12/28/2008

Spanish Now Second-Most Studied Language

The French like to claim that French is the second-most taught language in the world, and this might have been true a while ago. However, some now contend that Spanish has taken up that position due to both the rise of Spanish and the decline of French:

According to Spain's 20 Minutos, there are now more than 14 million people studying Spanish in 90 countries in which Spanish is not an official language. According to the Director of the Instituto Cervantes -- the Spanish organization that looks to promote the language all over the world -- one of the main reasons that people are choosing to study Spanish is because they believe that it willprofessionally benefit them in today's global economy. He also pointed to Brazil's decision to make Spanish an mandatory subject in schools as an example of the growing importance of Spanish in the world. There are currently one million Spanish speakers in Brazil butMolina estimates that in 10 years there will be more than 30 million Spanish-speaking Brazilians, adding to the already 500 million Spanish speakers in America and Spain, making it the fourth most spoken language in the world, after Chinese, English and Hindi. Brazil's new Spanish initiative will call for 210,000 Spanish teachers to teach the language. Molina, speaking at a language school conference in Coruña, Spain, also said that the United States -- currently with (according to his estimate) 36 million Spanish speakers -- is the frontier that must be conquered, calling it "a decisive platform for Spanish to reaffirm its role as the second language of international communication."
2007/04/27
http://vivirlatino.com/2007/04/27/spanish-second-most-studied-language-worldwide.php

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brazil is surrounded by Spanish speaking countries, their choice of Spanish makes sense regionally.

Molina, speaking at a language school conference in Coruña, Spain, also said that the United States -- currently with (according to his estimate) 36 million Spanish speakers -- is the frontier that must be conquered, calling it...

It's like when the Spanish Armada came to conquer England, that damn church won't simply leave us alone. Little did those rulers 500 years ago know that a country can be counquered through illegal immigration.

Amazingly, American Catholics like EJC never ask why reprobates Like Ted Kennedy don't get excommunicated. The real reason is all of these Catholic politicians work tirelessly to make America part of Latin Amrica, therefore the Church approves of their behavior.

Unfrench Frenchman said...

Molina, speaking at a language school conference in Coruña, Spain, also said that the United States -- currently with (according to his estimate) 36 million Spanish speakers -- is the frontier that must be conquered

You can displace a language through military and political conquest, but economic immigration alone doesn't usually lead to language replacement. In other words, Molina is likely to be disappointed. Culture nationalists are so deluded.

Snake Oil Baron said...

Spanish immigrants to America still appear to be following the trend usual trend. While first generation immigrants generally have low fluency in English, the second generation is half unilingual English and the third is in the high nineties for percent of unilingual English usage. High concentrations of immigrants in certain areas were hypothesised to encourage Spanish retention but the three generations rule seems to be holding if not increasing in favor of English acquisition and intermarriage between Hispanic and Anglos is also high. Meanwhile English words, terms and phrases continue to penetrate the Hispanis language and culture.

Spanish is certainly a better pick for a second language than French but Spanish as a rival for being a global language is not currently likely and at bet it might combine with English to some degree to become the global language.

Anonymous said...

Even if English becomes their sole language they still identify as a group and vote that way. A century after arriving in America around the turn of the century White Catholics still give a plurality of their votes to the Democratic Party (49-41). If you combine White Catholics with Blacks and Hispanics you have a permanent near-majority. My apologies.

Anonymous said...

Part of the reason why this bugs me is I read Civil War 2 by Tom Chittum. PDF Amazon.com

Edward J. Cunningham said...

Amazingly, American Catholics like EJC never ask why reprobates Like Ted Kennedy don't get excommunicated. The real reason is all of these Catholic politicians work tirelessly to make America part of Latin Amrica, therefore the Church approves of their behavior.

I believe the real reason is to preserve their tax-exempt status. During election week, a priest can urge the congregation to consider the rights of the unborn in the upcoming election, but if they endorse a specific candidate---e.g. "Vote for McCain or you'll go to hell!"---they could get in trouble with the IRS.

A century after arriving in America around the turn of the century White Catholics still give a plurality of their votes to the Democratic Party (49-41).

I'm proud to be both a Catholic and a Democrat, but there are MANY Catholic Republicans, including everyone else in my immediate family. They would have a bone to pick with you with lumping them with liberals.

Also, while many Catholics are descended from 19th Century immigrants, our roots in this country go back farther. My state---Maryland---was founded in 1632 as a haven for English Catholics and the Archdiocese of Baltimore---which once encompassed the entire United States goes all the way back to 1789.

We Catholics are not a uniform mass, and we are more assimilated into society than you would have us believe. John Kerry lost the 2004 election because most Catholics (not me) voted for George W. Bush. Notre Dame is no longer a national power that it used to be partly because Catholics don't feel they have to root for them or send their football-loving sons to ND. At one time, Catholics felt set apart from the rest from America and they rallied behind Notre Dame as "their team."

Whatever you may be afraid of, America doesn't have the same worries that France and Europe do. We Catholics have and are assimilating in the U.S. Muslims aren't. We aren't lobbying for laws prohibiting the sale of meat during Fridays in Lent. But many Muslims---even so-called "moderate" Muslims---argue for making sharia the law of the land.

I would much rather live in a country where Spanish has completely replaced English as a language but we still hold on to our freedoms that our forefathers fought for so dearly than live in an English-speaking country that has forsaken them.

Anonymous said...

In a previous post you said that you voted for Obama, but you oppose abotion. Obama voted to allow abortionists to kill a baby if it slipped out of the mother alive. He thought extending such protections to the accidentally born would help weaken America's proabortion laws. source

The other reason why I object to the Catholic church is that millions of people who identify with it support abortion, gun control, open borders, gay marriage and a host of other immoral things. The reason they support such things is because of the moral example set by men such as Ted Kennedy, who is the nation's leading advocate for unlimited abortion on demand. Every election the church makes noises that it is going to deny communion to proabortion politicians, but it never follows through. I can only conclude that such moral posturing is simply an act designed to give the church cover while it doesn't expel the pro-Mexivasion politicians.

The Liberal coalition in America is composed of Blacks (13%), Hispanics (14.8%), Other Colored (11.7%), Jews (2%) and White Catholics.
Catholics comprise 25% of the US population, so 25-14.8=10.2% which is enough to put the Democrats over the top regularly. This Democratic coalition is the bedrock of abortion support in America. Without the Catholic vote such a coalition would lose consistently. Incidentally, I didn't want many of these other races here in this country but the Democrats under the leadership of Ted Kennedy for the last 45 years and cowardly Republicans have voted to let in millions.

If the American Bishops are too cowardly to expel Ted then they will stand before God as failures.

Anonymous said...

My demographic information is from wikipedia, but I believe it is inaccurate. The wiki article claims that America has 299 million people, not 325 million.

Anonymous said...

This all a big lie.

