English vs Spanish

[Claudia]

Hello everybody! I'm Claudia and I come from Italy
First of all, I wanted to say that this is my first time in a forum and it's a few days I'm trying to find out something interesting to talk about, but I really don't know if I'll be able to....
Well, by now, I was thinking about how important English has become: nowadays it's used everywhere, in the Net, in international communications, but without looking much further, also in the fast foods or clothes shops of your cities you'll surely have heard words such as hot dog or blue jeans.
Anyway, my question is: will it ever be possible that the Spanish language will take English place? I mean, it's clear that Spanish is getting more and more important and there are much more people that learn it, but I am wondering if it is just a fashion or do you think it would be really able to substitute English? In the world wide economy, is Spanish as spoken as English?
I really hope that my message hasn't been useless and that you hadn't already heard this topic!
Bye for now!
claudia

[Torsten]

Dear Claudia, first of all, any of your thoughts is interesting and useful so whenever you have a question or an issue you'd like to talk about just go ahead and post it here. This is what our forum is all about: Exchanging our ideas and thoughts in English.
As a matter of fact, you have brought up a subject that could be the starting point of an ongoing discussion. I think one language will not substitute another. English and Spanish will be spoken by millions of people no matter how the world economy develops. You see, English is spoken by so many people not just as their mother tounge but as a second language. English gives us access to other cultures, mentalities and languages. Take our forum: There are people from all corners of the world having different creeds and different social backgrounds. We speak different languages. Your mother tongue, for example, is Italian. I must admit, I love the sound of this language. Even when you just order an ice cream it sounds like music. 'Uno gelato prego!' Italian is rich of vowels and that makes it easier to learn and memorize new words.
Anyway, your question was a bit different, I know. Well, let's see what others have to say, especially our Spanish speakers...
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[teufelchen53]

Hallo Claudia, Torsten,

I am from Germany and the first foreign language I learned was English,
the second Latin (I don't remember any word) and that's all. But there are
some other people in Germany who learn French and Spanish. As a
second foreign language at some schools you can choose French or
Spanish.

I think you'll be right, Claudia, if you say, that Spanish become more and
more important as English. I don't think, that as many people as speak
English speak Spanish in Germany, but there are some other countries
where it is nessecary to understand Spanish. I am thinking about the foreign
trade with Latin America for example.

For me it's very difficult to say what I mean. Look I would prefer, if our
children would grow up with more foreign languages (English, French,
Spanish), because it's easier to learn a foreign language, when you are
a child.

At school I was very bad at English and Latin. Today I see how important
different languages are. And the best, how exciting is it to speak with
people of other countries. I can't speak or understand Italian and English
is the only way for me to understand and answer you, Claudia. That's great.

Hope, you understand what I mean.

Kind regards
teufelchen53
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[dfwengineer]

I have read both of the comments. I have been living in the USA for last 18 years. Most of my family comes from Indian Background. I have noticed a severe neglegence of the latino community (specially the Hispanics) of learning english. In major communication as well as all the fine educational institue in the USA as well as in any proffesional environment english is spoken and used immnesly. I beleive that refusal of learning english keeps the latinos deprived of their american dream. And i do agree that english is he bridge betwen culures. I do understand keeping the culture alive at home but it does not hurt to be fluent in English, after all we did choose english to be the worlds language.

[Jamie (K)]

Claudia, I don't think Spanish will eclipse English as the dominant world language anytime soon. There are various reasons for this.

The dominance of a language doesn't come only from its number of speakers. Both the Spanish and the British spread their languages over a huge portion of the world, but the British also spead other things that the Spanish did not. Those are political and economic stability, property rights, and the rule of law. The Americans have added to these their focus on personal economic freedom. All of these things made the English-speaking countries prosperous and have allowed their cultures to flower. These things are by far the most important factors in making English the dominant world language, and at the moment the Latin countries are a long way from attaining the level of personal freedom, economic discipline, property rights and political stability, in my opinion.

dfwengineer, how soon Hispanics learn English in the US depends on where they live. Where I am, in Michigan, there aren't very many Hispanics who don't speak English. They learn it as quickly as any other immigrant group. In fact, I've read before that they learn English quickly in other parts of the country too, but that it looks like they don't, just because new Hispanic immigrants are always arriving. Most Hispanic parents in the US definitely want their kids to be full members of English-speaking society.

Keep in mind that Hispanics in the US can have more difficulty learning English because the government, schools and social agencies make it as easy as possible for them not to learn. Many schools give Hispanic children bilingual education (which many Hispanic parents say makes them illiterate in two languages). The government and various social agencies print a lot of their signs and brochures in Spanish and give Spanish instructions in phone menus. In the supermarkets near my house, the self-serve scanners give a choice between English and Spanish instructions, and the cashiers are required to provide various forms in Spanish, even though they say no customer has ever filled out a Spanish form. At my bank's ATMs, we have to choose our language (English or Spanish) before we're allowed to make our transaction, even though there are few or no non-English-speaking Hispanics in my area.

No immigrant group other than Hispanics gets this kind of accommodation here. Arabs, Russians or other groups are seldom given the choice not to learn English the way Hispanics are here.

[Caroline]

Hey Claudia,
Wow! This is such a simple question, but such a broad topic! haha
Well, I'm from Brazil and I would say that although there are lots of similarities between Portuguese and Spanish, people usually tend to learn English first, then Spanish.

Here in the United States though, if people know any other language, it is usually Spanish, Frech in second and all the others in third place. At least, that's what it looks like to me.

