Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Why take Spanish lessons?

If you speak Spanish, you can communicate with almost 500 million people worldwide! Think how many more employment options that gives you! And if you want to take a trip to Spain or Latin America, a little knowledge of Spanish will go a long way.

Spanish Statistics
  • Spanish is the world's third most spoken language, after Mandarin Chinese and English, and ranks second in terms of native speakers.
  • At the end of the 19th century, 60 million people spoke Spanish. Today, almost 500 million people worldwide speak Spanish!
  • Spanish is the mother tongue of approximately 350 million people in 21 countries (Mexico: 98 million, Spain: 39 million, USA: 39 million, Argentina: 35 million, Colombia: 36 million, Venezuela: 22 million, Peru: 20 million…) It is also widely spoken in many more where it is not an official language.
  • Hispanic consumers are the fastest-growing market segment in North America. Their population in the USA has grown by 60% in just one decade and their buying power is expected to exceed $926 million by 2007.
  • Spanish is the second most used language in international communication, and an official language of the UN and its organisations.
Economic Indicators...
  • 29 million US residents above the age of 5 speak Spanish at home. That's approximately 1 of every 10 US residents, an enormous consumer and business-to-business market.
  • "The world is rapidly becoming multilingual and Arabic and Spanish are both key languages of the future" said language researcher David Graddol, commenting on a recent report presented to the British Council.
  • No one aware of the changing tides of business could fail to notice that we increasingly operate in global markets. Foreign language fluency is a significant asset for job seekers, as more and more companies trade internationally.
  • The US Census Bureau reports that the nation's Hispanic population is expected to jump to 49.3 million from 38.2 million by 2015. The 39 million Hispanics currently living in the USA make up 12.5% of the total population. This population growth has increased demand for Spanish language media: radio, television, newspapers, magazines...
  • Latin American countries are experiencing strong economic growth and becoming important global commercial partners. Newly created MERCOSUR and the existing free trade agreements between Hispanic countries and North America (ALADI, the Andean Community, CACM, NAFTA, G3), are expected to bring further growth to Latin American economies
  • Spanish language lessons

    INTENSA Spanish language schools is once again open after a long weekend. We had a three day weekend in celebration of Costa Rican mother's day. But now it is time to put our collective noses back to the grindstone and continue improving our courses and lessons so that INTENSA can be everything it is supposed to be.

    Friday, August 17, 2007

    Good Week

    It has been a good week at INTENSA Spanish language schools. On Wednesday, we celebrated mother's day with a luncheon for our staff who have the blessing of being a mother. It was a great affair. The mother's were serenaded by one of our students.
    On Monday, we will not be having English classes. In accordance with Costa Rican law, we will take Monday off so that our staff can enjoy a long weekend. And you can also have a great time at INTENSA Spanish language schools. Come down to Costa Rica for quality Spanish language lessons and adventure.

    Tuesday, August 14, 2007

    Lessons and adventure

    We are always trying to improve our services to our customers. We have continued to fine tune our Spanish lessons and adventure program. Our students can now choose from a wide variety of activities while they are learning Spanish in Costa Rica. Visit INTENSA Spanish Language Schools

    Wednesday, August 1, 2007

    HELLO AGAIN

    After a couple of very hectic weeks, here I am again. We are still working diligently on our Spanish language lessons and adventure program at INTENSA Spanish language schools. And our directory at www.intensa-spanish-language-lessons-costa-rica.net is still working very well for any of you who wish to make use of it.