French, is still the second most studied language in the entire world.

Here are some of the links made by non-French speaking people that says that French is the second most studied language in the world.

http://www.fll.vt.edu/French/whyfrench.html

http://www.nelanguage.com/french.html

You keep on bringing up the issue about the decline of French momentarily. Spanish is not used worldwide for your information because if you go to Eastern Europe German and Russian are frequently heard aside form English but Spanish is less used even than French and Italian.

There's an issue that Spanish is fragmenting into numerous mutually unintelligible dialects.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, I would like to point out two flaws in your post. Your first link is to a school located in Vermont, USA. Vermont shares a border with Quebec and therefore sees French as being relatively more important. Second French may be the second most taught language in the world, but how many of those students remember what they are taught or actually use it?

Also:
There's an issue that Spanish is fragmenting into numerous mutually unintelligible dialects.

This is somewhat true. I know a Colombian woman that has relatives from across Latin America and she said that they do not always understand each other. Here in the US a lot of the immigrants take Spanish as a foreign language in HS and they can understand each other very well.

One other question, the first link provided by anonymous states that French is the language of several pan-European organizations, does this mean that France is the main force driving European integration?

Unfrench Frenchman said...

"Spanish is not used worldwide for your information"

French is not used worldwide either, because if you go to Shanghai or Perth or Karachi and try your French on the locals you are in for a disappointment. Even those very few that have had a bit of French at school hardly remember a sentence. Global French teaching is a HUGE waste of time and money.

Anonymous said...

The Fragmentation of Spanish into Multitudes of Mutually Unintelligible Dialects.

Language policy in Spanish-speaking Latin America deals with challenges to the status of Spanish as the official language, a status inherited from the colonial administration of the New World. These challenges come from several sources: THE ASSERTION OF THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS GROUPS, THE ‘DANGER’ OF FRAGMENTATION OF SPANISH INTO A MULTITUDE OF LOCAL DIALECTS, THE GROWING PRESTIGE OF ENGLISH AND INFLUENCE OF THE UNITED STATES, AND ALONG THE SOUTHERN BORDER OF BRAZIL, CONTACT WITH PORTUGUESE.

In the initial phase of colonization, the Catholic Monarchs and later Charles V required all of their new subjects to learn Spanish, just as their predecessors had imposed the learning of Castilian on the conquered Arab territories in order to bind them more closely together in the nation governed by Castile. However, it soon became clear that the linguistic diversity of the New World was too great to allow for the immediate implantation of Spanish, and some allowance had to be made for the usage of indigenous languages in teaching and evangelization. In 1570 Phillip II reluctantly authorized a policy of bilingualism in which instruction could be imparted in ‘the’ language of each Viceroyalty: Nahautl and in New Spain and Quechua in Peru, with the consequent extension of these two languages into territories where they were not spoken natively. Even this measure was not enough, however, and in 1596 Phillip II recognized the existent multilingualism: Spanish for administration and access to the elite, and a local indigenous language for evangelization and daily communication in indigenous communities. This policy lead to a separation of colonial society into a minority of Spanish/creole Spanish-speakers governing an indigenous majority speaking one of many indigenous languages. The separation became so great that it all but halted the Hispanization of rural areas and created local indigenous elites with considerable autonomy from the central adminstration. A reassertion of central authority commenced in 1770 when Carlos III declared Spanish to be the only language of the Empire and ordered the administrative, judicial and ecclesiastic authorities to extinguish all others. After Independence, the new nations and their successors maintained the offical status of Spanish as a means of strengthening national unity and pursuing modernization through education. This tendency was reinforced at the turn of the century through the 1940’s with notions of Social Darwinism, in which the vigorous hybrid groups of Latin America would eventually overcome the ‘weaker’ indigenous groups. It is only since World War II that this policy has suffered any substantial change.

Several processes converged in the post-War period to shake the linguistic status quo. One is the growth of industrialization, which requires an educated workforce and thus lends urgency to effective education. Another is agrarian reform, which raises the social status of the farmer while increasing his need for vocational training. These two processes create a growing pressure to learn the language of technology and mechanization, Spanish. As a counterpoint to this pressure, there was an understanding among policy makers of the failure of the pre-War incorporationist policies to acheive their goal of Hispanization. The confluence of these tendencies was a shift towards the usage of indigenous languages in primary schools to ease the transition to Spanish. Moreover, the dynamic of questioning the entire model of development grew, a dynamic that was reinforced by the emergence of indigenous activists educated in the new national schools. These contradictions came to a head during the labor and peasant movements of the 1950’s and 60’s, where calls for the preservation of indigenous languages served as a vehicle for the preservation of entire indigenous societies. The subsequent official response to these movements had diverse outcomes throughout Latin America. In Mexico, the new indigenous consciousness continued to grow unabated, as it did among the Bolivian Aymara and Ecuadorian Quechua, and to a lesser extent among the other Quechua speakers of Bolivia and Peru. Elsewhere, many organizations were driven into marginality or outright armed resistence, with the paradoxical result that often the only officially-tolerated supporters of indigenous languages were foreigners: scholars pursuing linguistic or anthropological fieldwork, linguists trained by the Summer Institute of Linguistics for the translation and dissemination of Christian texts, or members of other non-governmental organizations engaged in aid or relief work.

Only recently have indigenous defensors of indigenous languages found any standing on the national stage. This new tolerance has been said to reflect the neo-liberal reforms required as conditions for loans from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund since the early 1990’s, with the threat of Communist takeover having receeded. There are now a multitude of protective measures that go from bilingual primary education (Honduras), to constitutional protection (Colombia), to the establishment of indigenous languages as co-official with Spanish (Guatemala).

With respect to the status of Spanish among native speakers, Independence lead to the creation of national educational institutions and a desire to reform Spanish orthography so as to facilitate its learning by American speakers, as well as to foster a literary tradition independent of Spain. Such reforms come to little in the face of the turbulence created by Independence, but a second round of standardization began as part of the modernization process initiated around 1870. Increasing immigration to Latin America and the strengthening of trends towards democratization lead to the fear among the intellectual elite that the linguistic unity of Latin America would collapse into a cacophomy of local variants, much as the Latin of the Roman Empire fragmented into the variety of Romance languages.

The final threat to the official status of Spanish is the growing contact with other European languages: with English throughout Latin America, and with Portuguese along the southern border of Brazil. Contact with English arises through migration to the United States for economic or political reasons or sojourns for business or education. This contact is particularily acute in the case of Puerto Rico, where its adminstrative dependency on the United States has led to an extensive diffusion of English, as well as the threatened imposition of English as the official language should Puerto Rico ever gain statehood. This threat has sparked intellectual debates that echo the Spanish-vs.-indigenous-language debates heard on the mainland: language is an expression of identity, perhaps the fundmental expression of identity, and it should not be given up lightly.