I would say that the reason so many people speak Spanish nowadays, is because there are a lot of Spanish speaking countries in the world. You have the whole Latin America, going from Mexico all the way down to the very south of South America. Plus, Spain in Europe. The language is definitely well spread. I don't know in Europe, but here in the States there are a lot of Spanish speaking immigrants, therefore knowing this language has become somewhat a necessity for Americans to learn.
I don't see it overcoming English though for two reasons: For one, the English language is just as much well spread in the world and even more so than Spanish and secondly, economically, English speaking nations are on the list of the most developed places in the world. Being so, they have a certain type of monopoly (if I may put it that way) in the economy of the World. Unless this situation changes, I don't see any other language taking over the place of the English language. But knowing other languages is really important too. And after English I would say Spanish is becoming a necessity to learn too. At least under my reality of being a Brazilian in North America and even in Brazil.
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Hey, I'm Caroline.
If you need any help with English or need someone
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[Jamie (K)]

[Caroline]

Jamie wrote:

[Jamie (K)]

The whole dynamic of this is a little complicated.

Where I live, very few consumer-oriented businesses require employees to speak Spanish, because there are not very many Spanish customers who don't speak English. In some neighborhoods it is a limited asset to know some Spanish, but it won't get you a job or lose you one. And in that regard, Arabic is just as useful as Spanish, if not more so.

When corporate employees here learn German, it's usually to talk to the management and the people in the company's home office. When they learn Spanish, it's usually to talk to the workers in Mexico (the Mexican engineers and managers can usually speak English). They learn Japanese for the same reason they learn German, and they learn Portuguese to speak to the factory workers in Brazil (i.e., the same reason they learn Spanish).

There is a lot of work here for translators and interpreters in German, Japanese, Chinese, etc., and that's for business. The work in Spanish is more weighted toward court and hospital interpreting, but here Arabic, Chaldean, Bosnian and Vietnamese are as important as Spanish.

[Caroline]

Dear Jamie,
I think you are missing my point. This forum is dicussing about whether Spanish will eclipse English or not. It seems like we both agree it won't. And I guess that's all Claudia wanted to know. I said that it does seem like there is a growing need of learning the language just because there are many spanish speaking people in here. Like you pointed out yourself on your statistics. From all languages the company you work for wants its employees to learn, Spanish and German are in first place. I never said other languages were unimportant!
Not all business are equally connected to people worldwide like yours where there is a bigger demand for interpreters from all places. I'm talking about daily life. Places you have access to on a daily basis. Hospitals, supermarkets, restaurants, malls... I don't know, pick a place. There are tons of Latinos, I am one myself (only I speak Portuguese). Of course, the situation changes from state to state. I'm in North Carolina, apparently biggest concentration of Mexicans, I have been to Washington D.C. where I saw many Muslims (but it might not be the predominant immigrant nation there, perhaps you would like to check on some statistics for that too). Anyway, as I said, it is just what I see on a daily life basis. That the minimum requirement when you work somewhere is for you to learn Spanish. Thanks though for providing such useful information on that.
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Hey, I'm Caroline.
If you need any help with English or need someone
to practice with I would be really happy to help you.
Learn English with Caroline!

[Andreana]

Hi Caroline, maybe my question does not directly relate to the topic of this dicussion but I'd like to know how you have managed to learn English so well? If Portuguese is your native language, how and where did you learn English? I understand that you are not living in North Carolina? Are there any Portuguese speakers in your neighbourhood?
Talk to you soon,
Andreana
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[Caroline]

Hello Andreana,
Well, there are language schools everywhere in Brazil. If you want to get a nice job over there it is important that you learn at least one foreign language. So, I went to a language school over there for 5 years from which I graduated and 3 months after that two american families moved in to my neighborhood. The first family to move in lived just down the street from me and the second family just down the street from them. I befriended them and became almost like part of their family. So, I had a lot of practice with them for the almost one year they lived over there. By then, I had had connections with other families that came to my city too. (They were all part of a humanitarian organization based in my state, Amazon). I did a lot of translation and interpretation for them. And now, I've been living for 2 years here in the United States. There aren't any brazilians living close to me. I've met some, but we don't have much contact, just when we happen to see one another. Anyway, I don't know how good my english really is, but I do know it has gotten better because i had people to practice it with. I remember the first few times I tried to talk to Americans, I had a real good vocabulary, but it was really stretching for me to carry on a conversation. I would think in portuguese so the structure of my sentences wouldn't come out right. I could make a point though. I remember being exhausted at the end of the day, after talking to them for so long. But then it just got easier and easier. So yeah, I'm in North Carolina now working as a volunteer for another organization, serving the community and stuff. Thanks for your compliment on my English! Yours is pretty good too! Where did you learn English? Are you in Argentina right now?
_________________
Hey, I'm Caroline.
If you need any help with English or need someone
to practice with I would be really happy to help you.
Learn English with Caroline!

[Andreana]

Hi again Caroline. Thank you for sharing your experiences with me. Could you please tell me more about your work in North Carolina? What organization are you with? What type of community services do you provide? Regarding my English, I was in a similar situation like you. I learned English at school and then went to university. There I have always tried to get in contact with Americans (English speakers in general but most of them would be from the US anyway). Some of our professors are from the States too and I enjoy their seminars very much but they tend to have a more dynamic approach - a mixture of being laid-back while at the same time pushing us to our limits in a very subtle way. (for example, they would tell us a joke and in it there is a provocative statement). I think a lot of Americans - especially those with a Jewish background are good psychologists and they have a good interpersonal skills. This makes learning their language interesting and fun.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to your North Carolina update.
Andreana
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[Jamie (K)]

[Jamie (K)]