Why do schools in the USA feel the need to teach Spanish?

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I don't mean to have a racist tone here, but compared to other major languages, is Spanish really that important? It is the second most spoken language in the world (after English), but consider the following: there are next to no Hispanic countries which are economic superpowers. France on the other hand is an economic superpower, and many of us in the Northeastern USA have a French-speaking neighbor (Quebec, Canada). Germany is also an economic superpower, along with Sweden and Japan. I must admit that if it weren't for the original Spanish people from Spain, we might not be living in America today. The building of the Spanish Empire was a remarkable feat, and even though the USA (unless you count Texas, Florida, and some Western states) wasn't part of it, its influence can be felt here anyway. I think Spanish is a very interesting language to learn, but it seems to be of little economic importance. If anything, the Portuguese language (which evolved from Spanish) should be taught in our schools, because it's the language of Brazil, which along with Russia, India, and China, has experienced economic growth at a breakneck pace in the past decade or two. I think the choice of Spanish as not only the second language of our schools, but also the second language of almost all businesses in our country, is indicative of anti-intellectualism, an issue I started another thread on. Sure, the huge Spanish Empire has a glorious history, but when you compare its economic might today to that of Germany or Japan alone, it's not really a contest! If all Americans had a reason to travel to Spanish-speaking countries, that would be different. Perhaps Spanish was chosen because Puerto Rico is a US territory?

Maybe because it's the second most spoken language in the USA? (I dunno) I think teaching it is less to do with economic benefit and more to do with learning about and developing a rapport with different racial groups (ie. hispanics) that are prevalent in the country itself.

If people wanna learn languages for economic benefit they should study it as part of their business degrees at university.

I've had a lot of Hispanic friends (mostly born in the USA though) over the years, and none of them had language issues, but maybe their parents did. One of my high school classmates was a half Puerto Rican girl who seemed as white as it gets. I guess her Hispanic blood was strictly Spanish and not black or Indian. She didn't even speak Spanish (but she tried to learn some to look "cool") and it was cute to hear her try.

It's the second most spoken language in the US. The other reason is because the southern states border on Mexico and Spanish is the most spoken language in that country.

Even my school, a small, private school, taught Spanish and that was back in the 70s, before this whole language thing became an issue. I'd imagine that they taught it then because it's fairly easy to learn, and a foreign language is important to some colleges.

It's important in my area because the construction industry is bigger here than the rest of the country so we have lots of Mexicans coming here for work & there's lots who don't speak much English.

Por que non?

Shouldn't immigrants be trying to learn your language rather than you having to suit to fit them? It's all back to front.

Ever hear of the "Statutes of Kilkenny"?

I do agree that people who come here to live and work need to learn our language. If I were to move to another country for work I wouldn't expect them to automatically learn English just to communicate with me. Granted, in many countries I would be able to find someone who speaks English or even many people who do, but it would be up to me to learn their language, not up to them to learn mine.

I do not think we have an obligation in the US to learn another language to communicate within our own country. I do think it's important that medical, police and fire personell speak other languages because they are needed in emergency situations and even if everyone who moved here did learn English, there are always visitors who don't.

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Yep.

Tequila, kind of ironic how you have a Spanish name huh?

Are there really ANY Hispanics (from Spain I assume) or Portuguese in the UK, not counting the Basque people?

Anyway, a British woman complained to me about how a lot of Americans seem to "look down" on the Spanish and Italians. It's sad but I think understandable that a lot of our people do. She complained that Americans mix up the Spanish themselves with Mexicans (who are really mostly Indian). I think unfortunately, due to Mexican illegal immigration, a lot of Americans have a lot of ugly misconceptions about all people who speak Spanish, and it doesn't help that the Spanish themselves are poor compared to other Europeans (to the north). Also, NYC and other cities in the USA were at one time full of Mafia activity, and this didn't make Italians look so good. I don't think either of these issues really have affected the British, but I hear Australia has had Mafia issues over the years too.

In reference to a favourite film of mine - I've never had tequila the drink and have no desire to.



Not really, no. Spaniards fairly rarely come to the UK unless they're here on holiday, and they mostly go to places like London (there are about 60,000 Spanish people in the UK - France has a Spanish population of 200,000). As for the Portuguese, there is a Portuguese-speaking community in the Channel Islands and also in Northern Ireland but again they tend not to flock here in any significant numbers.