Selected references
Angel Rama (1996) The Lettered City. Duke University Press.
[spelling reform after independence, p. 43ff; foundation of Spanish American Academies, Cuervo, Caro & Bello p. 59ff]
Julio Ramos (1989) Desenceuntros de la modernidad en América Latina. Literatura y política en el siglo XIX. Tierra Firme, México.
[Ch. II sobre Bello]
Julio Ramos (1996) Paradojas de la letra. Ediciones eXcultura, Caracas, Miami, Quito.
[Ch. 1 sobre Bello]

http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/Pubs/LALangPol.html

===================================

The priority of the language spoken and written on the mainland on Latin America. was the central thesis of this writing, the "barbaric nature of the Native American languages" prevented, in his view, they have to exert any influence on the Spanish of America. The enforcement of the Academy would do the rest. This was trying to counter the forecast made by Andres Bello in the preface to his Grammar of 1847, feared that the profusion of regional varieties that "clouds and flooded much of what is written in America, and altering the structure of language, tends to turn it into a multitude of dialects irregular graduates barbarians "for the design, linguistic and political inextricably only unit of the tongue" cult "would ensure the unity of the Hispanic world. By contrast, the Colombian philologist Rufino Jose Cuervo, which supported the diagnosis of Bello of the possible fragmentation of FRAGMENTATION IN A VARIETY OF MUTUALLY UNINTELLIGIBLE LANGUAGES, warned against the use of written language to measure the unit of language, considering it a veil that covers the local. "

Translated from Spanish: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellano_neutral

===================================

The "SPANISH" LANGUAGE: Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries

The section on modern colloquial Spanish, especially that spoken on television, is discouraging. It is often difficult to understand, even for people from other Spanish-speaking countries. The film makes light of this, but it is a pathetic decline from the beautiful Spanish promoted by the Spanish Academy. Even some Latin American students at Stanford use a slang unknown to me and often to other Latin Americans. Some WAISers defend the variants as the expression of a people, but they seem to have a romantic longing for the good old times when the inhabitants of one valley could not understand those of the next. John Wonder complains about this, and about the machine-gun like speech of young people. Indeed, in the Bogota I first knew, the "Athens of America," the intellectual elite spoke a very beautiful Spanish. Now SCOLA rebroadcasts news programs from Cali. The young women announcers on the program rattle off Spanish is high-pitched voices without the intonation indicating comprehension. The decline of Spanish in Colombia is a tragedy, admittedly insignificant in comparison with the major tragedy of life there.

Ronald Hilton - 4/15/01

http://www.stanford.edu/group/wais/Language/language_mexandothers41501.html

===================================

Is Spanish in danger?

It seems that not everyone understands very well in Spain, a source of misunderstanding for their common language. Receipt stupor scanned the letter that a college Creixell (Tarragona) submitted by parents to allow their children to attend two hours a week for Arabic language classes. Further to the issue, the letter written in Catalan, Arabic, Spanish is obvious that the co-official languages in Catalonia, and thus forced to use by the administration. In short, it puts a higher position in Arabic into Spanish, in an effort to remove him from social life, where a majority in Catalonia. WITH THIS AND OTHER ACTIONS, WE ATTEMPT TO "CIVIL DEATH" IN A LANGUAGE AND CULTURE VITAL TO BUSINESSES AROUND THE WORLD, DEPRIVING STUDENTS OF KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH THROUGH MARGINALIZE NOT BEHIND THE CATALAN (WHICH TURN MARGINALIZES OFFICIALLY ANDALUSIA ANDALUSIA MAJORCAN AND VALENCIAN), AND WHERE APPROPRIATE, GALICIAN AND BASQUE, BUT BEHIND ENGLISH, FRENCH AND NOW ARABIC.

JUSTIFY THE FACT THAT SUPPLY MARKETS IN BARCELONA HAVE COME TO PLACE BILINGUAL SIGNS IN CATALAN AND URDU (OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF PAKISTAN), BUT NOT A SINGLE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT IN SPANISH, IS TO JUSTIFY A PATHOLOGICAL HATRED, RIDICULE AND SICKLY WITH SEVERAL CRETINS OFFICIAL CAR AND SEVERAL "PANIAGUADOS" COLUMN SUBSIDIZED MEDIA. We must not forget that subsidies for "experiments" in Arabic, Urdu and anything within swahilli, are paid with money of all, to produce illiterate or managed well in Spanish or Catalan or appropriate local language.
Spanish

http://www.diariodeamerica.com/front_nota_detalle.php?id_noticia=4673

Anonymous said...

After English, Spanish is leaving French, German and Italian further and further behind as the second most studied foreign language across Europe. Of course there are regional variations - eastern Europeans tend to pick German, then English or Spanish. Germans often pick English and French, but incrasingly French is being displaced by Spanish. Everyone is abandoning Italian.

As for the Catalanists exagerrated 19th century nationalistic attitude is depriving their children of a large part of their heritage - much literature and history of Catalans is in Castilian. Just from an economic point of view they are cutting off their noses to spite their faces: foreign businesses are increasingly shifting their operational headquarters in Spain from Barcelona to Madrid, just because of language issues. Castilian is a major international language - Catalan, fine language with a brilliant heritage, isn't.

Cervantes said...

French is being dropped by many in favour of Spanish in both Scandanavia and Italy. In France, Italian has been wiped out by Spanish and because Spanish is so close to French, many in France are choosing it as their first foreign language, cutting deeply into German and even a little bit into English. I have no idea what is happening in places like Ukraine, Russia and the Balkans. I imagine this trend is happening because Europeans these days also look outside Europe. There is no contest between Spanish speaking Latin America and that basket case, French speaking Africa.

Anonymous said...

There is no contest between Spanish speaking Latin America and that basket case, French speaking Africa.Latin America is a basket case too. Argentina goes broke once every ten years and Mexico has a near civil war raging along its northern border. Most countries down there have national corruption as well.

Take a look at this and read my comment below the post. In my comment there is a link to an article, if you fell motivated please feel free to read that too.

cursus spaans in sevilla said...

Get a raise at your current job. Companies often offer raises to employees who know Spanish. These companies see the great benefit of having their employees know Spanish and are willing to reward them for it. Ask your current employer to see what is available at your company.

Anonymous said...

French is studied as a foreign language by some 200 million people (making it the second most learnt language in the world - after English.)

http://www.stgeorges.co.uk/foreign-languages/french-courses/

While learning German can connect you to 120 million native speakers around the globe, remember that many people also learn German as a second language. It is the 3rd most popular foreign language taught worldwide and the second most popular in Europe and Japan, after English.

