The USA is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country

[Wilikon]

The United States is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico, according to a new study published by the prestigious Instituto Cervantes.

The report says there are 41 million native Spanish speakers in the US plus a further 11.6 million who are bilingual, mainly the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants. This puts the US ahead of Colombia (48 million) and Spain (46 million) and second only to Mexico (121 million).

Among the sources cited in the report is the US Census Office which estimates that the US will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the biggest Spanish-speaking nation on Earth, with Spanish the mother tongue of almost a third of its citizens.

By state the highest concentration is in the former Spanish colonies of the south and south-west, with New Mexico top at 47%, followed by California and Texas (both 38%) and Arizona (30%). Some 18% of New Yorkers speak Spanish while only 1.3% of West Virginians do. Perhaps surprisingly, more than 6% of Alaskans are Spanish speakers.


http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country

[Spendulus]

The United States is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico, according to a new study published by the prestigious Instituto Cervantes.

The report says there are 41 million native Spanish speakers in the US plus a further 11.6 million who are bilingual, mainly the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants. This puts the US ahead of Colombia (48 million) and Spain (46 million) and second only to Mexico (121 million).

Among the sources cited in the report is the US Census Office which estimates that the US will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the biggest Spanish-speaking nation on Earth, with Spanish the mother tongue of almost a third of its citizens.

By state the highest concentration is in the former Spanish colonies of the south and south-west, with New Mexico top at 47%, followed by California and Texas (both 38%) and Arizona (30%). Some 18% of New Yorkers speak Spanish while only 1.3% of West Virginians do. Perhaps surprisingly, more than 6% of Alaskans are Spanish speakers.


http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country

Y usted, todavia habla Ingles?  Que is su problema?

[Wilikon]

The United States is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico, according to a new study published by the prestigious Instituto Cervantes.

The report says there are 41 million native Spanish speakers in the US plus a further 11.6 million who are bilingual, mainly the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants. This puts the US ahead of Colombia (48 million) and Spain (46 million) and second only to Mexico (121 million).

Among the sources cited in the report is the US Census Office which estimates that the US will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the biggest Spanish-speaking nation on Earth, with Spanish the mother tongue of almost a third of its citizens.

By state the highest concentration is in the former Spanish colonies of the south and south-west, with New Mexico top at 47%, followed by California and Texas (both 38%) and Arizona (30%). Some 18% of New Yorkers speak Spanish while only 1.3% of West Virginians do. Perhaps surprisingly, more than 6% of Alaskans are Spanish speakers.


http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country

Y usted, todavia habla Ingles?  Que is su problema?

Yo quiero arroz, pollo , frijoles y maduros por favor...

[bryant.coleman]

The Latino birth rate has been declining for the past 5-6 years. Also, the illegal immigration from Latin America (especially that from Mexico) is slowing down. This means that the number of the Spanish speakers will go down in the near future, as the new arrivals will be unable to stem the losses resulting from language shift to English.

[Anony]

The United States is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico, according to a new study published by the prestigious Instituto Cervantes.

The report says there are 41 million native Spanish speakers in the US plus a further 11.6 million who are bilingual, mainly the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants. This puts the US ahead of Colombia (48 million) and Spain (46 million) and second only to Mexico (121 million).

Among the sources cited in the report is the US Census Office which estimates that the US will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the biggest Spanish-speaking nation on Earth, with Spanish the mother tongue of almost a third of its citizens.

By state the highest concentration is in the former Spanish colonies of the south and south-west, with New Mexico top at 47%, followed by California and Texas (both 38%) and Arizona (30%). Some 18% of New Yorkers speak Spanish while only 1.3% of West Virginians do. Perhaps surprisingly, more than 6% of Alaskans are Spanish speakers.


http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country

Learning a foreign language, like Spanish, is becoming much more of a necessity in today's society. More than 400 million people speak Spanish worldwide out of which 33 million people speak in America.
These are some benefit of learning Spanish. Knowing Spanish language enhances your resume -- Employers love applicants that have fluency (or even moderate fluency) in a foreign language.
Spanish is not only fun, but it enriches your experiences, whether at work or while traveling.

[bryant.coleman]

Learning a foreign language, like Spanish, is becoming much more of a necessity in today's society. More than 400 million people speak Spanish worldwide out of which 33 million people speak in America.
These are some benefit of learning Spanish. Knowing Spanish language enhances your resume -- Employers love applicants that have fluency (or even moderate fluency) in a foreign language.
Spanish is not only fun, but it enriches your experiences, whether at work or while traveling.

Spanish is useful only for blue collar jobs, such as those in Wal-Mart and McDonald's. For people who are in to white collar jobs, it will be much more beneficial to learn other foreign languages such as German, Italian and French. That said, the most promising languages are Japanese and Korean (+ Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese Chinese, to some extent), but it will take ages to acquire the necessary proficiency in these languages.

[Possum577]

Speaking Spanish is as easy as spelling SOCKS! S-O-C-K-S...

This news doesn't surprise me, the U.S. is a big place.

[countryfree]

Anyone who's ever been to East L.A. or in Florida is well aware of this. Spanish speakers are everywhere. You see Spanish billboards, you hear Spanish on the radio, and all the people around have black hair. Everything's much different from what you can experience in Spain though, America remains America.

[panju1]

Wow.. It is not just the absolute number; even the proportion of Spanish speakers to the US population is high. Out of a total population of ~320 Mn , Spanish speakers are 41 Mn which is 13%. That is a sizable number by any standards.

[ThomM]

Mexico is conquering USA silently. 

[bryant.coleman]

Mexico is conquering USA silently. 

Thanks to the RINOs and the Democrats. And the Birthright citizenship laws, which are applicable to the United States is one of the most idiotic laws I have ever heard of. This has not only enabled the Mexican illegals to remain in the US, but it has also encouraged them to produce half a dozen anchor babies each, thereby claiming the government benefits.

