US now has more Spanish speakers than Spain – only Mexico has more - Polidicks

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/aPUyKGZ.jpg?1[/IMG] [QUOTE]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. The report, El español, una lengua viva – Spanish, a living language – estimates that there are 559 million Spanish speakers worldwide, a figure that includes 470 million native speakers and those with some command of the language.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/29/us-second-biggest-spanish-speaking-country"]Fuente[/URL].

What actually matters is the proportion of the population, to the relevant point trying to be made here.

We're coming for the chinese next

Interesting that Alaska has more Spanish speakers than West Virginia.

Cool. Maybe the U.S. can become a bilingual country. That would be neat.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;48083184]Interesting that Alaska has more Spanish speakers than West Virginia.[/QUOTE] West Virginia is ethnically sterile.

[QUOTE=bitches;48083176]What actually matters is the proportion of the population, to the relevant point trying to be made here.[/QUOTE] Spain has a population of 46 million. So 99% of Spain speaks spanish and 16% of USA speaks spanish.

U.S.A Spanish is already a thing as per my samsung phone.

[QUOTE=elevate;48083215]West Virginia is ethnically sterile.[/QUOTE] this is true. i went to go visit my family there quite a few years back, and was looking at a year book from my cousin's elementary school. there were only two black people in the entire school.

[quote]Among the sources cited in the report is the US Census Office which estimates that the US will have [b]138 million Spanish speakers by 2050[/b], making it the biggest Spanish-speaking nation on Earth, with [b]Spanish the mother tongue of almost a third of its citizens.[/b][/quote] This is probably the most important part of all of this.

[QUOTE=elevate;48083215]West Virginia is ethnically sterile.[/QUOTE] not true, when i was in middle school there was one person out of the 600 of us who wasn't a white boy

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KvswDn6NdY[/media] I thanks the Simpsons for breaking down the diversity barriers.

Nobody tell Trump

[QUOTE=draugur;48083186]Cool. Maybe the U.S. can become a bilingual country. That would be neat.[/QUOTE] Having to learn two languages to function in society sounds pretty terrible, it's bad enough seeing the segregation of English vs. Spanish services and advertisements in places like Arizona, even worse seeing the common divide between people who are English-speaking only and Spanish-speaking only. I think multilingualism is fantastic on an intellectual and cultural level, but for the function of a coherent society I definitely prefer having a primary language and I wish more effort was put towards teaching people that language rather than trying to increasingly accommodate a different one.

[QUOTE=srobins;48083387]Having to learn two languages to function in society sounds pretty terrible, it's bad enough seeing the segregation of English vs. Spanish services and advertisements in places like Arizona, even worse seeing the common divide between people who are English-speaking only and Spanish-speaking only. I think multilingualism is fantastic on an intellectual and cultural level, but for the function of a coherent society I definitely prefer having a primary language and I wish more effort was put towards teaching people that language rather than trying to increasingly accommodate a different one.[/QUOTE] It works in Canada. Somewhat

[QUOTE=srobins;48083387]Having to learn two languages to function in society sounds pretty terrible, it's bad enough seeing the segregation of English vs. Spanish services and advertisements in places like Arizona, even worse seeing the common divide between people who are English-speaking only and Spanish-speaking only. I think multilingualism is fantastic on an intellectual and cultural level, but for the function of a coherent society I definitely prefer having a primary language and I wish more effort was put towards teaching people that language rather than trying to increasingly accommodate a different one.[/QUOTE] a child's primary language will always be that of the figure that raises it children also are far more capable than adults at learning multiple languages elementary schools around here are already teaching spanish, and these efforts will improve over time

[QUOTE=bitches;48083424]a child's primary language will always be that of the figure that raises it children also are far more capable than adults at learning multiple languages elementary schools around here are already teaching spanish, and these efforts will improve over time[/QUOTE] Not to be rude but what point are you trying to make?

As I was told the one time I tried to learn Spanish, there is no single Spanish language. There are like 10 of them, and each one thinks they're the best and that every other Spanish variant is wrong. Spanish Spanish isn't Mexican Spanish. Mexican Spanish isn't Puerto Rican Spanish. Puerto Rican Spanish isn't Cuban Spanish.