French as a foreign language is the second most frequently taught language in the world after English.

http://mydifl.com/languages.htm

Russian statistics state that 20 million foreigners studying Russian, and this, in 90 countries.

http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/francophonie/francophonie.htm

According to Spain's 20 Minutos, there are now more than 14 million people studying Spanish in 90 countries in which Spanish is not an official language. According to the Director of the Instituto Cervantes.....

http://vivirlatino.com/2007/04/27/spanish-second-most-studied-language-worldwide.php

200 million who learn French - 14 million who learn Spanish = 186 million million more French learner than Spanish.

200 million divided by 14 million = 14.28571428571429 times more students of French than Spanish.

THERE YOU HAVE IT GUYS, IT'S OBVIOUS BECAUSE ACCORDING TO INSTITUTO CERVANTES, SPANISH IS STUDIED NY JUST 14 MILLION WHILE ACCORDING TO UK BASED ST. GEORGE INTERNATIONAL FRENCH IS LEARNED BY 200 MILLION PEOPLE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Anonymous said...

LANGUAGE AND RADIO IN PERU AND BOLIVIA

Bilingual education has been at the forefront of both countries' policies. In recent years "there has been a tradition of positive government policy towards bilingual education programmes in Andean Latin America" (Minaya-Rowe,1986, 468), and moreover, the aim of these programs "as officially stated, is not to produce a nation of monolingual Spanish speakers, but rather one of bilingual Spanish-Quechua speakers" (Minaya- Rowe, 1986, 475). Bolivia's education system uses "a bilingual approach which will educate its adult population, allowing them to retain their own
languages and cultures, while at the same time providing the opportunity to learn Spanish (Stark, 1985, p541). Peru designed its bilingual education program "to draw the indigenous groups into the Peruvian mainstream efficiently and with respect shown to their language and culture" (Hornberger, 1987, 206).

Peru and Bolivia have even gone a step further. IN 1975, QUECHUA WAS MADE AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF PERU (ESCOBAR 1981, HORNBERGER 1987), WHICH EVEN INCLUDED THE TEACHING OF QUECHUA TO SPANISH SPEAKERS. SIMILARLY, BOTH QUECHUA AND AYMARA WERE MADE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES, COEQUAL TO SPANISH, IN BOLIVIA (MINAYA-ROWE, 1986). ONE OF THE MANIFESTATIONS OF GIVING OFFICIAL STATUS WAS "THE USE OF BOTH QUECHUA OR AYMARA AND SPANISH ON (THE) RADIO" (MINAYA-ROWE, 1986).There are, in fact, some great differances between these countries and Guatemala in regards to the use of Indian languages in radio broadcasting.

Both countries, like Guatemala, have Catholic and Protestant stations that use Indian languages (Ballon, 1987; Fontenelle, 1985; Gavilan, 1983; Moore, 1985; Oros, 1987; Perry, 1982; Povrzenic, 1987b, 1987c). But what about privately owned commercial stations? In the Andean highlands of southern and central Peru, there are at least several commercial stations known to broadcast in Quechua and/or Aymara, in addition to Spanish (Hirahara & Inoue, 1984a, 1984b; Llorens and Tamayo, 1987; Povrzenic, 1987a, 1987b). These include at least one member of the Cadena de Emisoras Cruz, one of Peru's largest radio networks (Hirahara & Inoue, 1984a). In addition, Peru's most powerful commercial radio broadcaster, Radio Union in Lima, has an hour long program in Quechua every morning (Hirahara, 1981; Montoya, 1987). Likewise, in Bolivia commercial broadcasters are known to broadcast in indigenous languages (Gwyn, 1983; La Defensa, 1986; Povrzenic, 1983).

What is most significant, though, is that in both cases the official government stations have added Indian language broadcasts. Peru's Radio Nacional broadcasts in both Quechua and Aymara (Povrzenic, 1987a), as does Bolivia's Radio Illimani (Moore, 1985). IN FACT, THE PERUVIAN GOVERNMENT WENT A STEP FURTHER IN 1988 WHEN THEY RENAMED RADIO NACIONAL WITH THE QUECHUA NAME RADIO PACHICUTEC (KLEMETZ, 1989).

In summary, the sociolinguistic situation in Peru and Bolivia is markedly different from that in Guatemala, although all three share Spanish as a dominant language over various native languages. The difference, though is that in Peru and Bolivia, efforts have been made not only to preserve, but to give status to the native languages. Furthermore, the status of native languages in the two countries is reflected in their use by all levels of radio broadcasting in each country; private, religious, and governmental.

http://aymara.org/listarchives/archivo2001/msg00322.html

Anonymous said...

English and French are the only working languages of the UN.

English and French are the only working languages of the International Court of Justice

English, French, and German are the only working languages of the EU.

French is the language of The European Court of Justice

English, Russian, French, German, and Japanese are the dominant languages on science while Spanish is slipping from the list.

In the Economic and Social Council, as of 2007, there are three three are working languages (English, French, and Russian).

The working languages of NATO/OTAN are French and English

English and French are the only 2 global languages.

Anonymous said...

Sweden's main foreign languages:

English 89%
German 30%
French 11%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Sweden

Anonymous said...

FRENCH IN THE CURRICULA OF EASTERN EUROPEAN SCHOOLS

ALBANIA
Education 1st or 2nd foreign language, according to the curriculum of the student.

Number and percentage of students learning French:
* At the primary level: 11,340 (early French)
* At the secondary level: 115,600 (25%)
* At the university level: 12,000 (in 5 universities)

Many teachers of French as a foreign language: about 600

French presence in the country: about 30% of the population has learned French and speak more or less.

Accession of Albania to the status of associate member of the OIF
National de la Francophonie
Universities (Polytechnic and Tirana) members of the AUPELF-UREF
Municipality of Tirana, a member of the AIMF
Membership of a group of parliamentarians at the APF
Forum Francophone des Affaires

French presence in the media:
* TV5 taken by radio in a dozen cities
* IFC Films subtitled in Albanian national television
* RFI on the FM band in Tirana
* Daily Bulletin in French of the Albanian Telegraphic Agency
* All channels and French satellite

Cultural Institutions:
* 2 Alliances Françaises: Tirana and Korca
* 2 antennas: Shkoder and Elbasan

Translated from http://apf.pcf.be/ROOT/apf/enseignement_francais.html

Anonymous said...

REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA
According to the regulations of the Ministry of Education of Georgia, foreign language teaching in secondary schools takes place in classes V-XI at a rate of 19 hours per week.

Special schools (with teaching of French, English and other languages) start learning foreign languages from the second class and, at a rate of 42 hours per week.

The Ministry of Education has developed educational programs and has published manuals for French schoolchildren and books for teachers.

In Georgia, the French are taught in 354 schools and of these 30 schools are specialized. 55,076 students study French.

Along with state schools, private schools (Collège Saint-Exupéry, Ecole Franco-Georgian Noe Jordania, College Marie Brosset) work since the 90s.
Republic of Hungary
Translated from http://apf.pcf.be/ROOT/apf/enseignement_francais.html

Anonymous said...

