Is Spanish expanding?
500 million spekaers of Spanish?
That's exaggeration estimates put in 330 nmillion native speakers + 20 million secondary and non-native speakers. Just it nothing more andnothing less.
Spanish made a stride in Europe because it is popular in UK, France, and Italy Euro-countries with high populations that will give weigh on the language plus a lot easier especially for Romanc espeakers of French and Itlaian but if you got Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and Balkans, it's virtually unknown.
And for those who said that Spanish is widely studied in countries like Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal that's a big lie. Just because you have gotten a PUTUMAYO where some Senegalese and Ivorian singers sung in Spanish it doesn't mean that Spanish is studied there. To tell you honestly, English is having a hard time in those 2 countries more so with Spanish which plays a lesser important role than English or French as an international language.
Spanish is not a world lingua Franca. Just the hispanic ocuntries use it.
The future of Portuguese is not only depended on Brasil, but mainly from the future of African countries that have Portuguese as their official language.
<<Spanish is not a world lingua Franca. Just the hispanic ocuntries use it. >>
Who is saying that frog? Only English is the world lingua franca.
Spanish has a problem: it is ugly and strictly second class.
<<Spanish has a problem: it is ugly and strictly second class. >>
Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Said this, I personally find guttural languages extremely unpleasant. French is more guttural than Spanish.
<< The future of Portuguese is not only depended on Brasil, but mainly from the future of African countries that have Portuguese as their official language. >>
Really? I think many will disagree with you. These countries make little difference in the importance of Portuguese. They are not very big, not everyone speaks the language there, and they (like many other African countries) have a poor economy and development. Even Portugal doesn't matter much because it is a small country.
It's all about Brazil, which has its own problems like crime and poverty.
<< 500 million spekaers of Spanish?
That's exaggeration estimates put in 330 nmillion native speakers + 20 million secondary and non-native speakers. Just it nothing more andnothing less. >>
I will mostly agree. I think that the 500 million number is exaggerated. But I do think the actual number is about 360-400 million total. But this still makes it #2-4 in the world, depending on place of English and Hindi.
<<Spanish has a problem: it is ugly and strictly second class. >>
<< Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Said this, I personally find guttural languages extremely unpleasant. French is more guttural than Spanish. >>
I think Italian, French and Spanish are all beautiful in their own ways.
<< Who is saying that frog? Only English is the world lingua franca. >>
Listen, Hispanic Dung Beetle. English, French, Russian, and Arabic are the only ones that can be rightfully called world lingua franca. I'm so sorry if you don't know what lingua franca means.
About 80% of UK primary schools that currently teach any foreign language teach French.
Is such concentration a good thing?
When asked which two FLs UK children should learn at school, UK citizens answered:
French: 77%
Spanish 39%
German: 34%
German came higher in most other European countries and French and Spanish came lower.
http://www.earlystart.co.uk/which-lang.htm
So Spanish more desired than German in Britain? Well, this is extremely positive for Spanish. I would expect the British to learn German more than Spanish, in the end Britain is lies closer to Germany, it shares more cultural ties with Germany and so on. This proves how well a country located at a corner of Europe like Spain is doing in promoting the Spanish language across Europe.
<< I've read that spanish is the most popular language in India. Do you have any information about it? I only can give a link in spanish:
http://www.estucurso.com/?a=5&aa=2&article_id=484 ..
Sure,but only the mind of hispanic who made this link again.
Yes, it is confirmed! It is true.
Spanish is the most studied foreign language in India too, not considering English, of course.
http://www.elcastellano.org/noticia.php?id=849
An example of Spanish classes in India:
http://www.saviodsilva.com/spanish.htm
Well, thank you again to the French Informer to confirm that Chinese and Spanish are the fast-growing World languages. It is written in YOUR webpage.
I explain to the French Informer that the Spanish speakers around the World are exactly 491 million according to this webpage (Wikipedia, Spanish version) (412 as mother tongue).
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idioma_espa%C3%B1ol
According to the English version of Wikipedia, Spanish is spoken by 400-500 million (so the average is 450) and French, (according to the same source) is spoken by only 175 million.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language
But, you know that the tendencies are very important. The FUTURE of both languages is the next:
By 2030, Spanish Will Be the World's Second Most Widely Spoken Language After Chinese
http://news.softpedia.com/news/By-2030-Spanish-Will-be-the-World-039-s-Second-Language-After-Chinese-62509.shtml
EDUCATION: THE FUTURE DOESN'T SPEAK FRENCH (written by American Anglos, not Hispanics. Neutral and practical people).
http://www.newsweek.com/id/51986
PD. The tendencies are confirmed again and again...