Tacos have always been at the top of my favorite foods list, falling short only to bacon and chocolate. There’s something about Old El Paso seasoned beef, black beans, pico de gallo, shredded cheese and, most importantly, sliced avocado that makes my taste buds go crazy.

And thank goodness for that, because it was my love for tacos that helped me decide to start studying Spanish in junior high school. I wish I had a better, perhaps more sophisticated reason to base this story off of, but unfortunately I was at a point in my life where food greatly undermined practicality. Lucky for me, it ended up being one of the most worthwhile choices I ever made, for according to InfoPlease, Spanish is now the second-most spoken language in the world, second only to Mandarin (English is third, to give a point of reference).

As I’ve reached my later years of study, though not even close to fluent, I have already begun to see the ways in which it has been worth working at. There have been many a time that I’ve questioned staying with it, often involving an impending grammar quiz filled with vocabulary I don’t know and conjugations I can’t seem to get in my head, but such times become trivial when put looked at from the grand scheme of things. Having a background in more than one language is far more than a résumé booster, for there is more to learning a language than memorizing vocabulary words.

It’s more about discovering the culture of countries and people that that language pulls together. It’s about the message that so many books, stories, songs, and pieces of art and history can never be completely translated, so in learning that language one can come a little closer to understanding. We live in an age of constant misunderstanding, where even people who are speaking the same language don’t seem to comprehend one another. Therefore, the more we do to familiarize ourselves with those who speak different languages or come from different cultures, the easier it will be for our varying perspectives to coexist.

With all of that said, there are smaller reasons that hold just as much importance. The learning process is certainly not an easy one, and the times I’ve messed up terribly and spoken utter gibberish in front of a classroom of expecting peers and professors has forced me to become more comfortable with completely failing and then learning from it. It has opened doors for study abroad options and shown me parts of the world I would have otherwise never learned about. Most importantly, it has helped improve my eloquence in English, for I never even thought about grammar rules or conjugations (nor was all that good at English grammar) before having to start anew and not learn a language from birth.

There will always be times when I question willingly subjecting myself to learning a new languages, and such times are when I go back to my taco-driven roots for some motivation. So go find the language of your taco; trust me, it will be worth it.

Language Statistic Source