LITHUANIA
In general, French is the second or third (with German) foreign language taught in Lithuania, preceded by English.

In some parts of Lithuania, French is taught in secondary schools and universities as a foreign language major.

MACEDONIA
For historical and cultural reasons, the Francophonie in Macedonia is quite alive and well represented.

This goes back to the 19th century when France, for Macedonia under occupation, was the land of the free and safe for the children of rich families Macedonian who went to schools to study in Paris, Strasbourg and elsewhere.

On the other hand, until the Second World War in Macedonia there were French schools and colleges which were run by nuns.

As to the immediate past, it should be noted that France played a leading role regarding the recognition of the new Macedonian state by international institutions.

According to the statistics of 1994 in primary schools, French is represented with 35% (compared with 57% going to the English, 5% - in Russian and 2% - in German).

In secondary education, as the first language, French returning 30% (English: 55% Russian: 9%; German: 6%). As a second language in secondary schools, French is represented with 42% (English: 42%; German: 8% and 8% Russian).

The number of teachers of French 314 (English: 344; Russian: 70; German: 15).

French is taught in schools mainly primary campaign.

The introduction of a compulsory second language for foreign students last year (the fourth) of the primary level, under the new curriculum should be for the benefit of the French language.

In 1997, bilingual sections have been introduced in secondary schools.

At the moment such sections exist in secondary schools in Kumanovo, Tetovo, Skopje, Prilep, Bitola and Negotino, with a total of 13 classes and 360 students.

These are sections where certain subjects are taught in French in four years. Each section has a firm linguistic features a library, a VCR, a television with satellite dish and a computer.

As for higher education, language and French literature is very present.

In French philology near the University "Saints Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje, in first grade are about 50 students.

The Council of the Faculty of literature has adopted the principles of teaching French for beginners, which should increase the number of pupils learning French.

The Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Macedonia, following the recommendations of the Council of Europe is determined to continue the policy - learn two foreign languages. This determination will be in favor of teaching the French language and prevent the trend of decline of French in the schools where he held the position of first language, in direct competition with English.

It should be noted that the French Cultural Center in Skopje (established in 1974) contributes to the promotion of ties between the Republic of Macedonia and France, and thus those with the Francophonie.
\Translated from http://apf.pcf.be/ROOT/apf/enseignement_francais.html

Anonymous said...

MOLDOVA
The Republic of Moldova is a country of Latin civilization, the only republics of the former USSR in which the official language is a language of Latin origin.

Most Moldovans are francophone.

The Moldovan government remains very committed to the French tradition and support all efforts to keep the French at the forefront of foreign languages taught in Moldova

Currently, the Republic of Moldova, French is taught by about 2,000 teachers, approximately 700,000 students - or 67% of the total number of students - in 1124 secondary schools. In these institutions known as "general culture", the French language is studied as a foreign language at the rate of 2 to 3 hours per week (from second to twelfth).

There are also specialized schools, further education in one or several subjects, including French. The schools are specialized in French to the number of 115.

In these institutions, the French language is taught from second to twelfth at 4 to 5 hours per week. In addition to elements of general linguistics, are studied in French, a number of subjects, including literature, geography, or more specific disciplines and techniques.

In higher education, State University of Moldova, Chisinau Pedagogical University, Pedagogical University in Baltimore and the Free University of Moldova international offer their courses in French and are in total in the French language, almost 750 students per year. The Technical University has been 4 years with a channel for lessons in French. It forms each year, more than 80 construction engineers, radio, clothing, electrical engineering.

Since 1998 educational institutions and libraries of Moldova have received a donation of 80,000 pounds of the Alliance Française.

Emissions of a French language schools are broadcast on national radio, 'Dis-moi tout' and television, 'The French space.


POLAND

Based on the 2005-2006 school year, to 3.3% of pupils in primary and secondary schools, French is a compulsory language, but 65.0% of students studying English, 33.6% -- German, 6.1% - Russian.

Furthermore, as additional language, 1% of pupils in primary and secondary schools study French, 14.1% - English and 10.7% - German. English, German, Russian and French are the languages most commonly taught in school, but there are schools where we study other languages such as Spanish or Italian.

In elementary school (grades 1 - 6), for 0.5% of students, French is a compulsory language, to 48.4% - English to 15.0% - German and 2, 1% - Russian. Furthermore, as additional language, 0.7% of students studying French, 24.6% - English and 7.8% - German.

In college (grades 7 - 8), for 1.5% of students, English is a compulsory language, to 73.8% - English to 27.9% - German and 2.6% -- Russian. Furthermore, as additional language, 2.5% of students studying French, 12.0% - English and 26.7% - German.

In grammar school (grades 10 - 12) where two languages are required, French as a compulsory language is studied by 13.2% of students, English - 97.4%, German - 71, 0% and Russian - 11.4%. Furthermore, as additional language, 0.3% of students studying French, English - 0.3% and German - 0.4%.

Translated from http://apf.pcf.be/ROOT/apf/enseignement_francais.html

Anonymous said...

ROMANIA
In Romania, the general education extends over 8 years, it includes primary and secondary education (classes I to IV and, respectively, V-VIII).

Starting from the third grade, students can choose between several languages, namely English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian and even Japanese.

The study of a second modern language begins in secondary school, in fifth. The study of the figures shows that the number of students learning foreign languages is increasing year by year, and among these, the French occupies a privileged place.

For example:

* for the academic year 1994/1995, in the 562,212 primary school pupils studying French and 250,693 pupils in English and in secondary education, 706,097 have studied French as their first language and modern 210,755 as a second language, while 296,820 students learned English as their first language and 328,923 as a second language;

*For the academic year 1995/1996, in the 593,979 primary school pupils studying French and 271,868 pupils in English and in secondary education, 698,258 have studied French as their first language and modern 214,965 as a second language, while 318,165 students learned English as their first language and 322,513 as a second language;

* For the academic year 1996/1997, in the 609,877 primary school pupils studying French and 293,589 pupils in English and in secondary education, 692,325 have studied French as their first language and modern 217,882 as a second language, while 907,780 students learned English as their first language and 991,896 as a second language.

According to Article 32 of the Constitution and the provisions of the Education Act No. 84/1995, education in Romania can also be provided in a language of international communication.

Law No. 84/1995 stipulates that the Ministry of Education to approve the organization of units and institutions for this purpose.

In these schools, language and Romanian literature, history of Romanians and Geography of Romania are taught only in Romanian.

Under these provisions, the Ministry of Education adopted a regulation on the organization and functioning of bilingual classes and intensive.

The intensive study of a language of international communication is the form of education in which the first modern language is taught in an increased number of hours of study.

This program is introduced in primary schools from the 3rd class and in the secondary from the 5th grade. The bilingual program is the form of organized education at high schools (grades IX and XII), in which education is taught in Romanian language and language of international communication for some discipline of study.

