The perceived reason is that so much business opportunities are out there. (NAFTA was cited as one reason why American businessmen chose Spanish as their second language.) According to Businessweek, MBA students around the world choose to become trilingual, the choices being English, French and Spanish. Learning Spanish helps improve one s understanding of English. One reason for this is the fact that much of the English vocabulary has Latin origins by way of French incorporated into English. Spanish is a Latin language and learning its linguistic intricacies will provide a better understanding of the English language as a whole. Reading is another thing that will help you. Aside from self-study books, you could also read some Spanish newspapers to practice your reading skills. You could even practice your Spanish writing by summarizing or writing opinions with what you have read on the newspapers. Immerse yourself in the culture, listen to Spanish songs and watch Spanish movies. Those who have knowledge of four or more years of another language would usually get higher scores on the verbal section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (S.A.T.). Children also developed better listening skills since it is important when learning proper pronunciation. With all these benefits, how do you start teaching your child another language? And because Spanish and English have almost the same grammar, learning Spanish is a good way to review the English sentence structure, which you would otherwise ignore in normal occasions. Your knowledge of Spanish, and therefore Latin, will also make you more adept at understanding and using medical and legal terms, many of which have Latin origins. Longer sessions, especially on your own and not in a class, have a tendency of making you lose your interest. Shorter periods feel like reviews and they stick better in your brain. Question: I understand enough Spanish to talk with people but it takes me longer to answer because I tend to think my answer in English first and translate it into Spanish.