|
 |
Why not Spanish as essential? | ||
Tags: Polyglot Academy | Language Importance | L3 via L2 | Polyglottery | Alexander Arguelles | Choosing a Language | German | French | Spanish | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Henkkles Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4253 days ago 544 posts - 1141 votes  Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish Studies: Russian | Message 73 of 115 09 March 2014 at 6:02pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
How very SAE of you. People are so anglocentric. Sigh... ;) 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| YnEoS Senior Member United States Joined 4254 days ago 472 posts - 893 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 74 of 115 09 March 2014 at 6:13pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
Just waiting on Assimil to start offering their Hungarian course from a Cantonese base or vice versa...
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Falkenstein Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3923 days ago 20 posts - 38 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Modern Hebrew Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 75 of 115 10 March 2014 at 6:19am | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
I don't know why it's surprising to many that Spanish isn't considered as a priority language. I notice
there's a strong bias among US-Americans to overestimate the importance of Spanish due to the influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants. In Europe even Italian is more useful and important (culturally, historically, politically, economically) than Spanish and it's also not incredibly relevant on all other continents. Even in South America the biggest and most important country is not Spanish-speaking. Professor Arguelles is right to recommend French and German instead. Edited by Falkenstein on 10 March 2014 at 6:22am 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Mad Max Tetraglot Groupie Spain Joined 5051 days ago 79 posts - 146 votes Speaks: Spanish*, French, English, Russian Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 76 of 115 10 March 2014 at 1:36pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
Well, Spanish is important because it is a key language. I explain it.
1. It is spoken by 525 million around the World. In the USA is spoken by some 52 million people and in the European Union by some 75 million. So, it is not only a South American language. More than 127 million people speak it in the USA or the European Union. So, it is an important economic language too. 2. It is also a key language because you can understand some 230 million of Portuguese speakers and in a lesser degree 70 million of Italian speakers. So, 825 million people can understand each other in different degrees of communication around the World. We will be 1 billion in only 10 years. 3. According to several Spaniard and American reports Spanish will be the most spoken language on Earth in 2050. In the USA, for instance, will be spoken by some 135 million people in 2050. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Henkkles Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4253 days ago 544 posts - 1141 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish Studies: Russian | Message 77 of 115 10 March 2014 at 1:50pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I don't think there was anyone who denied the usefulness of Spanish in this entire thread, it is not what this thread is about. We all agree that Spanish is important. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7205 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 78 of 115 10 March 2014 at 2:15pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Spanish is going to have a very rough time of it in 2050 when everyone else is speaking Esperanto. But then of course there will be mutual intelligibility and Spanish speakers will still claim World Domination. Drats! Foiled again! Edited by luke on 10 March 2014 at 2:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Falkenstein Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3923 days ago 20 posts - 38 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Modern Hebrew Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 79 of 115 10 March 2014 at 7:58pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
It's not spoken by 75 million people in Europe. And economic importance and influence is not only about quantity, it's about how developed and powerful the countries are where a language is the national language. There is no developed, industrial, first-world country besides Spain where Spanish is the national language. The most spoken language in Europe in terms of native speakers is German, which is also the most important one economically (besides English as a second language, a working language). Students in Europe take Spanish in school because it's a lot easier than French, Latin or German and because they like to go to Spain for vacation. Doesn't mean they speak it or that it's important.
That's not true. I've seen this method in action before (Spanish <-> Italian, Spanish <-> Portuguese) and it doesn't really work.
As I said, relevance is not only about the number of (native) speakers. It's much more. Otherwise Hindi, Arabic or Bengali would be a lot more important as well, which is not the case. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Mad Max Tetraglot Groupie Spain Joined 5051 days ago 79 posts - 146 votes Speaks: Spanish*, French, English, Russian Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 80 of 115 10 March 2014 at 9:21pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
1.Spanish is spoken by some 75 million people or 15% of the population in the European Union as first or second language.
Sources: Europeans and their Languages, Data for EU27, published in 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_European_Union 2. I am Spaniard. When I was in Portugal I listened Portuguese all day. The third-fouth day, I understood almost all. We understood each other in our language. When I was in Rome, the same. I spoke in Spanish, with some English words. They did the same. We could understand each other all days I was. So, I can say that I can understand in different degrees of understanding some 825 million people. 3.Yes, you are right that relevance is not only number of speakers. But the GDP of all the Hispanic countries together (including the Hispanic minority in the USA)is bigger than the GDP of the German language or the French language, for instance, not only Hindi, Arabic or Bengali. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