This program applies only to the teaching of the first foreign language. Now (1998-1999), in Romania there are 60 sections in schools with bilingual French students in 5199.

Translated from http://apf.pcf.be/ROOT/apf/enseignement_francais.html

Anonymous said...

Czech Republic 4 schools are bilingual Franco-Czech.

In Prague there is a school system or the enseingement is provided in French, started kindergarten to secondary schools.

In some other Czech cities are also institutions that provide instruction in French, but it remains relatively rare.

Translated from http://apf.pcf.be/ROOT/apf/enseignement_francais.html

Anonymous said...

BULGARIA
1. The teaching of French in Bulgarian schools is organized as follows:

1.1 First degree general education / 8 years of primary school education college + /

1.1.1 primary-school education:
1st - 4-Year French as their first foreign language - early teaching of foreign languages - according to the school from 1993 until the 1999-2000 school year:

3 hours / week in 1st year, 2 hours / week in 2-Year and 3 hours / week in 3rd and 4th years. The teaching of French as a second foreign language beginning in the second school year.

- French as a first foreign language - teaching foreign language early - according to the school from 1994 until the 2001-2002 school year:

3 hours / week in 1st year, 4 hours / week in 2nd year and 5 hours per week in 3rd and 4th years. The teaching of a second foreign language begins at 5th grade.

For all students who are first-year school year 2002/2003 is valid on the school according to which the teaching of a first foreign language must start from the second school year and a second foreign language -- since the fifth grade.

1.1.2 college-education:
5th - 8th year - French as a first foreign language for students who continue their education in terms of early foreign language with 5 hrs / week

in 5th and 6th years and 4 hours / week in 7th and 8th grades.

5th - 8th year - French as a first foreign language for students who begin their studies in foreign language in school in 1992 with 4 hours / week, the French as a second foreign language beginning in the 9th years;

5th - 8th year - French as a second foreign language for students who study a foreign language in terms of early foreign language with 4 hours / week.

Translated from http://apf.pcf.be/ROOT/apf/enseignement_francais.html

Anonymous said...

BULGARIA (Continued)

1.2 Second level of general education

1.2.1 Secondary schools - education:

1.2.1.1 schools
9th - 12th year - the first French as a foreign language - 2 hours per week until the 10 th and an option for additional hours required in 11th and 12th years.

- French as a second foreign language - 2 hours per week until the 10 th and an option for additional hours required in 11th and 12th years;

High Schools / Secondary Schools and Sections profile in schools with an entrance examination after the 7th school year with intensive courses in French: compulsory education

French as their first foreign language: 8 th - 12 th years

8th year with intensive courses in French - 18 hours / week + 1 hour new technologies in French; 9 th to 12 th year - 4 hours per week.

French as a second foreign language:
Schedule Required: 9 th - 12 th year - 2 hours per week;

Learning profile: 9th - 11th year - at least 3 hours / week; 12th year - at least 4 hours / week.

1.2.1.2 Lycées professionals with an entrance examination after the 7th year with intensive courses in French:

French as their first foreign language - mandatory schedule: 8th year - 13 hours per week; 9-Year - 4 hours per week; 10 th to 12 th - 3 hours / week.

French as a second foreign language - mandatory schedule: 10th and 11th - 2 hours / week.

1.2.1.3 Professional Schools and colleges with a review after 8 - grade school:
French as a first / second language - mandatory schedule: 9th and 10th grades - 2 hours / week.

The number of students who studied French in Bulgaria during the school year 2001/2002 is approximately 104 000.

1st - 4th year - 4887 students
5th - 8th school year - 45 939 students
9 th - 12 th year - 28 000 students

11 149 students studying in 54 special schools and schools with bilingual classes Franco-Bulgarian.

25 000 students studying French in professional schools, 32 have an entrance examination after the 7th grade and intensive courses in French.

The total number of French teachers in Bulgaria is 1365.

2. In Bulgaria there are 6 channels in French schools:

including one at the University of Chemical Technology and steel, one with the Technical University, another at the Academy of Medicine, a fourth at the University of Sofia. Since 1997 there is a French chain with the Higher Institute of the food industry to the city of Plovdiv and since 1999 - French branch of political science at New Bulgarian University in Sofia.

Since 1996 in Sofia was established Francophone Institute of Directors and management - a high school for French regional importance with students from Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Macedonia.

Translated from http://apf.pcf.be/ROOT/apf/enseignement_francais.html

Anonymous said...

The weight of the Spanish in the world

Given that Spanish is not strongly rooted in the whole of Europe (as opposed to South America where it is ubiquitous everywhere, except in Brazil) and is represented only symbolically in Africa (in Equatorial Guinea where it is official), it appears as an essentially American language. Moreover, no Hispanic country is considered as great industrial power globally, no, not even Mexico, can hope to acquire at a weight equivalent to that of Germany, the United Kingdom, France or Italy. This results in some industrial and technological dependence, but also linguistically; Spanish, like most other world languages, suffers from a certain underdevelopment of scientific vocabulary, and a sub-Radiation Sciences and technology at the expense of English.

Translated from: http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/francophonie/francophonie.htm

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Anonymous said...

ERIC Identifier: ED335176
Publication Date: 1991-05-00
Author: Santiestevan, Stina
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Charleston WV.

ERIC Identifier: ED335176
Publication Date: 1991-05-00
Author: Santiestevan, Stina
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Charleston WV.

Use of the Spanish Language in the United States: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities. ERIC Digest.

Continuing controversy about the nation's non-English speakers--particularly its Spanish speakers--often prompts two questions. First, will the use of Spanish diminish or grow more widespread? Second, is the use of the Spanish language only a challenge for educators and citizens, or does it also present opportunities as yet unrealized?

This Digest addresses policymakers, administrators, and teachers of Spanish-speaking students. It is based largely on a study by sociologist Calvin Veltman (1988), The Future of the Spanish Language in the United States. The Digest examines the Spanish-speaking group in the United States, its growth through net immigration and natural increase, and its eventual decline as speakers shift to English.

http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9221/spanish.htm

Anonymous said...

ERIC Identifier: ED335176
Publication Date: 1991-05-00
Author: Santiestevan, Stina
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Charleston WV.

Use of the Spanish Language in the United States: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities. ERIC Digest.

(Continued)
THE NUMBERS

Not all U.S. Hispanics speak Spanish, of course, but almost all U.S. Spanish speakers are Hispanic, and the Hispanic population is growing rapidly. In 1989, the nation's Hispanic population was estimated to be 20.1 million, a 39 percent increase over the 1980 Census figure of 14.5 million. The rate of increase for the total U.S. population was 9.5 percent, but for the non-Hispanic population it was 7.5 percent. Hispanics were 8.2 percent of the population in 1989, compared to 6.5 percent in 1980 (Hispanic Policy Development Project, 1990).