[QUOTE=bitches;48083424]a child's primary language will always be that of the figure that raises it[/QUOTE] this isn't necessarily true [editline]29th June 2015[/editline] it wasn't in my case

[QUOTE=bitches;48083424]a child's primary language will always be that of the figure that raises it children also are far more capable than adults at learning multiple languages elementary schools around here are already teaching spanish, and these efforts will improve over time[/QUOTE] I mean shouldnt those elementary schools be teaching english to spanish speakers? I may be completely missing your point, but english has been the established language in America for a couple hundred years. The proper route should be in my opinion, raised with spanish --> taught english in school (as you say its easier for children)

[QUOTE=Pikablu07;48083319]not true, when i was in middle school there was one person out of the 600 of us who wasn't a white boy[/QUOTE] Was it a white girl?

[QUOTE=LoLWaT?;48083695]It's pretty strange thinking back to when I was like a toddler before immigration really exploded and I don't think there really were any different translations and nowadays you see them on literally everything.[/QUOTE] Yeah it's a little depressing driving to my university in the west valley and seeing the billboards slowly turn from English to Spanish. I don't know how other cities are but Phoenix is definitely a weird quasi-Mexico in a lot of neighborhoods.

[QUOTE=LoLWaT?;48083746]I wouldn't say depressing. The entire scope of what's actually happening here is for a different topic (and it's both just as much our fault as it is Mexico's -- We [I]should[/I] have been dealing with them instead of doing fuck all half way around the world) but it hasn't impeded anything or made anything worse. I just think it's interesting looking back and thinking about how this has all evolved over time.[/QUOTE] Maybe not depressing but I think there's something a little unfortunate about the fact that rather than dealing with the increasing population of people who don't speak English, we're trying to retrofit their neighborhoods with Spanish-only signage and labeling.

[QUOTE=srobins;48083757]Maybe not depressing but I think there's something a little unfortunate about the fact that rather than dealing with the increasing population of people who don't speak English, we're trying to retrofit their neighborhoods with Spanish-only signage and labeling.[/QUOTE] Ive never understood why some areas adopt such an inherently divisive policy. Ive read that all it accomplishes is language based segregation, and it seems starkly opposed to the idea of a melting pot.

[QUOTE=cxcxxxxx;48083817]Ive never understood why some areas adopt such an inherently divisive policy. Ive read that all it accomplishes is language based segregation, and it seems starkly opposed to the idea of a melting pot.[/QUOTE] Because people who are Spanish-speaking only (and other non-English speakers) are usually poor, and poor areas tend to be concentrated with similar populations and even unofficially segregated by race in a lot of areas, because a lot (I'd say most but I don't have any statistical proof) of people who don't speak English are immigrants, and those immigrants tend to be poorer. [editline]30th June 2015[/editline] Oh, I misread your post and gave you a totally unrelated answer lol. As far as your actual post goes, it's because most of the signage comes from companies looking to advertise who really don't care one way or another, just so long as people can read their ad. When public services and government agencies do it it's for basically the same reason, ease of access. Nobody wants to address the language disparity, it's generally easier to just go for maximized advertising efficiency. You can't really blame them, if I were taking out a billboard in a Spanish neighborhood it would make sense to write it in Spanish, I just think going to lengths to accommodate people that don't speak English just encourages segregation and discourages people putting in the effort to learn English.

Pretty bad in comparison to other countries. Improvement is always good tho.

[QUOTE=Cold;48083865]Pretty bad in comparison to other countries. Improvement is always good tho.[/QUOTE] This isn't improvement. This is the country coming apart at the seams. The areas that speak Spanish tend to only speak Spanish. And the whites move away. And the blacks move away. And the arabs move away. And the asians move away.

Improvement would be an increase in bilingual population and better language education, which is different from this, a continuing increase in immigrant population which is Spanish-speaking, many of them unilingual.

[QUOTE=Grimhound;48083926]This isn't improvement. This is the country coming apart at the seams. The areas that speak Spanish tend to only speak Spanish. And the whites move away. And the blacks move away. And the arabs move away. And the asians move away.[/QUOTE] There's a nearby town that has a section north of the train tracks known to the locals as "Taco Town". Hell, even the people that live there call it that.

[QUOTE=srobins;48083955]Improvement would be an increase in bilingual population and better language education, which is different from this, a continuing increase in immigrant population which is Spanish-speaking, many of them unilingual.[/QUOTE] Not to sound like a typical southern redneck but it would really be better if they learned english. Most of the US speaks english, it would be better to have one official language. Look how canada turned out with Quebec practically being a separate country.