Why English is Everything

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When I first signed up for this gig, I knew I was coming down here to do something important; however, the more time I spend in Colombia, the more I am realizing just how important that something is.

To quote one of my Colombian friends: “In Colombia, English is everything.”

Wait just a darn minute… isn’t Colombia a Spanish-speaking country?

Well, duh—I’m reminded of this every time I attempt to order an empanada at the local tienda.

So if everyone speaks Spanish here, then why is learning English so important?

During my second week in Colombia, the other WorldTeach volunteers and I had the opportunity to listen to a presentation by Carlos Cano, one of Colombia’s top economic advisors—more or less, Colombia’s Alan Greenspan—at the Colombian Central Bank.

Mr. Cano told us that English is still the language of knowledge—more books, scientific papers and other important research documents are written in English than in any other language. In other words, a lack of English roughly equates to a lack of knowledge.

English is also still the international language for business—without at least a working knowledge of English, conducting international business is virtually impossible. Naturally, those who know English get better jobs than those who don’t. In other words—if you know English, you will have money and if you don’t, you will be poor.



Read the rest at my TravelBlog

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Photos

Colombian Students
My students at Nueva Esperanza