10 facts about the Spanish language!

Question

List 1 and List 2

I've looked at these two lists and have created what I think are the 10 most interesting facts about Spanish! If you want to look fully at both lists, click the links above!

With 329 million native speakers, Spanish ranks as the world's No. 2 language in terms of how many people speak it as their first language. It is slightly ahead of English (328 million), but far behind Mandarin Chinese (1.2 billion).

Spanish has at least 3 million native speakers each in 44 countries, making it the fourth mostly geographically widely spoken language behind English (112 countries), French (60) and Arabic (57).

Spanish is one of the world's most phonetic languages. If you know how a word is spelled, you can almost always know how it is pronounced (although the reverse isn't true).

After Latin, the language that has had the biggest influence on Spanish is Arabic. Today, the foreign language exerting the most influence is English, and Spanish has adopted hundreds of English words related to technology and culture.

Spanish and English share much of their vocabulary through cognates, as both languages derive many of their words from Latin and Arabic.

Today Spanish is an official language of the UN and its institutions, the European Union and other international organizations.

The demand for Spanish courses has doubled worldwide in ten years.

Approximately 100 million people speak Spanish as a second language.

Spanish is expected to be the first language of 50% of the population of the United States within 50 years.

Spanish is the most popular foreign language to learn in America and Europe.

Chinese is not a language!!! - blazinbilly252, Jul 6, 2011

Oh, sorry. I just took what the websites had! I can change it if you want. - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 6, 2011

I've been checking other websites, and they've said that approximately 1.1 - 1.2 billion people speaking Mandarin Chinese, so I edited the post. Sorry if I offended anyone :( - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 6, 2011

muy buen trabajo sonrisita, un voto más:) - 00494d19, Jul 6, 2011

Gracias, Heidita :) - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 6, 2011

It does say mandarin chinese - coolclay, Jul 7, 2011

Answer 1

That second last point is crazy, in 50 years 100% of the US will be Welsh speaking, obviously.

Hah! Hilarious! :DD - webdunce, Jul 6, 2011

:) - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 6, 2011

Not even the Welsh are 100% Welsh speaking! :) - MaryMcc, Jul 6, 2011

The Welsh speaking ones are ! - ray76, Jul 6, 2011

Answer 2

It is slightly ahead of English (328 million) but far behind Chinese (1.2 billion).

Chinese is not a language, no matter what some people think. There are about 235 languages in China, and although in Chinese they are called dialects, most of them are not mutually intelligible (even though they share the same script), so they are really different languages. The most spoken language in China is called Mandarin, and although it is the official language and it is taught at schools, it is spoken as a native language by about 850 million people. All the languages of China are spoken by more than 1.2 billion people.

According to the Instituto Cervántes, Spanish is spoken as a first language by about 390 million people, and nearly 450 million according to other estimates.

Answer 3

Spanish is expected to be the first language of 50% of the population of the United States within 50 years.

Considering that there is a large segment of the US population whose native English skills are so bad that they are unintelligible, I think the 50% has already arrived.

Good work, Sun Smile!

Jajaja, Julian!!! Thanks - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 6, 2011

Answer 4

in 50 years 100% of the US will be Welsh speaking, obviously.

Oh, great! All of our signs are bilingual (English /Spanish) at this point. Where are we going to get all of the Welsh signs to replace them?

Wales! :D - rabbitwho, Jul 6, 2011

lol hehe :) - EL_MAG0, Jul 6, 2011

Answer 5

"Spanish is expected to be the first language of 50% of the population of the United States within 50 years." That is a neat fact. Even more incentive for me to learn Spanish!!

I know! That, for me, was the most interesting. And surprising, too! - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 6, 2011

Yes, very surprising!! - jorden365, Jul 6, 2011

This was the point I found least convincing. The primary reason Spanish has survived in the US is because of our first generation immigrants. Spanish is still consistently lost by the third generation. - lachelvi, Jul 6, 2011

But maybe it will not be lost as there are more people willing to use the language? - MaryMcc, Jul 6, 2011

Answer 6

Muy interestante Sonrisa, gracias

Gracias, Amor y Paz! - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 7, 2011

Answer 7

Thank you so much Sonrisa

I didn't know my language (Arabic) has that big influence on Spanish!

Lovely, after 800 years of being used in Spain, surely Arabic has had a major influence on Spanish - 005faa61, Jul 6, 2011

You're welcome, Lovely. As soon as I read that fact on that website, I thought of you! - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 6, 2011

I believe it was the "J" jota sound that Spanish got from Arabic. - EL_MAG0, Jul 6, 2011

Edited for typos, Lovely. :) - galsally, Jul 7, 2011

'I didn't know my language haD such a big influence...' or 'had so much influence', too. - galsally, Jul 7, 2011

Sure it does Julian, 800 years are a lot, and yes A & P you're right, the J is from the arabic alpha as well as some other sounds in Spanish, thank you for the edit Sally :) - 00b6f46c, Jul 8, 2011

Answer 8

Well, then I should try to get a work as Spanish teacher in the USA.

Answer 9

Very interesting list Sonrisa.

Thank you! - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 6, 2011

Answer 10

Here, in Scotland, we've recently seen the launch of BBC Alba, wholly dedicated to Gaelic. Obviously, this is excellent news for the three people who speak it.

Go on! Let's see if we can get more people to vote for this than speak Gaelic. - John1961, Jul 6, 2011

Answer 11

Spanish and English share much of their vocabulary through cognates, as both languages derive many of their words from Latin and Arabic.

Spanish, yes; English, no ("many" would be an exaggeration).

Answer 12

Interesante

Gracias! - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 6, 2011