So why learn Spanish? Well, there are a million reasons. To begin with, it's the most widespread language after English, spoken by over 330 million people in more than 20 countries. It is the official language of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela. It is also widely spoken in Belize, Gibraltar and the US, with one state, New Mexico and the territory of Puerto Rico having it as a co-official language. It is also spoken by some segments of the population of Aruba, Canada, Israel, northern Morocco, Netherlands Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Western Sahara. All 3000 inhabitants of Easter Island also speak Spanish.

Quite impressive, eh?

Few people in Japan study Spanish for business reasons, but hopefully that will change as trade relations with Argentina, Spain, Chile and especially Mexico (since the free trade agreement) increase. From Spain, sadly, and in spite of its excellent and cheap wine, oil and leather, the only thing that Japan is importing is red tuna.

But most people study it just for fun. And it is fun. With only five vowels (the same as Japanese) and one sound (r) that the Japanese language lacks, the pronunciation is easy and ensures that you can start communicating right away, even at a basic level. And that, communicating, is what it is all about, right?

So there. I can still think of a couple more reasons, like Gabriel García Márquez or Alejandro Amenábar, but if you don't know them I will let you discover those by yourself. Enjoy.