[jayce]

Every immigrants will bring their own native language to talk to each other, but it doesn't mean the native US people should learn their language. The number of spanish speakers is be bigger because of their population growth, not because schools has taught it in US.

[Daniel91]

Every immigrants will bring their own native language to talk to each other, but it doesn't mean the native US people should learn their language. The number of spanish speakers is be bigger because of their population growth, not because schools has taught it in US.

I agree with you.
I remember from the historical lectures at school that in some parts of America (Louisiana, New Orleans) French was dominant in the distant past, as well as German and Italian in some other parts of the USA.
Of course, since the United States has long been a British colony English is rapidly accepted as the first official language, and so it has remained to this day.
Immigrants have helped the development of America a lot but for themselves and better orientation in a new country, they should learn English and not vice versa.
Americans should learn new languages because of trading and business with the world,(Chinese and Russian for example), not because of communication with immigrants in their own country.
It's great to keep tradition and culture of your native country but if you move to other country, accept the customs and culture of the new country, including language.

[Wilikon]

Nearly Half of NYC Public School Students Speak Non-English Languages at Home



“Nearly half of New York City public school students speak a language other than English at home, and more than 180 languages are represented,” stated a June 16 report released by the New York Immigration Coalition’s Education Collaborative, an immigrant advocacy group.

According to the New York City School District website, there are over 1.1 million students in the system, which means that “nearly half” of that figure would be over half a million students.

An article on the report in the New York Daily News for June 29 noted that the large number of non-English speakers in the city school system presents major challenges for the city’s Department of Education, which must, according to federal law and city statutes, provide translation and interpretation services for the parents of children whose first language is not English.


An earlier Daily News article on June 17 cited a New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) survey released the previous day stating that only four out of 175 parents polled said it is easy to communicate with their children’s school. Half of parents surveyed said they didn’t understand what was going on during school meetings because there were no interpreters and 51 percent said important school notifications sent home with their children were not translated into a language they could understand.

The NYIC’s report, “The Great Parent Engagement Gap: Report on School Translation and Interpretation for NYC Parents,” stated:

In New York City, translation and interpretation services should at least be available in the top 9 languages spoken — Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Urdu — according to the Department of Education’s (DOE) own regulations.

And most people think that schools only need to provide educational materials in Spanish, as well as English!

Steven Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, voiced his dissatisfaction with the school system’s current track record:

Currently, the DOE has only two people who are responsible for monitoring and supporting more than 1700 schools on translation and interpretation. This is unacceptable given almost half a million students speak a language other than English at home. We know that [New York City Schools] Chancellor [Carmen] Fariña, who has a strong commitment to parent engagement, will be just as concerned about our report’s results as we are. We look forward to working with the City to make schools more accessible institutions for immigrant parents and their children.

Among the changes that the NYIC wants implemented are providing a “Language Access Coordinator” in each of the 32 community superintendent’s and nine high-school superintendent’s offices, providing every school with a trained Language Access Coordinator at all times, and linking schools directly with over-the-phone interpreters.

The report did not even try to estimate the cost of providing all these additional services and personnel, but with the high salaries that prevail among city Department of Education employees, this obviously would amount to more than small change. (For example, starting teacher salaries range from $45,530 to $74,796 and with annual increases plus increases for additional coursework, teachers’ salaries can rise to the current maximum of $100,049 per year over time.)

The cost of providing these additional services to non-English speaking parents is, of course, in addition to providing bilingual education to students. In the jargon of educators, students who require bilingual education are designated as Limited English Proficient. While a fair number of such LEP students are the children of immigrants who are here legally, it is also certain that many are the children of illegal immigrants. Whether legal or illegal, however, the cost of educating them is substantial. A 2015 report from FAIR (The Federation for American Immigration Reform) indicated that in the D.C. metro area (which has a population of about six million, compared with New York City’s population of eight million) the cost of educating children who are limited English proficient runs to $2.4 billion.


http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/item/21161-nearly-half-of-nyc-public-school-students-speak-non-english-languages-at-home

[Valanor]

why people not think arabic language ?
i think arabic language is so unique and beatifull to learn it

but very hard to learn arabic like nahwu and shorof

[Wilikon]

why people not think arabic language ?
i think arabic language is so unique and beatifull to learn it

but very hard to learn arabic like nahwu and shorof

Why Spanish people not think arabic language?

[jayce]

-snip-

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/item/21161-nearly-half-of-nyc-public-school-students-speak-non-english-languages-at-home

Well I think it sounds weird to me. They came to US, but their kids can't using English, then they want the school change the rules about language. Yeah I hope you should learn Spanish then wilikon

why people not think arabic language ?
i think arabic language is so unique and beatifull to learn it

but very hard to learn arabic like nahwu and shorof

Some people think arabic is nice, but the others feel like in the desert when they are hearing it, no offense dude, its just my friends opinion. But there are many Arabian immigrants in US, and they surely use their language when talking to each other.

[bryant.coleman]

Every immigrants will bring their own native language to talk to each other, but it doesn't mean the native US people should learn their language. The number of spanish speakers is be bigger because of their population growth, not because schools has taught it in US.

It just shows the complete failure of the system in the United States. Rather than assimilating the migrants by teaching them English, the Americans have made it mandatory (at least in a few places) for the natives to learn Spanish. Right now, the migrants don't learn English, becasue they feel no need to do so.

[aikunsatu]

That's a large number,  not surprising though,   the world flocks to America,  why shouldn't their neighbours.

[Wilikon]

That's a large number,  not surprising though,   the world flocks to America,  why shouldn't their neighbours.

That's strange. I thought everybody around the world agrees the USA is the worse country in the world?