by Jimmy Jenkins

Created on: March 24, 2009

With the world we live in today, you really aren't very intelligent if you don't learn some sort of a second language, rather it be Mexican, Spanish, French, Italian, German, portugese, Arabic, etc. Actually you should learn more than two if you want to keep up in the job world, which is now global. Ok, you should learn a second language, but when? I guess that is the question that I am here to answer today.

Some of us weren't lucky enough to be taught a second language when we were babies, toddlers, or even young children because our parents and schools didn't see the need. Some of us had to wait until high school to learn a second language. For me, I learned Spanish starting in the ninth grade. I remember thinking how difficult it was because I had absolutely no background whatsoever in the Spanish language. I was real close to dropping that class, but now am extremely thankful that I didn't because now I can speak Spanish fluently, as well as most natives, and can travel to Spain, Mesico, or any other Spanish speaking country with ease.

Although I'm a great Spanish speaker, my journey to learn the language was a long and turbulent one and not really an enjoyable process. I wanted to give up many. many times. I think it would have been way easier had my parents started to teach me a Spanish word here and there as a toddler while I was learning English and if my pre-school and elementary school teachers had assed some Spanish to the curriculum here and there to refresh and expand my knowledge. I think this would have made my learning of Spanish a more enjoyable process and I would've been able to jump to advanced studies of it at a younger age. I may have even felt more confident in traveling abroad at a younger age which could have given me opportunities that I wasn't able to have until college where I finally felt confident in my Spanish speaking abilities and wanted to travel to Spanish speaking countries and truly test my abilities.

So, in conclusion, I'm here to tell you that it is very important to learn at least one second language if not more in your lifetime, and I think that in order to learn languages effectively they must be taught starting at a very young age. Parents, teachers, and schools need to work together to assure the all children have the opportunity to learn a second language and broaden their horizons, its the greatest gift you can give a child.

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