Learn Spanish

More and more people taking a gap year or career break are deciding they would like to do something constructive for some of the time they're away, rather than simply spending the entire time travelling. If you fall in to this category one of the best things you can do is learn a language. While it is pretty much always possible to get by with English in most countries in the world, if you can speak at least some of the local language it can make life much easier and greatly adds to the overall experience. One of the most versatile and useful languages you can learn on a gap year, (thanks to Christopher Columbus discovering the ‘New World' for Spain), is Spanish. If you learn Spanish you will be able to speak to local people in most countries in Central and South America (with Brazil - where Portuguese is the main language - being the only exception).

Away from the major cities and tourist hot-spots in Latin America far fewer people speak English, so if you learn Spanish it is a great help when you are travelling. If you plan to do some volunteer work while you are in Central or South America it is pretty much vital that you learn Spanish. If you learn Spanish it really doesn't matter if you make mistakes - it's all about giving it a go and getting your message across. If you learn Spanish local people usually greatly appreciate your efforts, as they are so used travellers turning up in their country and expecting everyone to be able to speak English to them.

If you learn Spanish it can be a great deal of fun too. Modern language teaching is all about getting the whole class involved with an emphasis on enjoying the learning experience - rather than just repeating words and phrases ‘parrot-fashion' and copying down notes written down on a blackboard. If you learn Spanish it's a great way to meet other like-minded travellers who are attending the same language school as you and many people return home having forged lifelong friendships. If you learn Spanish it's also an excellent skill to be able to add to your CV - and shows that you didn't just spend your entire gap year or career break lying on a beach!

All of Real Gap's programmes in Latin America provide the opportunity to learn Spanish. There are two main types of programme if you want to learn Spanish. If you just want to learn Spanish before you get stuck in to travelling around the region then this is possible in most of the countries we visit. The second main option is to attend a language school in order to learn Spanish and combine your studies with some volunteer work, either once you have finished your language course or during the time when you are not attending lessons. Where you decide to learn Spanish will obviously largely depend on which countries you are planning to visit on your gap year or career break. As all of Real Gap's programmes in Central and South America allow you to learn Spanish it's worth spending some time reading up on all of the various options in order to decide which one most suits you.

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