This was published in today's Listín Diario website edition.
Spanish is the Second Mother Tongue in the World
Around 600 million people, between students and people fluent in the language, potential speakers of Spanish.
By 2060 the USA will be the second country in the world where Spanish is spoken the most.*
* While the USA is traditionally an English-speaking country, that is the language used by most people and the unofficial officil languge of the US government; Spanish has been spoken in a large swathe of the USA since before they became part of the USA, such as the Southwest. Not only are states in these areas that were once part of the Spanish Empire and then a part belong to Mexico have names in Spanish, but if you visit California it seems almost everything has a Spanish name from all its main cities to valleys, mountain ranges, even the main tectonic faultlibe is the "San Andrea." Nothing like leaving LAX for the first time an notice most of the signs to the hotel. lol Whenever a place name starts with "San," that's referring to a saint in the Catholic church, which was the only church of Spain during the Spanish Empire. So, the notion that Spanish is a recent language in the USA is incorrect. It might be recent in sttes like New York, New Jersey or Ohio, but not in Texas or even Florida.
Spanish is the Second Mother Tongue in the World
Around 600 million people, between students and people fluent in the language, potential speakers of Spanish.
By 2060 the USA will be the second country in the world where Spanish is spoken the most.*
Spanish is now the second largest mother tongue in the workd with 500 million people, close to 6.2% of the world's population, an increase that "gives motive to feel pride" due that it isn't dependent only on demographic growth; according to the Instituto Cervantes.
El español ya es la segunda lengua materna del planeta; más de 500 millones lo hablan
La cifra de usuarios potenciales de español roza los 600 millones, entre estudiantes y personas con competencias para hablarlo
listindiario.com
* While the USA is traditionally an English-speaking country, that is the language used by most people and the unofficial officil languge of the US government; Spanish has been spoken in a large swathe of the USA since before they became part of the USA, such as the Southwest. Not only are states in these areas that were once part of the Spanish Empire and then a part belong to Mexico have names in Spanish, but if you visit California it seems almost everything has a Spanish name from all its main cities to valleys, mountain ranges, even the main tectonic faultlibe is the "San Andrea." Nothing like leaving LAX for the first time an notice most of the signs to the hotel. lol Whenever a place name starts with "San," that's referring to a saint in the Catholic church, which was the only church of Spain during the Spanish Empire. So, the notion that Spanish is a recent language in the USA is incorrect. It might be recent in sttes like New York, New Jersey or Ohio, but not in Texas or even Florida.