The Hispanic Policy Development Project (HPDP, 1990) has projected the following U.S. Hispanic population figures:

1990: 22,024,000

1995: 27,692,000, and

2000: 34,818,000.

Due to immigration and natural increase, the number of U.S. Spanish speakers will continue to grow (for example, Word, 1989), but the recent study by Veltman (1988) sharply contradicts the widespread impression that Hispanic immigrants to the United States resist learning English.

Despite public opinion to the contrary, the data suggest that U.S. Hispanics--both native born and immigrants--do learn and speak English. Moreover, they want their children to speak English (Veltman, 1988). After 10 to 15 years in the United States, some 75 percent of all Hispanic immigrants are speaking English regularly, and virtually all their children will speak English.

The maintenance of Spanish language use in the United States depends on the continuous arrival of new Hispanic immigrants. Because of ongoing immigration, bilingualism may indeed persist longer among Hispanics than it did among other immigrant groups, particularly in certain parts of the country. But continuing immigration does not delay the learning of English by immigrants who are already here or by the native born (Veltman, 1988).

Veltman developed unique population models simulating the flow of immigrants and their children into national language communities. His model is similar to that used by the U.S. Census Bureau (for example, U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1982), but adds language practice and language change factors (Veltman, 1988, chapter 10). Although he analyzes much of the language data collected by the Census Bureau, his projections are based largely on data derived from the Bureau's 1976 Survey of Income and Education. This survey contains the best available data for both mother tongue and current language use.

In 1976, some 10.5 million people in the United States spoke Spanish. Of these, only about 4.5 million were mainly Spanish-speaking, including 2 million who spoke Spanish only occasionally. However, some of those who have shifted to English were not counted; lost to the surveys are Hispanics who speak English and live in households where English is the principal home language. They likely have been classified as "Anglophones," persons of English mother tongue in Veltman's terminology. ("Mother tongue" is the language first learned and spoken as a child.)

Using a model that projects a net Hispanic immigration of 250,000 per year, Veltman predicts that the Spanish-speaking group, both monolingual and bilingual, will total 16.6 million by the year 2001 (Veltman, 1988, p. 102). Of these, some 95 percent of the immigrant population will have Spanish for their mother tongue. However, only a bare majority of the native born will be given Spanish as their first language. This fact is of pivotal importance.

http://www.santafe400th.com/index.php?page=la-herencia

Anonymous said...

ERIC Identifier: ED335176
Publication Date: 1991-05-00
Author: Santiestevan, Stina
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Charleston WV.

Use of the Spanish Language in the United States: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities. ERIC Digest.

(Continued)

DO THEY LEARN AND USE ENGLISH?

How rapidly individuals learn English and how much English they speak is related to how long they have been in the United States and how old they were when they arrived. Almost all Hispanic immigrants remain lifetime bilinguals; they use different languages in different situations. But the language shift process begins immediately upon an immigrant's arrival in the U.S., progresses rapidly, and ends within approximately 15 years. The younger the person, the more complete is the movement to English (Garcia, 1983; Veltman, 1988).

With respect to immigrant children, 70 percent of those 5 to 9 years of age, after a stay of about 9 months, speak English on a regular basis. After 4 years, nearly all speak English regularly, and about 30 percent prefer English to Spanish. After 9 years, 60 percent have shifted to English; after 14 years--as young adults--70 percent have abandoned the use of Spanish as a daily language. By the time they have spent 15 years in the United States, some 75 percent of all Hispanic immigrants are using English every day (Veltman, 1988, p. 44).

The future of the Spanish language in the U.S. depends on the language choices of persons of Spanish mother tongue; what language will they give to their children? The use of English by parents leads inexorably to the birth of children whose mother tongue becomes English (Garcia, 1983; Veltman, 1988).

http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9221/spanish.htm

Anonymous said...

THE LANGUAGE-SHIFT PROCESS

Like the language shift of immigrants before them, that of Spanish-speaking immigrants spans three generations.

* The generation of immigrants continues to speak Spanish, although most also speak English regularly. More than half the immigrants arriving in the United States before age 14 make English their usual everyday language, and Spanish becomes a second language. A small number, in fact, no longer speak it at all.

* Their children speak English fluently, although they may use Spanish as a second language. A significant number, however, are given English as their mother tongue, and 7 out of 10 become English speakers for all practical purposes.

* Virtually all their grandchildren will have English for their mother tongue, and they will speak Spanish seldom, if at all.

Thus, the maintenance of Spanish language use in the U.S. requires a continuous flow of new Hispanic immigrants. According to Veltman's model, a break in the immigrant stream would stabilize the size of the Spanish-speaking population for about 15 years. After such a break, decline would become increasingly more rapid.

http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9221/spanish.htm

Anonymous said...

ERIC Identifier: ED335176
Publication Date: 1991-05-00
Author: Santiestevan, Stina
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Charleston WV.

Use of the Spanish Language in the United States: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities. ERIC Digest.

(Continued)

CONCLUSIONS

Given the inevitable shift of Spanish speakers to the use of English, what are the policy implications? They entail several conclusions and recommendations (Estrada, 1988; Veltman, 1988), as follows.

* The English language is not endangered by the use of Spanish.

* Simple courtesy suggests that essential public announcements and services should be provided in Spanish, especially for the very young and the elderly.

* Many more English classes for adults are needed. Current waiting lists are long in many communities--notably in New York City and Los Angeles--with large and growing concentrations of Hispanics.

* Spanish-speaking children need bilingual education.

* Bilingual capabilities should be encouraged generally--among everyone, regardless of mother tongue.

Bilingual education programs do not slow the process of language shift to English (HPDP, 1988; Veltman, 1988). The purpose of such programs, after all, is to smooth the transition to English, not to maintain Spanish.

But bilingual classes do enable Hispanic children to maintain their grade levels and to avoid being held back, while at the same time learning English (Veltman, 1983). The children will--in any case--learn English, but, according to the Hispanic Policy Development Project:

"These children are best served by programs that teach English and simultaneously develop basic reading and computation skills in Spanish....At present, less than a quarter of Hispanic children who need language assistance are enrolled in transitional bilingual or other programs designed to expedite language shift and provide basic skills education." (HPDP, 1988, pp. 9, 26)

http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9221/spanish.htm

Anonymous said...

ERIC Identifier: ED335176
Publication Date: 1991-05-00
Author: Santiestevan, Stina
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Charleston WV.

Use of the Spanish Language in the United States: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities. ERIC Digest.

(Continued)

CONCLUSION

Nicolau and Valdivieso (1988) report that 25 percent of Hispanic students fall behind their classmates and are overage as they begin high school. According to this account, poor academic performance and being older in grade than their peers contribute significantly to the high Hispanic dropout rates of 45 to 50 percent.

