Is Spanish the second most important language in the world? (DMV, standard of living)
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Notice how i said important instead of influential.
China is an economic powerhouse. Mandarin has more speakers than spanish, but it is mainly concentrated in south east asia. It is also a hard language making many potential students shy away.
French is extremely influencial throughout the world. Is is the second language in many important international organizations
It is the official language in more than 20 plus countries, but is not the majority language in many of them.
Spanish is the second language most studied worldwide after english. It is an easy language to learn, and efficient making it very practical.
Excuse my grammar, my smartphone is acting stupid.
Although french has a rising population of speakers in africa, spanish has a more faster rising population in latin america with a m higher standard of living, and where spanish is the majority language.
French is a more influential language than spanish in Europe, but still competes with english and german, while it competes with arabic in africa.
While this might not count, spanish and portuguese are the closest languages of the ten more influential languages in world. Giving a spanish speaker potential access to another 200 million people.
Now i know an Englishman might find french more important, but on a global scale which language is the second most important?
I voted yes on a world scale, but generally spanish is not very important for us down here, it would rank behind several Asian languages in my opinion.
Last edited by danielsa1775; 03-14-2013 at 01:58 AM..
I don't really know what to vote. It clearly is one of the most important languages in the world - but it's very concentrated in the New World. In Europe, it's just one of the major languages besides English, French, German, Russian and Italian. In (Sub-Saharan) Africa, French and English are the languages. In Asia, it's Arabic, Hindi, Urdu and Mandarin. Oceania is English.
I think its major importance actually comes from its increasing status as second language in the United States (in some US areas even first language).
Last edited by Avondrood; 03-14-2013 at 05:22 AM..
I don't really know what to vote. It clearly is one of the most important languages in the world - but it's very concentrated in the New World. In Europe, it's just one of the major languages besides English, French, German, Russian and Italian. In (Sub-Saharan) Africa, French and English are the languages. In Asia, it's Arabic, Hindi, Urdu and Mandarin. Oceania is English.
I think its major importance actually comes from its increasing status as second language in the United States (in some US areas even first language).
There's only one area of the US that speaks Spanish as its primary language and that is Puerto Rico. Nowhere else in the US is Spanish the first language, not even Miami or the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas
There's only one area of the US that speaks Spanish as its primary language and that is Puerto Rico. Nowhere else in the US is Spanish the first language, not even Miami or the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas
Ah okay, didn't know that. Frankly, I always thought Spanish had become the first language in Miami and in parts of the southwest such as (parts of) New Mexico, Rio Grande Valley,...
Money makes the world go round, and it's far more important to know English and Chinese to do business. The decision makers in Spanish speaking countries speak English.
There's only one area of the US that speaks Spanish as its primary language and that is Puerto Rico. Nowhere else in the US is Spanish the first language, not even Miami or the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas
I beg to differ. The Florida DMV offers the drivers book in English and Spanish, and the drivers test can be taken in either language. There's a reason behind that. There are parts of Florida where you simply will not find English speakers.
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English & Chinese are the commercial languages with Korean, Japanese, French, German, and Spanish on a lower tier IMO. Spanish - however, is one of the most useful languages to know in the western hemisphere.
Spanish is the second language most studied worldwide after english. It is an easy language to learn, and efficient making it very practical.
What you have described only applies to you and your neighbors. Spanish is studied by a very tiny number of people as a second language, except by people who speak English as a first language. The number of people who study Spanish as a second language after English is practically zero, and is the second language only of English-first speakers.
Spanish is not at all easy to learn for an Arabic or a Hindi or a Mandarin speaker, unless they already know an Indo-European language that uses the Roman alphabet.
Spanish is one of the languages of the Western Hemisphere, but 85% of the world lives in the other hemisphere, and have no interest in Spanish at all, and probably go their entire lives without ever hearing a Spanish speaker or seeing a Spanish language text.
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