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Spanish language has been growing in America for the past decades.
While Spanish speakers are still growing in number, many second and third generations with Spanish background are not speaking Spanish anymore.
No doubt that immigration from Spanish speaking countries will continue even in the future, but immigration from Asia is now higher and eventually immigration from Africa will be higher than Latin America in the future.
So what do you think will happen to Spanish language? Will it be more important or less important in the future? I don't see any language surpassing Spanish in America anytime soon though. I guess Chinese and Hindi are after Spanish, but they would need decades to catch up Spanish.
About the same level of importance as it has today...like you said, most of the spanish speakers become english speakers...chinese is the language that will become increasingly important not just in the USA but in the world as well
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Originally Posted by whogoesthere
About the same level of importance as it has today...like you said, most of the spanish speakers become english speakers...chinese is the language that will become increasingly important not just in the USA but in the world as well
"Chinese" is multiple languages though, Beijing and NE China speak Mandarin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong speak Cantonese, and SW China speaks Sezchuan. There are probably more, but those are the big 3
"Chinese" is multiple languages though, Beijing and NE China speak Mandarin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong speak Cantonese, and SW China speaks Sezchuan. There are probably more, but those are the big 3
About the same level of importance as it has today...like you said, most of the spanish speakers become english speakers...chinese is the language that will become increasingly important not just in the USA but in the world as well
At risk of dating myself, when I was in HS, they said the same thing about Japanese. Speaking Japanese has proven far less valuable than we thought it would be, back then.
At risk of dating myself, when I was in HS, they said the same thing about Japanese. Speaking Japanese has proven far less valuable than we thought it would be, back then.
I disagree though and that's not a fair comparison. Let's remember that Japanese is only spoken in one country halfway across the world. Spanish on the other hand is spoken by dozens of countries all on our side of the world, and many of those countries are neighbors, be it bordering or close by.
570 Million speak Spanish across the world while Japanese is spoken by 150 million people across the world. Spanish is also spoken as an official language on three continents (Europe, North America and South America). Japenese is only limited to one country.
So IMO if you are looking to learn Japanese, unless you are looking to do business in Japan, it's really not useful. Spanish however still is very useful, allowing you work across three different continents, and opens more opportunities here in the US within our own population.
I can see Spanish becoming more and more common and almost a required language (like in Miami) in certain parts of the country, like in Florida and Texas.
The difference between other immigrant language in the US at the moment with Spanish, is that the ratio of Spanish speakers to people that speak Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, etc, just can't compare. I think the US has more Spanish speakers than quite a few Spanish Speaking countries. The US alone easily has more Spanish speakers in the country, than Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Panama, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Guatemala do. The imprint of Spanish in the US is a little too deep and big for it to just go away or not be as important.
While many might laugh, what I think we will see in decades maybe centuries, is Spanglish become a new language. While it might seem funny, but in Spain there are quite a few regions where the official languages are those that are a Spanish and Portuguese mix or a French and Spanish mix. Same for the border areas of Argentina and Brazil, which not as wide spread, but there is a language that grew that is a mix of Brazilian Portuguese and Argentinean Spanish.
I disagree though and that's not a fair comparison. Let's remember that Japanese is only spoken in one country halfway across the world. Spanish on the other hand is spoken by dozens of countries all on our side of the world, and many of those countries are neighbors, be it bordering or close by.
570 Million speak Spanish across the world while Japanese is spoken by 150 million people across the world. Spanish is also spoken as an official language on three continents (Europe, North America and South America). Japenese is only limited to one country.
So IMO if you are looking to learn Japanese, unless you are looking to do business in Japan, it's really not useful. Spanish however still is very useful, allowing you work across three different continents, and opens more opportunities here in the US within our own population.
I can see Spanish becoming more and more common and almost a required language (like in Miami) in certain parts of the country, like in Florida and Texas.
The difference between other immigrant language in the US at the moment with Spanish, is that the ratio of Spanish speakers to people that speak Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, etc, just can't compare. I think the US has more Spanish speakers than quite a few Spanish Speaking countries. The US alone easily has more Spanish speakers in the country, than Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Panama, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Guatemala do. The imprint of Spanish in the US is a little too deep and big for it to just go away or not be as important.
While many might laugh, what I think we will see in decades maybe centuries, is Spanglish become a new language. While it might seem funny, but in Spain there are quite a few regions where the official languages are those that are a Spanish and Portuguese mix or a French and Spanish mix. Same for the border areas of Argentina and Brazil, which not as wide spread, but there is a language that grew that is a mix of Brazilian Portuguese and Argentinean Spanish.
I
I guess I wasn't clear. I was referring to the notion that Chinese, or rather Mandarin is more important than Spanish. I absolutely believe that learning Spanish is important.
I guess I wasn't clear. I was referring to the notion that Chinese, or rather Mandarin is more important than Spanish. I absolutely believe that learning Spanish is important.
I guess I wasn't clear. I was referring to the notion that Chinese, or rather Mandarin is more important than Spanish. I absolutely believe that learning Spanish is important.
I think Mandarin and Spanish are about the same importance.
Of course most people will learn Spanish though, as Mandarin is near impossible to learn.
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