Pick up the lingo on overland tours of South America

Those who use their South America adventure tours to learn Spanish could be boosting their future career prospects.

Brits often hope to gain a number of benefits from South America adventure tours, but one in particular could stand them in good stead for the rest of their career.

According to University of London Goldsmiths senior lecturer in language and education Dr Jim Anderson, a lack of foreign language skills in the UK is having a detrimental effect on the country's business success.

The expert recently highlighted reports showing the negative impact of a lack of foreign language skills in Britain.

He pointed to the 2007 National Centre for Languages' Talking World Class paper and the CBI education and skills survey from 2010 as examples of how Britain's lack of communication skills in foreign tongues is holding the nation back.

"Both of these documents highlight the negative effect that our limited language skills are having on our success in business internationally," he said.

"It is also highlighting that we are coming to a situation where it's no longer just European languages that are important for our economic future but also languages such as Chinese and Arabic in particular."

Those travelling around South America have a great opportunity to pick up Spanish - one of the world's most commonly spoken languages.

Whether enjoying the surf on Chile's long coast line, visiting the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru or photographing the flamingos on the salt flats of Bolivia, there are plenty of opportunities to improve and practice your Spanish on adventure holidays in South America.

Alternatively, those booking a Rio Carnival package might find that a trip to Brazil is the perfect way to learn Portuguese.

As Dr Anderson explained: "Citizenship in a globalising world is vitally important if we are going to develop proper understanding with people in different countries and be able to understand the different perspectives.

"That is part of citizenship and the development of language skills plays a very important part in being able to see things from other perspectives."