Hablar español - The World's Second Mother Tongue

[NALs]

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.*

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.

 

[NanSanPedro]

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.*

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.

I would include Arizona and New Mexico in states that have had a very large Spanish language influence. I lived in Arizona for about 7 years and heard tons of Spanish.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

I would include Arizona and New Mexico in states that have had a very large Spanish language influence. I lived in Arizona for about 7 years and heard tons of Spanish.

I would disagree, I would say Mandarin at 1.118 BN. That would put English first at approx 1.35 BN and Mandarin second at 1.118 BN

A quick Google tells us the following:

• English (1,452 million speakers)
• Mandarin (1,118 million speakers)
• Hindi (602+ million speakers)
• Spanish (548+ million speakers)
• French (280 million speakers)
• Modern Standard Arabic (274 million speakers)
• Russian (258+ million speakers)
• Portuguese (257+ million speakers)

 

[NALs]

I would disagree, I would say Mandarin at 1.118 BN. That would put English first at approx 1.35 BN and Mandarin second at 1.118 BN

A quick Google tells us the following:

• English (1,452 million speakers)
• Mandarin (1,118 million speakers)
• Hindi (602+ million speakers)
• Spanish (548+ million speakers)
• French (280 million speakers)
• Modern Standard Arabic (274 million speakers)
• Russian (258+ million speakers)
• Portuguese (257+ million speakers)

He is speaking about Arizona, not the world.

Plus, those figures are of native speakers and those for whom English is a second language. For the second one's they only speak English in specific setting, otherwise they speak their mother tongue. In the USA, those are the ones that have to take ESL and basically includes everyone that starts school in bilingual rather than mainstream English only courses. Native English speakers is nowhere near to the amount of native Spanish speakers.

In the Western Hemisphere, probably there are more people as native Spanish than any other language.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

He is speaking about Arizona, not the world.

Plus, those figures are of native speakers and those for whom English is a second language. For the second one's they only speak English in specific setting, otherwise they speak their mother tongue. In the USA, those are the ones that have to take ESL and basically includes everyone that starts school in bilingual rather than mainstream English only courses. Native English speakers is nowhere near to the amount of native Spanish speakers.

In the Western Hemisphere, probably there are more people as native Spanish than any other language.

sometimes you just need to be an economist by profession I guess

Maybe the title threw me off
Spanish is the Second Mother Tongue in the World

 

[windeguy]

I would disagree, I would say Mandarin at 1.118 BN. That would put English first at approx 1.35 BN and Mandarin second at 1.118 BN

A quick Google tells us the following:

• English (1,452 million speakers)
• Mandarin (1,118 million speakers)
• Hindi (602+ million speakers)
• Spanish (548+ million speakers)
• French (280 million speakers)
• Modern Standard Arabic (274 million speakers)
• Russian (258+ million speakers)
• Portuguese (257+ million speakers)

Thanks for pointing out the gross error of the title.
Fourth ain't bad but it certainly isn't second.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

Thanks for pointing out the gross error of the title.
Fourth ain't bad but it certainly isn't second.

I would say having Spanish as a second language has been very helpful to me going way back to my NJ/NY years. An IT friend of mine at PwC told me years ago to study Mandarin - that would have been a good investment

 

[windeguy]

I would say having Spanish as a second language has been very helpful to me going way back to my NJ/NY years. An IT friend of mine at PwC told me years ago to study Mandarin - that would have been a good investment

My elementary school started us off with French classes. Which I continued through high school and college.
I was even dreaming in French back then.

Only one time did French ever come in handy in Paris on a business trip and I had largely forgotten what I had learned.
Would that it had been Spanish from the start. Far harder to learn a language when I started to learn Spanish. I will never get the tenses.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

My elementary school started us off with French classes. Which I continued through high school and college.
I was even dreaming in French back then.

Only one time did French ever come in handy in Paris on a business trip and I had largely forgotten what I had learned.
Would that it had been Spanish from the start. Far harder to learn a language when I started to learn Spanish. I will never get the tenses.

I'm certain if you can play the piano, you can learn a few tenses

 

[JD Jones]

I've been telling young folks they should learn Mandarin for years.

50 years ago, My professional career here took off like a rocket, only due to being able to communicate ever so slightly in Spanish, thanks to a girlfriend who was always teaching me bit by bit.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

I've been telling young folks they should learn Mandarin for years.

50 years ago, My professional career here took off like a rocket, only due to being able to communicate ever so slightly in Spanish, thanks to a girlfriend who was always teaching me bit by bit.

That's funny, my professional career here crashed like the space shuttle

 

[JD Jones]

That's funny, my professional career here crashed like the space shuttle

Different moment in time, and different circumstances. I'll tell ya the story some day.

 

[FGUnsworth1]

I would disagree, I would say Mandarin at 1.118 BN. That would put English first at approx 1.35 BN and Mandarin second at 1.118 BN

A quick Google tells us the following:

• English (1,452 million speakers)
• Mandarin (1,118 million speakers)
• Hindi (602+ million speakers)
• Spanish (548+ million speakers)
• French (280 million speakers)
• Modern Standard Arabic (274 million speakers)
• Russian (258+ million speakers)
• Portuguese (257+ million speakers)

Agreed.
Spanish is the second most spoken native language globally, with almost 500 million speakers. Only Mandarin Chinese dominates Spanish with over 1.2 billion Mandarin Chinese speakers.

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

Agreed.
Spanish is the second most spoken native language globally, with almost 500 million speakers. Only Mandarin Chinese dominates Spanish with over 1.2 billion Mandarin Chinese speakers.

What about Hindi

 

[Father Guido]

You want to do land a plane at any airport in the world, you want to bring a ship into any harbor in the world, you want to make a major financial transaction anywhere in the world, it won't be in Espanol, or mandarin, or Cantonese, guess what language

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

You want to do land a plane at any airport in the world, you want to bring a ship into any harbor in the world, you want to make a major financial transaction anywhere in the world, it won't be in Espanol, or mandarin, or Cantonese, guess what language

Father, I think the whole world realizes this

 

[NALs]

You want to do land a plane at any airport in the world, you want to bring a ship into any harbor in the world, you want to make a major financial transaction anywhere in the world, it won't be in Espanol, or mandarin, or Cantonese, guess what language

There was a time when French had a similar position. Why doesn't time simply stop? Nowadays there is something bothering many French people.

 

[Big]

My data base is unfortunately cluttered with a useless language, Afrikaans.