Language Magazine – Domenico Maceri
““Spanish, obviously, because we have a lot of Spanish-speaking people in our country.” That’s how Hillary Clinton responded to a question by Rachel Maddow of MSNBC about what language she would learn if she had the time. It’s an easy answer in many ways, because the number of Spanish speakers in the U.S. has increased to nearly 41 million. This would make it the fourth-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, after Mexico (121 million), Colombia (48 million), and Spain (46 million)…the importance of Spanish as a global language will continue. The purchasing power of the Spanish-speaking population already represents 10% of global GDP. The increasing purchasing power of Mexicans who stay home will expand it, adding value to the Spanish language. Whatever happens, Spanish, with more than 450 million speakers, is the number two language in the world after Mandarin. Knowledge of Spanish is thus very valuable. Americans already realize it. More than 10 million of them are studying Spanish in schools and colleges, making it the number one foreign language by far. Those Americans not familiar with Spanish would be smart to start learning it. It will be beneficial now and in the future.”(more)