Nicolau and Valdivieso also suggested that the bilingual capabilities of the nation's Spanish speakers, currently scorned, should be put to use. By some estimates, there will be 550 million Spanish-speaking consumers in Latin America by the year 2000. With some foresight, the U.S. economy and national influence could be enhanced by the preservation of a pool of literate Spanish speakers. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show, however, that only 4 percent of Hispanic students sign up for the three years of high school Spanish that would develop the necessary literacy.

REFERENCES

Estrada, L. (1988). Policy Implications of Hispanic Demographics (Tomas Rivera Center Report, Vol. 1, No. 1). Claremont, CA: Tomas Rivera Center.

Garcia, E. (1983). Early Childhood Bilingualism, with Special Reference to the Mexican-American Child. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 233 564)

Hispanic Policy Development Project. (1988). Closing the Gap for U.S. Hispanic Youth: Public/Private Strategies. Washington, DC: Hispanic Policy Development Project. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 298 242)

Nicolau, S., & Valdivieso, R. (1988). The Veltman report: What it says, what it means. In C. Veltman, The Future of the Spanish Language in the United States (pp. i-ix). Washington, DC: Hispanic Policy Development Project. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 295 485)

United States Bureau of the Census. (1982). Ancestry and Language in the United States: November 1979 (Current Population Reports, Special Studies, Series P-3, No. 116). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 227 680)

United States Bureau of the Census. (1989). The Hispanic Population in the United States: March 1988. (Current Population Reports, Series P-20, No. 438). Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 299 081 [Advance Report])

Veltman, C. (1983). Language Shift in the United States. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Mouton Publishers.

Veltman, C. (1988). The Future of the Spanish Language in the United States. Washington, DC: Hispanic Policy Development Project. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 295 485)
ERIC Identifier: ED335176
Publication Date: 1991-05-00
Author: Santiestevan, Stina
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Charleston WV.

Use of the Spanish Language in the United States: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities. ERIC Digest.

Word, D. (1989). Population Estimates by Race and Hispanic Origin for States, Metropolitan Areas, and Selected Counties: 1980-1985 (Current Population Reports, Series P-25, No. 1040-RD-1). Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 316 453)

http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9221/spanish.htm

Anonymous said...

La Herencia

La Herencia was voted the City's Official Publication of the Santa Fe 400th Anniversay in 2006 by the Santa Fe City Council.

La Herencia continues in the tradition of the Spanish press in the Southwest that began in Santa Fe in 1834 and, ironically, ended in Santa Fe in 1958. Once again in Santa Fe, La Herencia began publication in 1994.

LA HERENCIA WAS FOUNDED BY SANTA FE NATIVE, ANA PACHECO, IN RESPONSE TO THE RAPID DECLINE OF THE
SPANISH LANGUAGE AND HISPANIC CULTURE OF NEW MEXICO. The quarterly publication provides information on Hispanic culture with articles written by local historians from New Mexico and the Southwest. The editorial consists of oral history, Spanish language and Southwestern literature, book reviews, poetry, recipes, myths and other forms of Spanish and Mexican folklore retold with documentary photographs and illustrations. Current issues and trends are also covered. La Herencia is the only publication of its kind written about Hispanic culture by Hispanics from the Southwest. La Herencia is the publication for Hispanic literary arts in the 21st century.

http://www.santafe400th.com/index.php?page=la-herencia

Anonymous said...

Paraguaigua noñe'êkuaáiva guarani pytaguarôguáicha hetâme

May 1, 2001

"A Paraguayan who can't speak Guaraní," opines this proverb, "is like a foreigner in his own land." In fact, between 90% and 95% of Paraguay's 5 million inhabitants speak Guaraní (pronounced "wa-ra-NEE," with a guttural rasp on the "wa"). That makes this indigenous language not just Paraguay's dominant language (by comparison, only 75% of Paraguayans speak Spanish), but also the only First Nations language on the planet to enjoy majority-language status, as well as the only one spoken on a large scale by non-aboriginals. (About half of Guaraní speakers are of European descent.) Finally, Guaraní earns Paraguay membership in that most restricted of clubs, the Officially Bilingual Nations of the Americas, a distinction it shares only with Canada and Haïti.

Victory in conquest
At contact, Guaraní cultures dominated northern Argentina, eastern Bolivia, and southern Brazil and Paraguay. In fact, after Arawakan, Guaraní may have been the most geographically widespread language in Latin America. But unlike every other native people in the Americas, the Guaraní managed to remain influential in Paraguay even after Spanish conquest. So influential were they in fact that the newcomers found they had to learn the local language to get by. Modern Paraguayans call Guaraní ñe'engatú ("dear speech"), or abá ñe'é ("common man's speech"). Traditionally relegated to a vernacular role in Paraguayan society, until recently Guaraní was not taught in schools or used in formal contexts in spite of its superior demographics. Today, thanks to a growing Paraguayan identity movement, it is poised to assume more substantial responsibilities in Paraguay and in the world.

The term "Guaraní" actually refers to a group of dialects of the Andean-Equatorial language family. (In addition to Guaraní, Andean-Equatorial languages include Quechua, Aymara, and Tupi, indigenous tongues that remain influential across most of modern South America.) Paraguay encloses several Guaraní dialects, among which two dominate. Mby'a is the dialect of rural aboriginals; most European and mixed-race Paraguayans speak Yopará. Although Yopará has absorbed many Spanish influences, it remains squarely Guaraní and is mostly intelligible to Mby'a speakers. And although Yopará accounts for most Guaraní communication on the national level, Mby'a is considered the "pure" tradition, insofar as it remains largely unadulterated by hispanicisms.

Though more Paraguayans speak Guaraní than Spanish, and songs and popular literature have been composed in it since colonial times, Guaraní had no official status in Paraguay until the 1992 Constitution recognised it as an official language. Though some Paraguayans still consider Guaraní a vulgar medium, many have embraced it as a patriotic touchstone. (The Paraguayan monetary unit is also called the guaraní.) Increasingly, Guaraní scholars are refuting old canards about its supposed inadequacy for 21st century communication, and are calling for academic supervision to halt the entry of Spanish words and bad neologisms into the language. Others propose that Mby'a be accepted as the scholarly standard (Guaraní has heretofore had none), that Yopará become the language of national life, and that Castellano (Spanish) be taught chiefly as a means of enabling Paraguayans to communicate with foreigners, rather than as a national medium. A Congreso Nacional de Lengua y Cultura Guaraní has been founded to oversee these and other issues, such as developing media and academic models.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/world_languages/67586

Traviesofilipino said...

Spanish in Asia particularly in the Philippines is reviving...

reg said...

spanish isnt having Fragmentation, only stupid uneducated people cant understand eachother, as a mexican i can perfectly understand a colombian or a peruvian the only nationality that i probably have problems with is chileans other than that i can perfectly understand the rest and i even hear that latin spanish is unificating in some kind of way thats why movies have the l.american version and the spanish.
if spanish didn't fragment in colonial times its going to be less likely to be now