Wednesday, March 27, 2013

17 Reasons Every American Should Learn Spanish

The Huffington Post ran a piece this week explaining why all Americans should learn Spanish.  Among other things, apparently, being bilingual increases intelligence.

“Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter,” Yudhijit Bhattacharjee wrote earlier this year in a piece for the New York Times Sunday Review. “It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.”


Other reasons identified in the article included, the fact that it helps your English, that it it is the second most common language in the world, and that it can help you get a job.  No surprises there.  

Check out the full list for motivation at Huff Post.  

Saludos,

SG

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Paella and Four Other Things to do in Valencia, Spain

Sick of browsing through the soft bods in your dad's old issues of Travel+Leisure?  Want to know where to find club drugs in Beijing?  I discovered the travel blog Off Track Planet this week, and I think you'll like it.

The design and photos are top notch (get your weak typography and cellphone pics out of here!), and the features range from "Volunteering for Broke Ass Travelers" to "Partying Your Ass Off in ____" and everything in between.

Imagine the guys from Vice birthed a bastard blog child fathered by Nomadic Matt.  The writers manage to keep it edgy without coming off like complete clowns.

It looks like they are in the middle of a refresh so request an invite to the new site, and then check out their previous content here.

Now, the main item I wanted to pass along.  Since we have a Spanish School in Valencia, Spain I figured the following list would be of interest to anyone considering studying with us:

5 Things You Must Do in Valencia Spain (Off Track Planet)

Go easy on the frothy milk.  Enjoy.

SGSS


Tuesday, March 19, 2013

An Exhaustive List of Travel and Language Resources

Jim Becker, Professor Emeritus at the University of Northern Iowa has put together an extensive (and we mean crrrraazzzzy EXTENSIVE) list of Spanish language learning resources on his website (including SG Spanish Schools).  He also features lists of language learning resources from all over the world!

Check out the list of Spanish resources here and book a ticket to start your learning adventure!

SG

Friday, March 1, 2013

Why Americans Don't Travel

On the Work Learn Go blog a while back, I attempted to explain why Americans travel less than their European counterparts.  In my opinion it boils down to a mix of fear, nationalism and geographic isolation.

I also believe this is changing.  New generations of Americans are more open-minded than their parents and grandparents and realize that the problems of their lifetimes are global and require global solutions.  A more global perspective should, in theory, begin to eliminate some of the ignorance and xenophobia that plagues so many of our citizens and in turn, lead more Americans to travel abroad.  Time will tell.

You can read my original article here:  Why Americans Don't Travel