We all have heard about the benefits of learning a second language. We have all heard that young children are almost at a genius level when it comes to acquiring a second language. Spanish is spoken by hundreds of millions of people natively, not to mention millions more as a second language. Learning Spanish for kids should be a no-brainer when it comes to considering the right educational path for one’s children.

Benefits to Learning a Foreign Language are crystal clear

Let me summarize why it is so important to our brain health to learn a second language, for all of us, not just young learners. Besides the obvious reasons, like giving your resume a great boost in appeal to potential employers and being super helpful when traveling, learning a second language has huge cognitive brain benefits. It is proven that the brains of multi-language speaking people work on a higher level than single language speaking people. When you speak more than one language your brain is able to focus more on the mechanics of language, such as grammar, sentence structure, and speech patterns. You are able to apply this new focus to your native language too which helps in many different ways. This makes you sound more intelligent, gives you more confidence when speaking and makes you a better negotiator… in summary, overall it makes you a more effective communicator.

“To have another language is to possess a second soul.”

– Charlemagne

Foreign Language Learning for Kids

We can all admit that all of the above are good reasons for us to want our children to learn a second language, but for kids, there are even more advantages.

Research has shown that learning a foreign language helps young people’s brain development. Their brain is at a critical stage of learning, and as we can all attest to, soaks up knowledge like a sponge. This is due to nature and our ancestors. Our natural defense mechanism, in the wild, was always our large brains and our ability to learn quickly so as to outsmart wild animals running after us. Children, in order to survive, developed this critical stage in their brain development so that they could learn as much as possible in a short period of time, and this is how they better guaranteed their survival. Second language acquisition in children helps improve brain development during this stage. This cognitive improvement is attributed to helping children learning a second language, be more creative, better at solving complex problems, and score higher on standardized tests.

“Research has shown that learning a foreign language helps young people’s brain development”

Outside of the classroom, learning a second language opens the door to learning about other cultures, people, and gaining resources from other countries. Having this contact at a young age significantly broadens a child’s horizons and more thoroughly prepares them for the real world allowing them to appreciate how big the world really is.

Acquiring a second language is also awesome! We all know how impressed we are when someone tells us they speak a second or third language. Our opinion of a person changes drastically, and most often for the better, when we find out someone we have just met speaks foreign languages. It is impressive because we all know how much hard work it takes and hard work is respected in our society. This new found adoration from friends and community can give your child a big boost in confidence. So, all in all, for them it would be awesome to be able to tell people they speak another language.

Spanish for kids – Why Spanish is the Ideal Second Language for your Kids

There are many reasons to learn Spanish, but the number one reason should be that Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the world, and the second most spoken language in the United States. There are 577 million Spanish speakers and that number is expected to increase drastically over the next few years. This is due to the emerging markets in the Americas that are attracting businesses to increase their dealings with those countries. Professionals are finding it extremely helpful to be able to communicate with these emerging markets in their native tongue.

The number one spoken language in the world is Mandarin. It is known to be one of the most difficult languages to learn even for its own native speakers living in the country. It is especially difficult for Westerners to learn as it is so completely different from our own languages which are based mostly in Latin and Germanic roots. One could spend many many years learning Mandarin but still not be able to communicate in real world settings. This is why learning Mandarin as a second language is not necessarily the best idea despite it being the number one spoken language in the world.

On the other hand, Spanish has a huge appeal. It is rooted in Latin so that it isn’t necessary for for kids to learn a different alphabet. Spanish for kids is a good choice because many of the same sentence structures are used in other Western languages and the vocabulary only varies slightly in many words. Spanish for kids is much easier to learn than other languages, and one can study the language for only a few years and be able to communicate using it in many social settings. It is possible to be completely fluent in only five to six years!

Spanish for kids also leads to easier language acquisition of other Latin based languages, or Romance languages such as French, Italian and Portuguese. They are very similar and in a much shorter time span these kids can pick up a third or fourth language!

 

In conclusion, Spanish for kids is an excellent choice if you want your child to have improved cognitive development, greater social status, and just be awesome! There are so many proven benefits to learning a second language and Spanish for kids is just simply the best choice!