You remove the Basque people - what about British Gibraltarians? 30% of ALL Gibraltarians live in the UK.

I'd say that there are far more British people living in Spain than there are Spaniards living in the UK.

I thought your nickname might have come from the so-named instrumental 50's song. It was used in the 80's as the Pee Wee Herman theme song. Pee Wee Herman (a children's entertainer) was caught "playing" with himself in an adult cinema in Florida about 20 years ago, and he pretty much disappeared.

Anyway, if you could tell, my family is originally from your former colony and Commonwealth realm of Barbados.

Not to sound racist in any way, but I've heard that the Spanish people (yes from Spain itself) have very low English proficiency compared to most other groups of Europeans. I can't tell whether that's because of a poor education system or just because their language is the world's second most popular.

Also, I should point out that while Spain is a "white" (and "Western") culture, a lot of Americans unfortunately can't tell the difference between the Spanish and the Mexicans based on looks alone. I think this has to do with the Spanish having darker skin than the British, Irish, French, Swedish, northern Italians and other European groups (and white Americans) which are perhaps more familiar to Americans. I've also observed that some Spanish, Portuguese, and Italians from farther south have physical features almost identical to the lighter skinned, but there also are some who have very "round" features which are not found in other white countries. Perhaps this is due to Arab or maybe African (black) admixture?

Sort of ironic then, given the chap was known as Pee Wee Herman!

No, my nickname actually comes from the 1992 Hong Kong John Woo actioner Hard-Boiled. It's an extravaganza of coreographed bullet ballet brilliantness - and yes, the film was made when Hong Kong was still under the Union Jack. The main character, Tequila (who my username is a reference to) is a member of the Royal Hong Kong Police in the film.



Actually, no I couldn't, because I didn't spot your wee flag graphic! It's so small and hard to spot! Wouldn't something a little like this be better?



I did notice you had "rasta" in your username, so I thought that you might be interested in Jamaican culture, however.



To be honest, English is very widely spoken in Northern and Western Europe in general - (i.e. the UK; Ireland; Finland; Norway; Sweden; Denmark; Iceland; Belgium; the Netherlands; Luxembourg; Switzerland; and, to a considerable extent, Germany and Austria) and much less so in most Eastern European and Southern European countries (with the exception of Malta and Cyprus, which were both once under British rule). English really isn't a lingua frança in Europe, though it's mainly used for business. However, it's fairly easy for many British people to navigate the written Spanish language when on holiday in Spain, even if they can't speak the language. In places like Spain, English is spoken in the tourist resorts and the major cities and less so in other places.

I sometimes order DVDs from Europe - usually the websites are in German, Danish or whatever language but particularly in the Nordic countries the businesses will converse with you in perfect English. Some will even translate the order forms for you and help you through it so you know what to do. It is usually relatively painless these days to order things from most Western European countries these days if you have Google Translate to hand.

One thing I will note though is that I have an interest in Italian cinema. Some of the DVD companies in Italy produce absolutely sterling DVDs, with the films featuring optional English subtitles and occasionally rven the extras have English subtitles too! I have seen a lot of fantastic films this way.

I prefer Portuguese culture over the Spanish one, as I find it a lot more easy-going. The beer and food is better in Portugal too.

I have to say, respectfully, that I think your basic arguement here is incorrect. The importance and study of languge is not tied to the tongue of whomever happens to have the highest exports at the moment. If you study the history of language you can find examples of times it seemed to mirror the political/economic trends but at other times defys them with a life and vigorness all its own. As just one example, when the germanic Frankish tribe conquered mostly latin speaking Gaul, the local language Latin, of the defeated, not German of the victors won out. This area is of course modern day France. Some trivia btw, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian are all related Romance languages based on Latin. This is a persistant effect of the once military/political superpower of 2000 years ago and not tied to any current Gross National Product.

Spanish continues to be a vigorous language and it has its own power. I don't remember when it was invented, but think that the artifical languge 'Esperanto' was an attempt at making a global language primarily based on Spanish with English and a few bits of other things. But artifical constructions in language rarely if ever win out.

I think the places where language gains or loses are more in the interactions of everyday, in the homes, on the street and in the popular culture of music, TV and other media. So rather then economic power controlling language I would say it is the masses that control language.

Also I would debate to varying degree calling France, Japan, Sweden, Brazil, India or Russia 'Economic Superpowers'.