The Best Bang for Your Buck Language Trifecta

If you are going to leave your home country, then mastering 1 or more foreign languages is mandatory.

Language learning however can be a slippery slope.

It’s a lifelong pursuit that requires regular practice and maintenance.

Perfection may make you obsessed, but unless you were born in a multilingual household it is unlikely that you’ll ever achieve true native fluency.

So instead you should aim for conversational skills on a high level, and if you truly love a country or culture then strive for fluency.

Language learning is a great hobby, but let's face it, we are too busy to set aside the massive time and discipline needed to master many languages.

So what I propose is that you learn 3 languages for the price of 2.5 languages.

These particular languages are exceptionally easy to learn if you already speak English (hint: English is one of them), and the vocabulary of all three languages stacks upon each other, making learning a breeze.

Even better is that these three languages combine to cover over half the world’s land mass, and open up nearly every climate on earth for you to experience.

And as a final bonus these languages open up low cost destinations, with attractive climates and easy residency.

So without further ado, if you want to gain the ability to speak to nearly 2.3 billion people then I recommend you focus on learning

English, Spanish, and Portuguese

Let’s start with English

English

If you are reading this blog then congratulations! You already speak the world’s most useful international language.

English is spoken nearly everywhere to varying degrees. In fact nearly 1.5 billion people are reported as speaking English to varying degree.

It has become the world’s lingua franca and the most powerful economies and job markets require english.

For this reason the whole world wants to learn it.

So no matter where you go, you’ll likely be able to find someone who speaks English.

This is particularly true if you are in the more affluent areas.

English is an official language in 58 countries

And best of all it is geographically dispersed.

Every continent in the world has some form of English speaking enclave

Take a look

That map only shows where English is an official language. If we include countries where it is spoken, but not official then our map gets much, much, bigger.

That being said, there are many places where the level of English is very low and a foreign language is required.

My adopted country Paraguay is a great example.

Which leads us to…

Spanish

The main selling point of Spanish is just how dispersed it is.

Spanish is an official language in 20 countries that cover nearly all of South and Central America, as well as large swathes of North America, and some of Europe’s most beautiful beaches and islands.

It can also be found in small enclaves in Asia and Africa as well.

It stacks perfectly with English in the sense that you unlock nearly all of the Americas and most of Europe

And the cherry on top…

It’s one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn.

Spanish has a latin alphabet which is not foreign to us.

Also the lexicon is somewhat similar. Sometimes you can add an “O”, “A”, “ción", “or”, etc. on an English word and speak Spanish.

Action becomes acción

Application —> Aplicación

Actor —-> Actor

It really just becomes a process of comprehension, pronunciation, grammar, and expanding your vocabulary

As far as practical benefits go, Latin America is home to some of the world’s most accessible residency programs (like Mexico or Paraguay) and second citizenships. It is also very affordable and expats who live there enjoy a large amount of personal freedom that they had lacked in their home country’s.

It also just so happens that many of the world’s most attractive women (imo) are native Spanish speakers.

So whether your motivator is freedom, low tax, affordable cost of living, job opportunities, mountain climbing, beach living, or dating. Spanish will open up all of those opportunities. Anybody could benefit from learning it, especially if you call the Americas your home.

That brings us to our last language…

Portuguese

Unlike the other languages on this list Portuguese is similar to Chinese in the sense that it primarily opens up one huge country. In the case of Portuguese I am referring to Brazil.

Brazil needs no introduction. It is nothing short of a tropical paradise, with some of the most beautiful landscapes on earth.

The Brazilian people are warm and friendly.

They have a happiness within them that is contagious.

A gym and beach culture, mixed in with explorer vibes and hints of Japanese and German culture.

Not to mention the vast and robust economy.

Brazil is essentially the China of the Americas

Learning Portuguese fills the gap in opening all of the Americas, as well as Portugal, and perhaps most interestingly…Africa.

Portuguese dominates most coastal Africa. The islands look incredible and Mozambique and Angola also open up.

Also some of the most interesting settlements in Asia are bastions of Portuguese, namely Macao and Goa

And best of all it is the perfect compliment to Spanish.

The grammar and vocabulary is so similar that you’ll instantly be able to decipher 60-70% of the language.

It mainly becomes an exercise of learning the pronunciation and the vocabulary that differs from spanish.

I was able to achieve a low level of conversational Portuguese in only 1 month (roughly A2). Within 6 months of study you can achieve a high level of portuguese. Making it one of the best ROI’s in terms of effort to benefits for Spanish speakers.

Some people will argue that Mandarin Chinese would be the most useful language after knowing English and Spanish, and who knows they could be right, but the ease of learning Portuguese after you know Spanish cannot be overstated. It’s almost foolish not to learn it.

Three months of study to gain access to one of the most interesting cultures and over 264 million speakers is a no brainer.

Final thoughts

In terms of the ROI from a time investment I firmly believe that English, Spanish, and Portuguese are the best bang for your buck trifecta in the world of language learning.

This is especially true if you are already a native English speaker, in which case you could achieve a high intermediate level in both Spanish and Portuguese in under 2 years if you really made it a priority.

Considering that fact that roughly a third of the world’s population, and most of the world’s attractive land mass will be opened up by this holy trinity makes it my personal favorite language combination.

If you are interested in learning some of the best language strategies and want to pick my brain further on the topic then feel free to schedule a consultation, and I’ll be happy to help you plan out your new life.

Until next time,

-Gringo Nick