What I'm really getting out of learning Spanish so far.

I don't have the most clear motivations for learning Spanish, to be honest.

I hope that becoming increasingly fluent in this second language will prove of some financial benefit, but I didn't set out to learn the language for that reason. Pimsleur is increasingly oriented toward business vocabulary as the lessons progress, by the way, for those who do consider business Spanish important.

I also hope that learning Spanish will open up more prospects for friendship, but this is also not a primary motivation.

And I hope to do some travel to places where having learned Spanish will prove beneficial.

In fact, as I learn more and observe the passage of time, I see more and more practical benefits to multilingualism.

But when it comes right down to it, I just find the whole process inherently gratifying. Understanding or using some previously-unfamiliar sliver of language gives me a bit of a jolt, maybe somewhat similar to the kick I used to receive from a cigarette.

And on a less immediate level, I can sense myself experiencing and perceiving the world around me differently as I learn more of the new language. Even though I only know what might be described as intermediate Spanish at this point, the additional language seems to illuminate my perception of life more and more, revealing depth and detail I had vaguely assumed to be there before, but can now more directly experience.