I would advise learners to travel abroad to fully immerse themselves into the culture and language.  Studying the language in a native country of that language is the BEST way to learn.

Check out this great class to learn Spanish:
http://www.teachstreet.com/teacher/jorge-vera